Disk not ejected properly

I feel compelled to jump in here.

I had this same problem for a long time and did much research and tried many suggested solutions until I came upon the solution that totally worked for me.

I discovered that the problem had nothing to do with the system software. It turns out the the problem resides in the USB cables. I replaced all my USB cables from hard drive to the USB hub and from the hub to my iMac with brand new quality cables. I have not had 1 ejection now for the last 4 months.

I was running Mavericks when I swapped out my cables and just recently upgraded to Yosemite. No hard drive ejections or failing to wake from sleep.

Good luck to everyone.

mikeymark wrote:

I had this same problem for a long time and did much research and tried many suggested solutions until I came upon the solution that totally worked for me.

Is your whole system from hard drives -> cables -> hub -> iMac USB3?

I was having ejecting issues with USB3, so replaced cables/hub with USB2 (and just put up with the slower speeds). I have not had a problem since. Interested if you've been able to retain USB3 with no probs...?

mikeymark wrote:

I discovered that the problem had nothing to do with the system software. It turns out the the problem resides in the USB cables. I replaced all my USB cables from hard drive to the USB hub and from the hub to my iMac with brand new quality cables. I have not had 1 ejection now for the last 4 months.

In some instances, Apple requires cables compliant to a certain standard. For instance, I had to purchase 3 cables for my NEC monitor before I had one that was fully compatible with wake from sleep. I found in the Apple support pages that there is a grounding issue with the ones built to PC standards. Maybe there is such requirement with Apple USB3, and not all cables are Apple compliant? It could be also physical weaknesses in the way they are built like flimsy contacts or too much play.

I'd be interested in being suggested a brand of proven Apple compliant cables.

Sadly this problem isn't limited to USB - I have USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt drives and both eject / show DNEP message.

All are mains powered and connected direct. I've tried new cables etc and just about every suggestion offered on the many forums!!!

The only drive that doesn't eject is a self powered old USB 2.0 drive.

I wonder if this is why Time capsule remains a USB 2.0 model?

I can "stimulate" the problem by dimming my iMac screen manually to it's lowest settings.

I have Applecare but to carry all my gear to a store is a very long trek so I haven't managed this yet.

I have had brief contact with David Pogue (Apple Dummies "Guru") but even this has had no obvious effect on uninterested Apple.

Is anyone reading this stuff?? --->>>

RE: New Mac Pro (late 2013) with LaCie externals: 2x3TB, 1x1TB (USB3), and 2x12TB LaCie 2BIG (each RAID 0 on Thunderbolt 2).

The 12TB drives were behaving perfectly when brand new (about 3 weeks old now). Then, Final Cut Pro with a certain MOTIONVFX.com plug-in occasionally caused my system to crash and reboot automatically. 😟 As a result, finder prefs (minimally) got corrupted and I couldn't even dup or delete a file or folder. PLUS, eventually, the 12's would no longer sleep with the computer and then get ejected when the Mac slept for an extended period of time and when the Mac woke up, it produced the dreaded, "DISK NOT EJECTED PROPERLY" message for BOTH 12's.

I tried everything: zapping PRAM, resetting SMC, rebooting, repairing permissions...Nothing worked. LaCie: No help, although they offered to send new Thunderbolt cables.

I had the same drive-not-sleeping problem with my Mac Mini for a while, and that inexplicably went away recently.

Sooooo... Here's how mine got fixed. Hope it works for you...

Last night there was a car accident (somewhere) at 2:45AM and for 2-1/2 hours we had a power outage in the entire area. At 6AM I woke the computer and the drives were once again working perfectly (and not getting improperly ejected).

The one thing I hadn't tried was shutting down the Mac PRO for an extended period (probably the same extended period of simple sleep that caused the ejection). The Mac Mini's drive-sleep problem probably also went away when it was powered down recently for lack of use.

So try it: Power-down for at least 2 hours.

∆

Powered off for a week in the summer (and unplugged) : - no difference. Off each night for 5 -8 hours.

I've been visiting this forum and many others for a long while now without success.

A pity Apple don't !!

Actually, since my Mac Mini AND the Mac Pro (2X) got fixed from power outage, it turns out that you have to shut down the power source to the Mac and everything connected to it. Try that for >2 hours.

None of this stuff works for everybody. I've tried several different USB 3 cables, tried putting it through a hub and also directly into my MacBook Pro, and nothing works. I've tried the software tweaking as well. There's no way to remove power from a MacBook Pro Retina mid 2012 other than disconnecting the battery internally, but I did that, too, when I upgraded my SSD with a third party SSD. Nothing has changed from Mavericks to Yosemite.

i think in my case the problem may be in my WD MyBook Drive, since none of the other external drives I've had, firewire, USB2, USB2 and Thunderbolt, have done this. I'm thinking of selling the drive (1.5 gb)--anyone who thinks it's a problem with the Mac or the OS want to buy my WD MyBook? Best offer... (If you're a nice person I wouldn't sell it to you, but I may call my brother-in-law to see if he's interested.)

C41...

Yes, my system is all USB3 and has been working without problems for a few months. I originally tried changing many cables I had on hand but only had success after buying 2 brand new certified USB3 cables on Amazon. By the way, all my drives are Western Digital drives.

I had bought some Amazon Basic USB3 cables. Are there better ones? More expensive, I assume. And maybe the Amazon Basic cables aren't certified. I also use an Amazon Basic USB3 Hub. I wonder if that could be the culprit, too? I hate to throw good money after bad, but if it will solve the problem I'm willing to try it.

Last night I had a different problem: My new Mac Pro (Late 2013) crashed and would not reboot...no startup chime, no Apple Logo...dead. I tried the same solution: NO POWER SOURCE for the Mac and everything connected for at least 2 hours.

BUT... Here's the thing: IF you're dealing with a Mac Book Pro (or any MacBook), shutting down is not enough. To TRY this method, you must REMOVE THE BATTERY as well as removing ALL POWER from everything connected. (Disconnecting all peripherals wouldn't hurt either.)

(Interestingly enough, the other night all the HDMI inputs to my Samsung TV suddenly failed and the solution was similar: disconnect all HDMI cables AND unplug the TV for at least 10 minutes. It worked!)

Lara, BSEE/Comp Sci, M.S. Comp Sci

Can someone please summarize the fixes that have the greatest chance of working? This thread is now 16 pages long and it's difficult to find the solutions. I realize that there isn't a reliable solution that works for everyone, but I'd like to try something.

I experienced this issue a lot for a while, then it stopped, and now it's back with a vengeance. In fact, when I woke up this morning I found that not only had my external USB Mercury Elite Pro enclosure been ejected 6-8 times throughout the night, it will no longer mount at all.

Thanks.

Of course, if you turn off the power to a drive (one way or another, including APC outlets shutting down), you will ALWAYS get, 'Disk not ejected properly".

But that's not the problem.

The problem is when this happens with the drives powered up and turned on.

My issue was that when my screen went to "sleep" the drives were switching off.

This happened as the monitor dimmed and went out. My ECO power socket had my iMac plugged into the main socket and the drives and various other peripherals into the other sockets.

It didn't occur to me that the ECO socket might be the issue as neither the iMac or drives were supposed to be switching off - just sleeping.

When I moved my mouse or touched a key they all woke up.

I assume it is something to do with the ECO socket not being required to supply enough power to stay "live" so it shuts down power to the peripheral drives and causes the DNEP message.

Anyway now I have taken the offending socket out of the equation the iMac screen dims and goes to sleep as do the drives without the DNEP warning.

They come back to life as before on mouse movement etc.

Still good so far.

I might try a different ECO socket at some point in case mine was faulty.

I had this problem too and the fix worked for me - with one slight alteration. Step 5. I was unable to move the SystemConfiguration file to the desktop (OS 10.9.5). When I tried, it moved a copy to the desktop, but left the original in place (there's probably an easy way to make it move rather than copy but, if there is I am not aware of it). Anyway, the solution is to copy it to the desktop and then to move the original from Preferences to the trash (requires admin password). Then zip the copy (for just in case), trash the unzipped copy from the desktop and empty the trash. Then continue as per Robster50's instructions. Thank you Robster50 for your tenacity in chasing Apple down on this one, by the way, and then for taking the trouble to write it up. Much appreciated!