External drives ejecting automatically

Question

External drives ejecting automatically

Over the past year I've been experiencing constant issues with external drives of ALL BRANDS, connected to my Mac Pro 2010 via both Firewire 800 and USB 2.0. Most of them have this problem of automatically ejecting (even while copying files - sometimes after 6 hours of copying), thus ending any copying or work being done.

I've contacted each of these manufactures and gone through endless software updates,etc and I still have troubles from the cheapest drives to pro Glyph drives.

Does anyone, anywhere have any idea what is causing this?

I'm currently running the newest version of Mavericks.

Thanks!

pro

Posted on May 30, 2015 10:49 AM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,417 points

May 30, 2015 10:59 AM in response to moonspinner123

Note the time the next disconnect happens. Then open the Console app in Finder>Applications>Utilities and look for log entries at that time. Posy suspicious ones here

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Answer 2

May 30, 2015 11:00 AM in response to moonspinner123

You may need to repair or reformat the drives.

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Answer 3

May 30, 2015 11:08 AM in response to Averythomas

Have done that. We're talking 5 different drives from different manufacturers. The annoyance is they work fine while initially copying huge amounts of files onto them, but then continually eject once you need to use them. I just feel that there must be an issue with my mac.

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Answer 4

May 30, 2015 11:11 AM in response to lllaass

Usually happens when I'm not at the computer. It can take hours or days to eject.

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Answer 5

markwmsn

Level 6

15,017 points

May 30, 2015 11:13 AM in response to moonspinner123

Are these external drives bus-powered, or do they have their own power supplies?

If the latter, are they on a UPS? Is the Mac Pro?

Could you be having power flickers too brief to affect the Mac Pro but long enough to cause the drives to spin down?

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Answer 6

May 30, 2015 11:15 AM in response to markwmsn

They all have power supplies. That is a very good point. How would I check this?

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Answer 7

markwmsn

Level 6

15,017 points

May 30, 2015 11:48 AM in response to moonspinner123

Since (as Avery Thomas may have been suggesting) rough dismounts can damage the data structures on the drives, I suggest keeping all separately powered external volumes on UPS units if the wall power is at all suspect (which it is in many places).

To properly diagnose whether you are getting power fluctuations would require a recording meter. You might be able to borrow one if you know somebody at a lab at a nearby university or electronics shop, but it would be simpler to put the drives on a UPS and see if the problems stop. If it is the same UPS as you use for your Mac Pro (which should also be on UPS), be sure you have enough capacity for all of that equipment, and be aware that increasing the load even within the maximum capacity decreases the time the UPS can keep the equipment up.

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Answer 8

lllaass

Level 10

210,417 points

May 30, 2015 1:11 PM in response to moonspinner123

I doubt power problem from all the drives.

Best is to look/search the Console app

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Answer 9

markwmsn

Level 6

15,017 points

May 30, 2015 1:29 PM in response to lllaass

lllaass wrote:

I doubt power problem from all the drives.

Best is to look/search the Console app

If they are all plugged into the same power source, they are all subject to the same power fluctuations.

Still, nothing wrong with searching the Console.

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Answer 10

May 30, 2015 2:56 PM in response to markwmsn

The UPS sounds like a viable solution to try. I'm in an apartment and no telling what the power situation is. Does anyone have suggestions for a reliable UPS. I will probably try this first as all other solutions have been exhausted.

Thanks for your help and suggestions.

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Answer 11

lllaass

Level 10

210,417 points

May 30, 2015 3:02 PM in response to moonspinner123

See this previous post about sizing the UPS

Export draws to much power?

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