Apple M-Series Mac with SanDisk G-RAID and TerraMaster drives beside red warning text “exFAT Data Corruption – Apple M-Series Drives at Risk” — CALLIT IT INFRASTRUCTURE UAE.

Apple M-Series exFAT Data Corruption on SanDisk G-RAID & External Drives in UAE – CALLIT IT INFRASTRUCTURE

Digital Imaging Technician (DIT) on set using Apple M-Series MacBook Pro with G-RAID drives, highlighting exFAT data loss risks — CALLIT IT INFRASTRUCTURE UAE.

Apple M-Series Macs are facing a critical exFAT data-corruption issue that’s damaging files on SanDisk G-RAID, SanDisk Professional, TerraMaster, and other high-capacity external drives relied on by Digital Imaging Technicians (DITs), editors, and media-production teams across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and the UAE. Since Apple’s shift from Intel processors to the new M1, M2, and M3 chips, many professionals have reported sudden data loss, unreadable drives, and corrupted media libraries when using the exFAT file system, particularly during on-set data wrangling, backup, and post-production archiving.

While older Intel-based Macs remain stable with exFAT, Apple M-Series devices trigger silent corruption—and Apple has yet to issue any official warning or patch.

At CALLIT IT INFRASTRUCTURE, we’re sounding the alarm to help DITs, post-production engineers, and creative studios safeguard their work. This technical report breaks down why exFAT fails on Apple M-Series hardware, outlines safe alternative APFS, and shows how production companies in the UAE can prevent catastrophic data loss before it happens.

Apple M-Series Mac laptop connected to SanDisk G-RAID, SanDisk Professional, and TerraMaster drives with yellow warning icon — illustrating exFAT data corruption issues on Apple M-Series Macs, CALLIT IT INFRASTRUCTURE UAE.

⚙️ What’s Happening on Apple M-Series Macs

Apple’s M-Series (M1, M2, M3) laptops and desktops have introduced silent compatibility issues with the exFAT file system, resulting in data corruption on external drives such as SanDisk G-RAID, SanDisk Professional, and TerraMaster units. Despite multiple reports, there is no official Apple warning, and Disk Utility still offers exFAT as a formatting option.

Apple M-Series MacBook Pro connected to SanDisk G-RAID and TerraMaster drives showing split view of data integrity vs corruption — CALLIT IT INFRASTRUCTURE explaining why exFAT is a hidden risk for Apple M-Series Macs in the UAE.

💾 Why exFAT Became a Hidden Risk

exFAT was designed for simplicity and cross-platform use, but its lack of journaling and integrity checks makes it unsafe under the new Apple I/O architecture. On Intel Macs, the format runs smoothly; on M-Series Macs, metadata and directory tables collapse silently, destroying file structures without error messages.

CALLIT IT INFRASTRUCTURE illustration showing data corruption on Apple M-Series MacBook Pro connected to SanDisk G-RAID and TerraMaster drives, highlighting data loss risks for DITs and media workflows in the UAE.

🧠 How This Impacts DITs and Media Workflows

For Digital Imaging Technicians (DITs) and editors working in Dubai and Abu Dhabi studios, this issue can mean losing entire projects. G-RAID and TerraMaster drives are heavily used for on-set backup, verification, and data transfer. One corrupted exFAT volume can compromise RAW footage, ProRes files, and archive drives, causing major production delays and financial loss.

Apple M-Series MacBook Pro showing secure APFS and HFS+ file system shields with “Safer File Systems for Apple M-Series Users” title — illustrating reliable data protection alternatives to exFAT.

🧱 Safer File Systems for Apple M-Series Users

CALLIT IT INFRASTRUCTURE recommends migrating to:

  • APFS for Mac-only workflows (fast, stable, journaled).
  • NTFS via Paragon or Tuxera for cross-platform work.
  • QNAP or Synology NAS with SMB shares for multi-user access.
    Each ensures data integrity and avoids exFAT’s known instability on M-Series Macs.


Apple M-Series MacBook with external drives displaying warning symbol and checklist for drive audits, file-system migrations, and NAS backups — CALLIT IT INFRASTRUCTURE preventive solutions UAE.

🛡️ CALLIT IT INFRASTRUCTURE’s Preventive Solutions

Our engineers perform drive audits, file-system migrations, and redundant NAS setups for DITs, production houses, and corporate clients across the UAE. We provide data-safe reformatting, RAID verification, and secure off-site backups to prevent data loss before it happens.