Q: Disk Drive ejecting itself

@U.B.

I read all your posts. Your short on facts, long on emotions.

If you have a observed a problem please post what you did. Or at least post the hardware make & model of your failing drive.

Even better if you can get into System Profiler and identify the chipset used by your drive.

I tested a Western Digital MyBook PRO II (which is on WD's "obsolete" list now!) using its FW800 interface. I read several Terabytes without error. And wrote at least 500G without error. How does that compare with your experience?

Do we all agree this issue started with 10.6.5?

No.

According to posts on the first page of this thread this problem has been observed on 10.6.1 and 10.5.8.

Be advised that according to their posts and profile the original poster was using a LaCie external drive that a Google search shows a number of people, under Windows, have experienced auto-ejects!

For example:
http://www.amazon.ca/product-reviews/B0010YWPZ8

"... I began copying a large chunk of data -over 50 Gb, and received the message that it would take more than an hour. This is to be expected using USB2. Two/thirds of the way through the copy the drive "dropped" the connection and the copy failed. This happened a few times...."

That user returned his drive for refund. He made note that the drive does not have a cooling fan and got "quite warm" during operation.

Anybody got this drive? I would like to know what USB chip it uses.

Richard E. Cooke wrote:
According to posts on the first page of this thread this problem has been observed on 10.6.1 and 10.5.8.

Richard, I need to go back and reread this thread, but I think we may be dealing with two types of issues.

Is there a situation where a drive, just sitting there, will eject on its own, or are the instances reported from 10.6.1/10.5.8 tied to data transfers?

I have seven types of external hard drives in use on my late 2009 MacBook (not all at the same time). I have two 2nd generation Drobos hooked up via USB and used them for video work. For months I have been in the process of moving huge amounts of data around the drives (each Drobo is set to look like multiple 1.1TB virtual drives). Everything has always been rock solid for me until after 10.6.5, when the drive would eject while I was copying data.

I tried direct or through a Belkin hub, swapped cables, etc. and can 100% recreate the issue. Data Robotics has claimed it is a bug in the Mac OS X (since they had no changes to firmware during this, I guess I agree).

I will try some tests usnig two types of 2.5" laptop drives, two different iStarUSA enclosures, and even one bare-drive dock to see if they behave the same, and report back what they show up as in system profiler.

Others may wish to submit something at http://bugreport.apple.com - they have asked me for a full system log, but I have heard nothing since. Surely if they rab a Drobo and plug it in to the same laptop I have they should see the situation.

Allen Huffman wrote:
Data Robotics has claimed it is a bug in the Mac OS X (since they had no changes to firmware during this, I guess I agree).

That's not guaranteed. There's a slight chance that the Data Robotics firmware/software had a flaw that worked under previous OS X versions, but failed after an OS update.

I'm sorry to ruffle your theory but I was using a borrowed LaCie drive for about 6 months with no issues at all (sorry it's gone back now since I bought new drives). My 'ejecting' issues only appeared about 3 weeks ago and very intermittently now they occur many many times per day and many times upon starting up.

As I mentioned, Apple support told me to do a fresh install with no previous migrations etc after testing that it didn't appear to be hardware related. Sadly, even with a fresh install I'm still getting it. For me, it appears to only have happened after the latest update.

The ejecting only only happens when I'm using my USB hub and is not partial to any one particular drive - it's random. If I only have the drives direct into the iMac I have no issues. Well sadly I need more than 3 USB ports

Add me to the list as well.

Brand new problem for me. Old 500G Lacie External never gave me any problems. Brand new 1T Lacie Stark is constantly ejected. I'm going to try a couple of the suggested fixes and see how it goes...

Message was edited by: slowdive101

Message was edited by: slowdive101

Okay, attempted fixes (Disk Utility, verify, repair, etc.) failed miserably. Disk now ejects itself both upon any activity and at random times.

Strangely, I was initially able to transfer a huge amount of data (around 200G) from the old Lacie Drive to this new one without any problems whatsoever. It was only when I started the regular day-to-day usage with the new drive that the constant ejection problems began.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated. Is returning the drive (purchased from an Apple Store) a waste of time? All fingers seem to be pointed at Apple here, so I'm inclined to sit tight until a fix is found....

For what it's worth, I thought I'd try plugging the 1T Lacie into my USB hub. In the 15 minutes or so, I've not had one spontaneous ejection, and I've been working the drive very hard.

Very strange. Drive works when plugged into crappy USB Hub device, but not when plugged directly into an iMac. What gives?

That's very weird. Mine work fine when directly in my iMac but if I have anything plugged into the hub I get ejects.

I wouldn't take the drive back. I've bought two new ones and they are doing it too .. and a brand new hub. No luck.

If I plug my iPhone into the hub, it goes beserk

Apple (or any company) does not have the resources to "chase down" a claimed problem from a end-user. They DO read these forums. Post useful information and it will likely be acted upon - after a clear repeatable pattern emerges.

The first page reports are indeed related to data write operations. I'm ignoring drives that eject while not active because that is almost certainly communications problems caused by bad cables or hubs.

Which reminds me, my 1T backup drive that has not failed (yet anyway) is on a D-link hub with USB chips:
Product ID: 0xf103
Vendor ID: 0x2001

Other people that posted PLEASE post some technical info! Without it we have zero chance of figuring this out.

If a drive works while it is plugged into a hub, but not when plugged directly into the computer, I'm not sure how one could come to the conclusion that a bad cable is culprit. Regardless, ignoring any specific problem related to this issue seems puzzling to me, and I can only hope that the folks at Apple do not similarly ignore any of the concerns expressed in this forum.

Hey, what do you know about the exploding Chicken coop - a little South of your location....
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/13/mysterychickenblast/

I just read all your posts. You fail to completely identify the hardware and actions that caused your failure.

Without that info, nobody has a chance of figuring out what is wrong.

I'm sorry if I'm pushy, but I have this problem too and I want it resolved. I think I have it narrowed down to the USB chipset. But to confirm or disprove my theory I need more data. Lots more.

USB - in general - is a nightmare of problems. For starters, the power connection in the cable is not isolated. I have watched USB cables smoke and melt from ground eddy currents flowing through them because the USB device (hard disk or hub) was connected to a different AC power circuit than the computer.

The jacks are not designed to be used many times. The more often you plug in the jack, the looser it gets. Its easy to bend one of the contact "fingers" inside the jack or plug. The cables easily pull out.

The list goes on and on.

By the way, if you search "Lacie" in this thread you will find a post where I documented a known issue with some LaCie drives under Windows as well as OSX. The originator of this thread was using a LaCie drive whose model number is affected.

Message was edited by: Richard E. Cooke

I have three Kingston DataTraveler G3 USB flash drives. Two are 8GB and one 16GB. One of the 8GB drives spontaneously ejects during a large (500MB+) file copy to it. This is identified as:

Product ID: 0x1643
Vendor ID: 0x0951 (Kingston Technology Company)
Version: 0.00
Serial Number: 001372982D2AAAC145750065
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Kingston
Location ID: 0x24110000

The 8GB that has no problems at all is identified as:

Product ID: 0x1643
Vendor ID: 0x0951 (Kingston Technology Company)
Version: 1.00
Serial Number: 001CC07CEAD9F0B0392519F6
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Kingston
Location ID: 0x24110000

The 16GB drive that also has no problems at all is identified as:

Product ID: 0x1643
Vendor ID: 0x0951 (Kingston Technology Company)
Version: 1.00
Serial Number: 001CC0EC32CDBA9125EF006F
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Kingston
Location ID: 0x24110000

So, the one that fails does have a different USB chip - the version is different from the other two. Other than that there does not seem to be any difference.

I have tried reformatting, formatting with different filesystems etc, but to no avail.