External drive troubles in Ventura

[daring_Ripple98BC]

I just updated to Mac Ventura, and my external SSD started acting weird. If I unplug and then reconnect it, the OS considers it a new drive, and it gets labeled with a number (1, 2, 3, etc). It appears to happen when I turn the computer off too, not just from unplugging the drive without ejecting it. (bad habits die hard).

This means that Lightroom constantly reports my photos as missing and needing to be relinked. More importantly, Dropbox also thinks its old syncing location is missing, and I have to redownload the files (I'm on the old Dropbox that still recognizes external drives, but in practice, it is almost useless, because I cannot manually reconnect)

Any suggestions? This never ever happened with Monterey. I can't redownload 1.5 TB of files from Dropbox every time I accidentally unplug the drive without ejecting, and having to randomly reconnect my files in Lightroom is pretty annoying.

(note on the attached image, there is only one Dropbox EX, not two.)

[daring_Ripple98BC]

I just confirmed that this issue also happens upon a computer restart, even if I don't touch the external drive. So yes, this is a major problem with Ventura, and I am about to roll back to Monterey. I've reformated the drive, etc trying to fix it.

Currently regretting switching to Mac, Windows never did this.

 

[Cliffduck]

This is exactly the same problem I am having but you don't mention Lr giving the stuff you put in originally th ?s and!s. 

If it. is a Ventura problem there must be many more prople having the same problem - hey you out there - are you having problems?

Cheers

Cliff

[Cliffduck]

Here is my original post - didn't Mention using LrC.

[daring_Ripple98BC]

The problem partially resolved itself over time, so I don't see these "duplicate" drives. But it still disconnects occasionally, forcing me to restart the computer in order for the drive to be recognized by lightroom and Dropbox. I started using a different cable that wouldn't disconnect as often, though it still does sometimes.

[Cliffduck]

I wish mine would heal itself - going on for some time - unfortunately I
can’t relate to a specific update but I do tend to update when a new
version comes along.

Cheers,

Cliff


Cliff Hosking

[JohanElzenga]

This is a so-called "Mount Point" problem. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254908811?sortBy=best

[daring_Ripple98BC]

At its root, Ventura changed the way Mac OS handles drives for some reason compared to the previous OS.

[Cliffduck]

Good news for me! I have been away for a few days and when I opened LrC all was (almost) well. All the duplicate designations of my External Hard Drive had disappeared and the ?s on Folders had gone. The only thing I have so far noticed is that several of the images I had added Keywords to had a ! on them. On searching on where they were missing from I found them in the folder, clicked on one and the ! disappeared from that and the several near it so so far so good.