Time Machine "ejects improperly".

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Level 1

5 points

Time Machine "ejects improperly".

I have a March 2009 iMac 10.10.3, and used a Seagate Free Agent Extreme external drive as my Time Machine. It functioned flawlessly.

I purchased a January 2015 iMac 10.10.3, and used the same drive as my Time Machine.

After a short time I began to get a message, “not ejected properly”, and backups ceased

I could restart the drive by disconnecting the power and reconnecting it after a short time. Backups would then proceed for a day or so and the problem would repeat.

A call to Apple support stated that many drives were having the same problem. The blame was placed upon the Seagate provided USB cable. I replaced the cable but the problem remains. It was also suggested that I have the drive tested??

It is odd that the Time Machine functions on 10.10.3 of the old iMac, but not on 10.10.3 of the new iMac. Could there be a problem with the code associated with the running of the Time Machine?

Any ideas?

Thanks

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on May 2, 2015 12:37 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 2, 2015 4:42 PM in response to trainlag

The drive is six years old. It's overdue for replacement. You need at least two backup drives to be safe.

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Answer 2

Isabely

Level 1

5 points

May 5, 2015 9:54 AM in response to trainlag

I'm quite sure if there was corruption going on, Apple would continue displaying the message every time. It does warn you with actual hard drives, but with USB sticks and cards, writing should always be cached anyway.

Whatever the case, the warning does nothing to alleviate the problem anyway - casual users don't care/pay attention/know what's going on anyway and advanced users eject properly.

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