judithnewman

Q: Disk Drive ejecting itself

My Time Machine disk drive has been "ejecting" itself since I installed Snow Leopard. I'm not unplugging it, or turning it off. I'm not touching it.
I'm getting the following error message:
"The disk was not ejected properly. If possible, always eject a disk before unplugging it or turning it off."

My question is why would a disk drive be "ejecting" itself. I've turned off the auto backups, and unselected the drive as the backup disk. It is still "ejecting" itself which leads me to believe the problem isn't with Time Machine but with something else - something connected with Snow Leopard because this wasn't happening five days ago before I installed SL.

iMac5,1 Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Sep 9, 2009 5:40 PM

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Q: Disk Drive ejecting itself

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  • by Richard E. Cooke,

    Richard E. Cooke Richard E. Cooke Jan 31, 2012 6:09 AM in response to Ellen74
    Level 2 (220 points)
    Jan 31, 2012 6:09 AM in response to Ellen74

    @Ellen74:

     

    I don't think your problem is related to what this thread is about - your symptoms don't match.

     

    The G-Technology website's support area has some ideas you can use.  First off, they have a caution to only use the USB cable that came with the drive.  The reason given is "other" cables may not carry power very well, causing your dirive to become unstable (which could be what your observing).

     

    http://www.g-technology.com/kbase/users/kb.php?id=62

    We recommend using only the included USB cable with your drive. USB bus power is rather limited, so lower quality cables can result in unreliable power to the drive. This can result in poor performance, clicking and other noise, or complete failure to detect the drive on your system. There can also be similar issues with using longer USB cables, especially those longer than 3ft/1M.

     

    They also have a troubleshooting guide for MAC: http://www.g-technology.com/kbase/users/kb.php?id=54&category_id=22

     

    I think your likely to get more (maybe better) help in their online support forum:

    http://forums.creativecow.net/gtech

     

    I did a search for "eject" and over the last few months there have been a lot of postings from people experiencing the same problem as you.

     

    I think its time to call G-Tech service and ask for an RMA: +1-888-426-5214.

     

    Just a reminder to others that one of the first steps is to GOOGLE your drrive and/or poke around the Manufacturers support site to see if OTHERS have the same problem.  Doing that can save you a lot of time.

  • by Richard E. Cooke,

    Richard E. Cooke Richard E. Cooke Jan 31, 2012 6:36 AM in response to saneman
    Level 2 (220 points)
    Jan 31, 2012 6:36 AM in response to saneman

    @saneman:

     

    OMG!  I am so full of ....  my eyes should be BROWN!

     

    I just dug out my old post about my USB3 iNeo tests - and it FAILED!!!!

     

    I "got it to work" by moving it over to a Windoze computer.....

     

    I also found my post of the known-to-fail USB chips:

    https://discussions.apple.com/message/13357516#13357516

     

    The iNeo post is a few before it.

     

    This would suggest some truth to the theory ofa USB 3 related issue.  Although, note it was only LARGE files that failed.

  • by Ellen74,

    Ellen74 Ellen74 Feb 1, 2012 12:37 AM in response to Richard E. Cooke
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 1, 2012 12:37 AM in response to Richard E. Cooke

    Richard-

     

    I'm aware of the cable issue and use only the one that came with the drive.   A number of the G-Tech forum posts suggest repairing permissions, which is what I'm doing with OnyX, along with the other maintenance routines (repairing permissions via Disk Utility didn't help).

     

    I may try calling G-Tech.  However, I'm pessimistic it will help.  Many people in the Apple Forum threads got replacement drives and had the problem recur, and the problem is happening with so many different brands.

     

    There's obviously a software component to whatever my problem is.  Something in the hardware is ultra-sensitive to the ever-changing state of the operating system, particularly when the drive has been disconnected for a bit. 

     

    But thank you for your help and all of the time you've spent.

  • by db247365,

    db247365 db247365 Feb 2, 2012 8:04 AM in response to judithnewman
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 2, 2012 8:04 AM in response to judithnewman

    It looks like Lacie released a USB 3 driver for lacie drives that works on some kext files and addresses issues related to mac osx, but that someone has patched the file to work on other manufacturer id'd drives? I don't have snow leopard so I can't install multibeast. Can someone look into this?

     

    Here's a link:

     

    http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/11/usb-30-now-supported-in-mac-os-x.html

  • by db247365,

    db247365 db247365 Feb 2, 2012 8:13 AM in response to judithnewman
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 2, 2012 8:13 AM in response to judithnewman

    Sorry for the premature post. It looks like people are having mixed results with the lacie drivers and the patched lacie drivers, and they are primarily for people who buy their usb 3 pcie cards. Ug. I'm going to keep hunting looking for open source softtware for increased usb 3 compatibility.

  • by saneman,

    saneman saneman Feb 2, 2012 8:23 AM in response to db247365
    Level 1 (8 points)
    iPod
    Feb 2, 2012 8:23 AM in response to db247365

    I did the research and found the best option is to get a firewire dock or get super USB. Until Mac and Intel make the upgrade to USB 3.0, it will be more hassel then it's worth. That's just my opionion, but I have had a replacement firewire dock, replacing the USB 3.0, for 3 weeks and no ejecting.

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Feb 2, 2012 8:31 AM in response to saneman
    Level 9 (54,050 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 2, 2012 8:31 AM in response to saneman

    So far Apple appears to be backing Intel on its ThunderBolt efforts.

     

    Allan

  • by db247365,

    db247365 db247365 Feb 2, 2012 8:32 AM in response to judithnewman
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 2, 2012 8:32 AM in response to judithnewman

    Problem is the one firewire 400 port on my macbook pro I need for my firewire audio box. Daisy chaining drives when I'm using the audio box usually results in problems.

  • by saneman,

    saneman saneman Feb 2, 2012 8:40 AM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (8 points)
    iPod
    Feb 2, 2012 8:40 AM in response to Allan Eckert

    "Steve Jobs made a point of saying that No Intel support was a big problem for Apple when it came to USB 3.0. With Intel planning USB 3.0 CPUs for early 2012, there’s just no way they’ll jump ship to a third-party manufacturer instead of just waiting it out." This was a excerpt from an article from "Cult of Mac"

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Feb 2, 2012 8:48 AM in response to saneman
    Level 9 (54,050 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 2, 2012 8:48 AM in response to saneman

    Both USB 3 and ThunderBolt are from Intel.

     

    Allan

  • by saneman,

    saneman saneman Feb 2, 2012 9:03 AM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (8 points)
    iPod
    Feb 2, 2012 9:03 AM in response to Allan Eckert

    Thanks Capt. Obvious.

  • by ankhank,

    ankhank ankhank Feb 2, 2012 9:22 AM in response to saneman
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Feb 2, 2012 9:22 AM in response to saneman

    I have used a powered firewire dock; it doesn't prevent the occasional disconnect.

  • by db247365,

    db247365 db247365 Feb 2, 2012 9:59 AM in response to judithnewman
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 2, 2012 9:59 AM in response to judithnewman

    Hang on, color me confused. USB 3 is from intel, but theres no intel support for USB 3 on mac? Can someone please clarify this for me?

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Feb 2, 2012 10:01 AM in response to db247365
    Level 9 (54,050 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 2, 2012 10:01 AM in response to db247365

    Best guess I can come up with is Apple sees ThunderBolt as the better solution.

     

    Allan

  • by Richard E. Cooke,

    Richard E. Cooke Richard E. Cooke Feb 2, 2012 10:31 AM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 2 (220 points)
    Feb 2, 2012 10:31 AM in response to Allan Eckert

    @Allan E.:

     

    Thunderbolt is much faster, much more efficient.  USB has so much overhead that its nearly impossible to get near the max speed of the bus.

     

    This is kinda off topic for this thread guys.

     

    Read more about USB and Thunderbolt on wikipedia:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)

     

    What I worry about is the cost of adding Thunderbolt to new designs.  USB was supposed to be a temporary interface, but it stuck around and is everywhere because it is very inexpensive to add it to a new design.  Heck, there is an all-in-one chip you can buy to add a USB interface to your own home electronics projects!

     

    If your trying to get the best speed for external drives, FW is the cost-effective way to go.  eSATA is faster, and a lot of places are selling off their stock of eSATA cards so I say snap them up!

     

    However, the dirty secret is your hard drive likely cannot handle sustained data transfers faster than about USB 1.1 or 2.0, so why bother?

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