"disk was not ejected properly" errors

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Level 1

13 points

"disk was not ejected properly" errors

I have 3 external Lacie drives (all Thunderbolt) connected to my iMac: 2 3TB drives and 1 512 GB SSD.

I back up my internal 3TB Fusion drive to both 3TB external Lacie drives at the end of each day.

(The SSD is used strictly as a scratch disk (I'm a professional landscape photographer). The SSD is always kept on, BTW.)

After I back up to these 2 3TB drives, I always eject them and then turn them off before putting the iMac to sleep. (The only time I have them running is during backups at the end of each work day.)

However, during the past couple of weeks I've been receiving the "disk was not ejected properly" error every time I wake the iMac. I'm 100% certain that each of the 3TB drives was properly ejected before turning them off (and then subsequently putting the iMac to sleep).

Restarting the iMac doesn't change the situation in the sense that every time I thereafter put the iMac to sleep I get the error message upon waking.

Any ideas....?

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion, 3.4GH Quad-core i7

Posted on Sep 24, 2013 10:27 PM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Sep 25, 2013 9:42 AM in response to highland99

Which disk was not ejected properly?

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Answer 2

highland99 Author

Level 1

13 points

Sep 26, 2013 9:46 PM in response to Linc Davis

After doing some further testing, it appears it's the SSD.

With the two separate 3 TB completely shut down, then doing a restart with the only operating drive being the SSD, then putting the iMac to sleep, upon waking I get the same error message.

After contacting Lacie about this they advised taking two specific steps:

(1) switching the polarity of the thunderbolt cable.

This didn't help.

(2) making sure to manually eject the SSD in the Finder before putting the iMac to sleep.

This didn't help either.

I get the same error message upon waking the iMac.

After contacting Lacie a second time (today) they say that it is the Mac OS that's the problem, not the drive. I find this hard to believe, but technically I'm not expert enough to be able to know whether or not they are telling the truth. (I doubt it.)

Although I have done a Disk Utility test of the SSD and everything indeed tests out fine.

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Sep 26, 2013 11:16 PM in response to highland99

they say that it is the Mac OS that's the problem, not the drive

I've seen a few other reports of this issue since 10.8.5 was released, so there may be some truth in that.

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Answer 4

highland99 Author

Level 1

13 points

Sep 28, 2013 2:20 AM in response to Linc Davis

I've seen a few reports as well (today).

Contacted Apple today; the tech support rep knew nothing about this, unfortunately. Didn't have any suggestions other than disconnecting all devices (including power) after shutting down. Upon restarting with power button, holding down Option+Command+R+P and waiting for the 2nd chime -- didn't work in solving problem.

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