Q: Disk Drive ejecting itself

Andy, Data Robitics believes it is an OS issue with USB power, and it seems to have started with 10.6.4. Another thread here shows how users have reverted some kernel extensions from an earlier version and the problem goes away. Indeed, I never had any issues until 10.6.4 (or maybe it was .3).

but that doesn't explain why it would work on my iMac and MacBook Pro USBs??

Different USB hardware and thus different driver would be the most obvious guess I would make.

good point... So I guess we wait to see what Apple does?

Well, unfortunately the AC adapter for my G-Drive Mini didn't do the trick, and I was told by the Apple Senior Advisor I was talking to before that the Apple engineers he spoke with were convinced that the problem lies with the drive, so I've sent it back to Hitachi for a replacement.

Even though I couldn't convince him that the problem might be OS-related, I did implore him to get the engineers to read this discussion because of all the information to be gleaned from it. I still don't know if any of them have actually read the discussion since I first suggested it some months back, but if my replacement G-Drive has the same problem as the first one, then I'll be trying even harder to get them to pay attention to the discussion.

William, you said, "My point is that we can rarely be sure how Apple feels about a particular problem and when they might fix it."

I agree, and that's what's so maddening, not knowing what the engineers are thinking or whether they are actually working on the problem, but I suppose Apple is no different than other companies in that respect.

Message was edited by: onemac

Has anyone experienced disk ejection after 10.6.7 update?

just look up 4 posts.

Andy603 wrote:
my boot drive permissions will not completely repair themselves even after a repair operation.

That's routine: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1448

I bought an iomega 1TB 2.5" drive today, and am experiencing the same problem. The drive keeps ejecting itself during the process of copying files to it. The drive came with 2 USB outputs, and the problem disappears if I plug both in… so it seems to be a power issue.

The problem still persists with the 10.6.7 update, alas. Doing any kind of data, like importing iMovie video, causes my drive to eject at some point, pretty much every time. I have been dead in the water for many months because of this.

Here is the thread with a workaround/solution (which I am about to try as well):

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2644159

Here are the details (not my solution, just pasting it in from the other message, with links added):

1. download the OSX 10.6.4 combo update.
http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1048

2. download Pacifist
http://www.charlessoft.com/

3. download kext helper b7
http://cheetha.net/

4. Open The OSX 10.6.4 combo update with Pacifist

5. drag over the following files to the desktop, AppleUSBAudio.kext, AppleUSBMultitouch.kext, AppleUSBTopCase.kext, IOUSBFamily.kext, IOUSBMassStorageClass.kext, AppleUSBDisplays.kext.
I know you probably dont need all of these, but i downgraded all of these kexts and all seems to work fine.

6. open up Kext Helper b7 and drag all kext into the app, put in your password, all should be good.

7. reboot.

After following the above steps, my mouse is stuck at the top left corner of the screen whilst the keyboard is unresponsive therefore I can't login. Can someone please provide a solution quickly, I desperately need to access my dissertation. Thanks.

I had this issue with my 2TB LaCie Minimus external drive. It would eject itself while doing backups. Strangely, it would do this more often when connected directly to a USB port on my Mac Pro, and less frequently when connected via a hub (eg. the keyboard USB ports).

I purchased a USB 3.0 card today to see if that would fix this issue, and also allow me to take advantage of the full speed of my drive interface. I'm happy to report that it ran a full backup of 500GB over 1.5hrs without dismounting. It averaged about 100MB/s.

I think this helps confirm that it's an Apple problem.

I too was hoping OS X 10.6.7 would fix my external OWC usb drive from self ejecting randomly when Time Machine was turned on, for my iMac - but no luck.

Why do you guys concentrate on USB? I have the same ejecting problem as you do but with Firewire 800 connection.

Actually, I have 3 G-Tech drives, all Journaled HFS+ and all connected to my MacBook Pro with FW800 cables via FW hub:

Two 500 GB drives have never ejected themselves.
One 2TB drive ejects itself.

I have tried switching the ports on the hub and using the FW cable from those that work on the one that has a problem, but the problem stays on my 2TB.

I have used USB cable on my 2TB again problem stays.

I have upgradet OS to 10.6.7, again problem stays.

So, I do not think we should focus on the USB connection, because the same things are happening with the FW connections. From other people's comments it appears that is happening on many different brands, too.

Can it be certain storage size?
or
Heating problems?
or
???