Sleep disconnects an external SSD
QWhen my M1 Mac mini goes to sleep, sometimes it disconnects from an external SSD in its external hub, requiring the hub to be disconnected and reconnected. How can I stop this happening?
AOne setting to change if you haven’t already is to open the Energy Saver pane and check the second item in the list is unticked, to ensure that your Mac doesn’t put hard drives to sleep when possible. In spite of that, some external drives will put themselves to sleep, in which case see if this continues to happen when it’s connected direct to your Mac and not through a hub or dock.
If it does still disconnect during sleep, then it’s most probably a feature of that drive’s firmware, and will be difficult if not impossible to change.
If it only disconnects when connected via the hub, the problem rests with the hub rather than the drive. Using a different branded hub from a vendor who specifically builds their products for Mac compatibility should ensure it remains connected. One final step you can take to try and minimise hub problems is to tick the top box in Energy Saver, to prevent your Mac from sleeping altogether. With an M1 Mac mini that isn’t such a loss, as its power consumption is small and it doesn’t generate much heat either.