Q: External hard drive ejects on sleep

I sure hope the aptly named: Swiss Fix works for my instance.

I've tried the application (Jettison) mentioned earlier in this thread, and that HAS NOT helped the issue. I either come back to my machine and i have an error message that the disk wasn't available to be ejected at sleep because it was in use, and more often than not, when I don't get that error message, my Lacie 4TB BigDisk Thunderbolt is STILL disconnected. The only way to "jumpstart" it from there is disconnect the Thunderbolt cable and re-attach. I've tried going through Disk Utility to no avail.

I spoke to Apple CS about this issue, and she recommended resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) and PRAM.  I did those, and it seemed to fix the issue for about a week.  But then yesterday I had one more instance of one of my ext drives not mounting.  I may try macbirdy's solution.

Hi,

I've just tried macbirdy's solution. I rebooted into safe mode. I put the computer to sleep. After wake up, I had the same old "drive improperly ejected" warning, so I didn't followed the further steps.

So it didn't fixed the issue for me, but it may work for others. Good luck!

Thank you so much.  This has worked for me also.  Its been 5 days now and I have not had one ejection notification... VERY happy!

I didn't have anything in my "Entensions" folder and I didn't even have a "Compositions" folder, but followed the remainder of the instructions below!

"Start your Mac with safe boot into the safe mode (press and hold shift while pressing the on-button, hold it until a status bar appears under the apple). Try to reproduce the problem. If the problem doesn't occur in the safe mode, it's maybe a problem with the launch agents and the launch daemons (they are deactivated in safe mode) and the following will probably help you: Restart your Mac in the normal mode. In the finder, go to your HD > library > caches. Delete everthing in this folder (not the folder itself), do the same with extensions and compositions. Still in the library, re-name the folder "LaunchAgents" to "LaunchAgents.old", re-name "LaunchDaemons" to "LaunchDaemons.old". Re-start your mac, empty your paperbin and once again try to reproduce the problem. For me, it worked perfect: After this, I didn't had any problems, neither with ejected external discs nor with crashing. I even activated the sleep mode for the external hard disks and tried that one - no more problem. So I hope, the problem could definitly be solved and that it may help some of you as well."

Ok, so now as a result of this issue my Lacie Thunderbolt Big Disk 4TB isn't showing up at all. I'm kinda upset at this point that no-one from Apple has stepped in to say anything about this issue. With 26 pages of posts, it's pretty obvious it not an isolated issue.

For me personally now, it may have cost me data as well as hardware, in which case, I might be looking at another computer solution altogether – despite being a Mac User for 15 years.

I tried every conceivable solution including a clean install with Mountain Lion and the external hard drives' still ejected.  It was not solved by Apple until the 10.8.5 supplemental update was released ---almost a year after the problem was first apparent.  Therefore, I suspect we have about a year to wait before Mavericks is fixed.  If you haven't submitted a bug report it would be a good idea but, even with that, Apple is slow to address the bugs.

I installed the supplementary update in 10.8.5 - no fix.

I tried all the solutions documented in any of the different threats about the disconnecting issue - no fix.

I installed mavericks - no fix.

Drives eject when after going to dark sleep >1h. So I assume this has to do with powermanagement.

Issue exists with lacie thunderbolt to sata adapter (eSata Hub) and two sata drive, a thunderbolt ssd via seagate thunderbolt sata adapter (GoFlex STAE126) as well as a usb 3 drive from toshiba.

So, note to Apple, there is a problem and for some those fixes may have helped, but not for me. And as far as I can read, I am not alone.

4TB of data is a lot to lose. It staggers me that people don't do proper backups.

And if your drives keep ejecting while putting your macs to sleep, just put the display to sleep and leave the Mac on, until Apple release a fix...

Turning off disk sleep and allowing display sleep only does not fix this issue for me.  My external USB drive disconnects after a seemingly random period of time, unrelated to the display or machine's sleep patterns.  It may have something to do with Fast User Switching (which we use on this machine), but I haven't tested that theory.

I switched from a MacBook Pro 15" Mid 2009 to a brand new Retina MBP 15" and my external hard disks are always unmounted when I wake it up with a key or open the lid. That means: no hardware issue - not in the hub or the cables or USB 2 or something else like Mavericks - its the new Retina Power Book (for nearly 3000,- Euros).

Ok Apple, you guys sold a lot of these childish iPhones, but don´t forget from where you came from! This is not professional.

Yes, running back-ups is great, I have back-ups.  This disk is used for storing backups, the problem is my backups are out of sync and I need the disk to keep all my data, based on my backup schema.

I called apple care today, after explaining to the first tech was a RAID array was, I was passed along to Tier2 where I was told it wasn't a problem they could fix, and that I should call the RAID mfg (LACIE) about this issue. After 15 years, and now $700 in open support (Apple Care on 2 products) I'm being told to figure it out myself rather than addressing the issue, by Apple Care techs who on Tier 1 were clearly unknowledgeable, and on Tier 2 were apathetic and discounting my issue.

I miss Steve, and now I have strong hopes for the ChromeOS. I'm just Adobe Creative Suite away from making the switch.

I reverted to 10.8.5 and no longer have issues with disk ejection or repeated wakes. (In 10.9 my 2012 Retina MBP wakes every minute if a USB hub is connected even with nothing plugged into the hub.) I have 10.8.5 and 10.9.1 dual-booting, but 10.8.5 is now my primary OS. The only problem is that the latest iWork and iLife apps require 10.9.

Forget the Apple recommendation to call LaCie hard drive maker--they made the same recommendations with my WD hard drives and it's not a solution; the problem is with the OS X software.  Apple is sending you down the proverbial "Rabbit Hole" and hoping you (we) will go away.........

anthemius,

Good news: it is not your MBP

Bad news: it is the OS

It is the one thing we appear to have in common. At some point in Mountain Lion and above Apple fouled it up

They should be careful what they wish for. Going away is precisely what I might have to do.