Some discussions here cause me to fear upgrading to Mavericks.

Posting once is enough.

This is the "Emergency Room", not the place most Mac users will post if their install is working fine.

I doubt anyone is tracking what you want to know.

MRBarrett27

Some discussions here mention problems with external hard drives that seem serious enough to convince anyone to not upgrade.

If you have redundancy of your backup drives and archives, a HD crash or erasure doesnt matter.

The best thing that can be said, ideally, when your HD crashes with all its data is “so what, I’ve got a clone right here” and you can return to normal operation within seconds (by booting from the clone) or minutes (by swapping drives).

Data redundancy (copies) makes all HD crashes inconsequential, an irrelevancy.

There are only two kinds of hard drives, those that have failed, and those that will fail, regardless of quality of manufacture.

Always have a system (OS) hub copy (TM or a clone), and at the very least two copies of your data hub, and preferably a third offsite and securely online.

Always strive to "freeze" all or as much of your vital data as possible. Outside of permanent optical storage which cannot be re-written, freezing data is implied the total isolation of data from alteration either from manipulation by others, or corruption from either environmental or software based means. Just as your valuables go in a vault, so too should your data archives in one form or two.

Compartmentalize your system (OS) hub backup vs. that of your data hub archives, in so doing any failure in your computer (system [OS], data, computer) becomes quick to recover from!

Any Macbook or desktop should be idealized as a working platform computer system, containing all your applications, documents, and weekly-use necessary files; and all media files such as ‘big-data’ (music/PDF collections/video/pictures), unless directly needed in the near future, should be kept off the computer and on external storage USB or likewise bare hard drives.

Never consider any computer a data storage device at any time under any circumstance, rather a data creation, sending, and manipulation device. Anyone who thinks data is safe on any computer, even copied upon multiple partitions is making a mistake that will, without fail, strike.

People with REDUNDANT data archives, never worry about data loss, since losing data is near impossible.

😊

Most people who are happy with the install are too busy using it to answer surveys ... imagine if your new BMW is working really well how much time you would spend posting opinons.

But you can keep looking if you want to.

I would highly doubt it. Mavericks is the most downloaded OSX ever, so we are talking many many millions of people using it. They have no need to go to troubleshooting forums, only the small few having issues. You can try Googling it if you wish, but I would doubt that anybody could possibly get any accurate figures.

I know my five Macs are flying along under Mavericks without a single issue, as are those of all the Mac users I know.

Cheers

Pete

I have two Western Digital External Drives. Both were unaffected in any way. I did not, however have any WD software installed, which seems to be causing a lot of the issues and has been pulled from the WD site. At the moment there sounds like there is an issue with a lot of External Drives and a lot of speculation as to the exact cause. If you are concerned at all, then hold off until things are sorted out. It is a free download, and not that much differentto Mountain Lion, just a bit faster on my Macs, but certainly not a 'Must Have Now' OSX> But it is your call. I am happy, some are not.

Hope this helps

Pete

I would certainly uninstall any WD software you have installed. Even while just using Lion. It seems to feature prominantly in the logs of people having issues with their Macs. My drives have functioned perfectly without it.

Good luck

Pete

MRBarrett27

. But I wonder if this happens with all external HD or just some.

its happening with ALL external HD, I follow this issue closer than anyone.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5475136?start=255&tstart=0

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5475611?start=300&tstart=0

This has nothing to do with mechanical drives mfg. by WD, nor the controller boards ON the HD.

A hard drive is a lifeless brick, all of them, variances to the data corruption issue here are central to:

A: Mavericks OS (causation still unknown in relation to B or otherwise).

B: software (WD software, known causation as WD has admitted to already).

Run this uninstaller and see if you have any WD software on your system:

Western Digital Software Unintaller released 11-4-2013

For Mac

WD Software Uninstaller

File Name: WD_Software_Uninstaller_1_0_0_8.zip

All evidence currently (barring further investigation) points to:

A: WD control software (w/ Mavericks)

B: WD software cross-contamination in conjunction with Mavericks

C: Mavericks incapacity to deal with non-WD drives in excess of 2+ terabytes.

D: (and a minor sleep issue with external drives thru thunderbolt and firewire)

E: SPOTLIGHT in Mavericks **

Known high risk potentials reporting are -

RAID

partitioned drives

2TB and higher drives

use of WD control software as resident on the computer regardless of WD drives or otherwise

,..increasing statistical examination of spotlight / finder as causative.

To be certain, the mechanical drive in and of itself (be it seagate, WD, toshiba or hitachi) is playing no causative role in the corruption, no would it sensibly.

I have tried to induce failure on nearly 20 drives, both partitioned and fake TM backup redundant copies (without the use of WD software) and cannot replicate it, oddly, with use of Mavericks on a macbook Air and Mac Mini

petermac87

I would certainly uninstall any WD software you have installed.

That premise has been tested already many times, and is not a solution, .....alas

PlotinusVeritas wrote:

its happening with ALL external HD, I follow this issue closer than anyone.

That premise has been tested already many times, and is not a solution, .....alas

You mean it is happening with ALL brands of external HDs. if it was all drives, then I would be seeing issues as would everybody else. As I said I have had no issues, and coincidently never installed their software rubbish. I still stick by uninstalling any and all WD software. It is surplus crud.

Good luck

Pete

petermac87

ALL brands of external HDs...... I still stick by uninstalling any and all WD software. It is surplus crud.

Thats what I meant,,,,,with ALL mfg. HD (however I didnt state that clearly)

Toshiba, Hitachi, WD, and Seagate.

Im the FIRST person to say NEVER EVER install packaged WD software, or ANY packaged HD software,....as i write:

*On a very important note, always let disk utility handle a RAID array if you need one, and secondly never install any bundled software that came on your HD, or is recommended as a download from any hard drive manufacturer.

This is always a bad idea to consider installing such hard drive software designed to “improve, help etc.” your use of your new hard drive. All simple USB non-RAID hard drives need to be considered new from box as “format it immediately and ignore anything that might be on the HD from the mfg.”.