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User profile for user: Barneyi
Barneyi Author
User level: Level 1
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HELP: WD External Hard drive disconnecting by itself after Maverick OSX update.

Hello!


I just finished updating my OSX from Mountain Lion 10.8 to Maverick 10.9

I am using 15 inch Macbook Pro late 2011 processor is i7 and 4GB memory.


Before on ML I'm rarely or never expirience this where my external drive is disconnecting

by itself. I am using USB hub (10 ports) I have 2 HD's both are 1TB and on that usb port

my cooling pad is also connected as well the data plug for iphone. My USB port has another

power cable which is also in use.


Now I have three questions


1) Do you think that one of my HD has an issue? because this is the only one

that is disconnecting by it self? when I unplug and plug it back it shows to Utility Disk

but it is not mounting. I manage to restore it by clicking the repair button several time

but it keeps disconnecting by itself and I am not comfortable on doing this time to time.


2) Do you think updating to Maverick is one of the reason why this is happening?


3) What solution i can do to solve this issue.



Thank you in advance.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)

Posted on Oct 26, 2013 5:33 AM

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26 replies
User profile for user: Voladero
Voladero
User level: Level 1
0 points

Oct 26, 2013 5:49 PM in response to Barneyi

I am having exactly the same issue and I think we have exactly the same laptop. I have two WD drives that are randomly disconnecting themselves. But I think it's a bug that has to do with all external media. After I upgraded to Mavericks, my SD card reader started repeatedly unmounting and mounting the SD card from my camera (in the SD slot). I've read other people have had issues with USB thumbdrives... I haven't tried that yet.


I've been searching online for a solution since I upgraded earlier today and there is nothing.


Let's hope for a fix.

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User profile for user: Barneyi
Barneyi Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Oct 29, 2013 7:31 PM in response to Voladero

I have a guess why this is happening... maybe because OSX is design to prolong the battery life from there our issue started, because external HD's are ejecting because of unsufficient power, thats my guess.


Now I remove all of my data from my 1TB, i borrowed a laptop to a friend because unable to complete the transfer of files to MBP due to this auto ejecting issue. After emptying the 1TB i connect again to MBP and go to Disk Utilities and erase it then put back my files. I remember that I ad an issue to my 1TB before where i unplug it while its in the process of data and I am just lucky that I am still using it today but after Maverick update this issue just pop up. Right now I am observing if the erase on 1TB will be a good solution for me and I'll report back. Promise



Wish me the best, Thanks.

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User profile for user: Barneyi
Barneyi Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Oct 30, 2013 9:11 PM in response to Barneyi

Hi to All


It seems my issue is already solved I didn't expirience any auto ejecting anymore after I formated my 1TB using the Disk Utility. I already bring back the files that I removed before from my 1TB and so far its all good.


Another tip is if you will plug your external HD's to a usb port give a one interval slot because if you do there's a possibility that it may auto eject again, this happen to me since updating to Maverick but in Mountain Lion maybe it happen to be once or thrice maybe because of bad ejecting that i've done to my 1TB.


This all is as per my intuition, observation and pure guts but now im good and my usb's are not auto ejecting anymore from the day I'd format it to disk utility using erase (of course in exfat format) until now. I wish this will help others too...



Have a nice day! 😀

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User profile for user: Carl Berger
Carl Berger
User level: Level 1
10 points

Nov 13, 2013 7:26 AM in response to Barneyi

Same problem on newer iMac with Mavericks. Pluged both the 1T backup and 5T Drobo directly into iMac USB and Lightning ports. Both drives (or drive sets in Drobo) Spontaniously drop off line.

Though plugged in and active they are not recognized by Disk Utility as unmounted. Only way to remount is NOT to reconect plugs but to restart the machine.


Very frustrating.

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User profile for user: 0ut1aw0
0ut1aw0
User level: Level 1
0 points

Nov 17, 2013 9:23 PM in response to Carl Berger

Starting with a good Mt Lion load fixed this on my systems. I had the exact same problem when I did a fresh 10.9 load


I have now repeated the fix 3 times (2 HDDs on a MacBook and 1 iMac)


If you have a good Mt Lion before you do the 10.9 upgrade Maverick seems to not have this problem. I even did a full fresh load of mt lion and then did all the mt lion upgrades I then loaded 10.9.


All my Macs are now working flawlessly.

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User profile for user: james.fischer
james.fischer
User level: Level 1
0 points

Nov 29, 2013 1:14 PM in response to Barneyi

I have the same issue, but with a Seagate GoFlex Desk, connected by USB cable directly to the iMac running Mavericks. With prior releases, there was no issue, but twice so far, the disc, even though plugged in and untouched, would appear to not be plugged in, and a scheduled Time Machine backup would fail.


Since early 2012, the backups have run every 4am without fail, even when the computer was in "sleep mode" without problem and without waking up the screen.


Waking up to "backup failed" is UNACCEPTEABLE.

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User profile for user: Laurent Seroude
Laurent Seroude
User level: Level 1
79 points

Dec 3, 2013 6:27 AM in response to Barneyi

Problem here as well with 2010 Mac Pro. It actually started when I updated to Lion where I got disnonnection several times a day (only for FireWire drives, moving drives to different firewire port makes it more or less frequent). Montain Lion greatly improved it (disconnect 1-2 times a month). Maverick is back to several times a day......Moving the drive to USB or eSATA makes the problem go away. I have this problem with OWC Qx2,Elite and Rack, LaCIE, WD, Seagate and MacAlly drive enclosures, brand does not matter, only the use of FIreWire causes the problem. The problem shows more frequently when computer sleeps/wakes but can happen indenpendently of sleep/wake.

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User profile for user: james.fischer
james.fischer
User level: Level 1
0 points

Dec 11, 2013 7:47 PM in response to Barneyi

I called Apple, as they providing free support for 30 days on Mavericks, and I was annoyed. They escalated the case to a senior engineer, who claims no knowledge of this problem, but directed my to a log gathering program that I was asked to start before going to bed, as my ejects seem to happen overnight.


So call Apple, and report the disc eject issue, and at least make them aware of the defect being more than an isolated issue. They claim that there should be no impact on USB, filesystem, or drivers that might cause this issue, but the support staff member I spoke with took my problem seriously, as I explained that the sole purpose for the 3TB drive was to be a destination for Time Machine backups.

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HELP: WD External Hard drive disconnecting by itself after Maverick OSX update.

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