Level 1

27 points

Catalina - External Hard Drives repeatedly ejected without cause.

Following the upgrade of my iMac to Catalina 10.15, some of my External Hard Discs are ejecting spontaneously. Those that are being ejected are connected through Thunderbolt 2 ports. Those connected through USB 3.0 ports are performing well. All drives are G-Tech 8TB versions

I have run 'First Aid' on the two affected discs - no problems are detected. In 'Energy Saver' 'Put hard disks to sleep when possible' is unticked. All disks worked perfectly under OS 10.14.

This is the return of an old problem that I thought had been resolved by Apple years ago. A quick web check reveals that it is alive and kicking.

I would appreciate any solutions that others have found to this problem. I would like to avoid spending another $1,000 or so to fix this by having to buy new hard drives. it seems to be software related to me.

Thank you

Peter.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Oct 23, 2019 5:32 AM

Top-ranking reply

Sazzybee

Level 1

4 points

Posted on May 3, 2020 2:40 PM

Anyone want to give this a go and report back? Preventing spotlight from indexing the external drive...

I found this old apple discussion with the same issue on Yosemite with a confirmed solution. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6607988

1. Connect the volume or drive you want excluded to your Mac.

2. Open the System Preferences application.

3. Click on Spotlight, then click on the Privacy tab.

4. Drag your volume or drive into the Privacy menu to exclude them from Spotlight's indexing.

View in context

Similar questions

180 replies

Oct 4, 2020 1:38 PM in response to oxmox11

I bought a TS3 Plus powered hub yesterday and I'll give it a try when OWC sends the 4TB envoy pre ex drive back to me. They had sent me an RMA for it and about a week later I got a note saying that the drive is fine and it's on it's way back to me and if I have any more problems to get in touch with them. In the mean time I've been working like this (http://linwoodbell.com/clientdownloads/IMG0417.JPG) and this works. Go figure...

oxmox11

Level 1

50 points

Apr 13, 2020 5:25 PM in response to PeterRobin1

I have the same issue un der Catalina and a 2019 MacPro HD's randomly disconnect themself, mainly a Drobo 5C via USB 3

I tried pRam, different cable, disabled HD go to sleep still same issue.

BDAqua

Level 10

250,253 points

May 3, 2020 11:18 AM in response to skasol

I wouldn't think USB would affect TB, but what all is plugged into USB?

Sazzybee

Level 1

4 points

May 3, 2020 2:42 PM in response to skasol

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250777851?answerId=252575747022#252575747022

I'm going to try this today, it worked for Yosemite.

skasol

Level 1

9 points

May 7, 2020 6:57 AM in response to Algnon

Apple is coming to my house to replace logic board, I mentioned the issues and they stated that it’s most likely logic board.

May 7, 2020 7:15 AM in response to skasol

No, it’s not the logic board causing the disconnects, it’s code in Catalina causing it.

skasol

Level 1

9 points

May 26, 2020 9:52 AM in response to mickeyjfs

Mine has been working perfectly ever since I uninstalled WD software. My issue was the usb3 drives my TB drives were working fine.

May 26, 2020 10:09 AM in response to skasol

Skasol - are the TB drives Thunderbolt 2 or Thunderbolt 3?

Sazzybee

Level 1

4 points

May 29, 2020 8:21 PM in response to Community User

Try https://iboysoft.com/mac-data-recovery/free-mac-data-recovery.html

gsv66

Level 1

4 points

Aug 12, 2020 10:48 AM in response to ginagee123

Trying Sabrent 2TB SSD in a Trebleet Thunderbolt 3 enclosure and so far over 2 days it’s not disappeared off my desktop once.... fingers crossed. Sent the HDD back to Amazon.

BDAqua

Level 10

250,253 points

Aug 29, 2020 5:49 PM in response to oxmox11

Maybe Keep Drive Spinning...

http://jon.stovell.info/software/

BDAqua

Level 10

250,253 points

Oct 1, 2020 9:30 AM in response to linwoodbell

See if this workaround helps...

http://jon.stovell.info/software/keep-drive-spinning/

Marklev

Level 1

12 points

Nov 8, 2019 6:31 AM in response to PeterRobin1

I am having the exact same issue, Peter. I have gone through the same steps as you have and the issues continue. I am currently searching for other solutions. If you discover any please post them here, and I will do the same.

PeterRobin1 Author

Level 1

27 points

Nov 25, 2019 2:52 AM in response to SeaPapp

Thank you Mike.

No I haven't checked but will now do so. If there is a firmware update for Catalina, I wonder why G-Tech or Apple did not advise that to be the case - anyway speculation at this point - will revert.

Kind regards

Peter.

Jan 6, 2020 4:29 AM in response to DanG77

Dear DanG77

Just to say in addition to my 8TB suffering from this issue, my GTech 4TB drive has now also had the same problem. The new drives I installed continue to perform well.

However I know have 12TB of unusable external storage. Luckily my back up regime has worked. I have applied EVERY recommended fix to no avail. It would be 'nice' at least if one of the suppliers would step up to the plate and provided a solution.

Kind regards

Peter

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Catalina - External Hard Drives repeatedly ejected without cause.