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External HD disconnects itself

L

lazyn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 8, 2012
12
0
Hi,
I'm running 10.9.5 on a Mac Book Pro.
My Seagate OneTouch 4 has been behaving weirdly for the past weeks.
A few weeks ago, it started to disconnect itself when going to sleep and I couldn't mount it back. I disconnected the USB cable and power cord for a couple of hours and then it was fine.
After a couple of issues, it was ok for awhile. And now it disconnects itself randomly even when I'm using it e.g. playing music from it. I can disconnect the USB cable and power cord for a couple of hours and then it's fine again. It's been occuring every day for the past three days. Should I be worried?
PS: I've already backed up everything.
 
C

ColdCase

macrumors 68040
Feb 10, 2008
3,364
276
NH
Dunno about that Seagate model but my 4TB backup plus versions have been solid. I have had similar issues with HGST HGTBDX34 4TB Touro Desk DX3 drives, however. I usually have to pull and replace the power plug for the OS to recognize them, both a 2014 rMBP 10.9.5 and 2008 MacPro 10.6.8.

I think its just one of those USB quirky things with some "green" drives.
 
Alimar

Alimar

macrumors 6502a
Sep 17, 2014
510
13
New York State
lazyn said:
Hi,
I'm running 10.9.5 on a Mac Book Pro.
My Seagate OneTouch 4 has been behaving weirdly for the past weeks.
A few weeks ago, it started to disconnect itself when going to sleep and I couldn't mount it back. I disconnected the USB cable and power cord for a couple of hours and then it was fine.
After a couple of issues, it was ok for awhile. And now it disconnects itself randomly even when I'm using it e.g. playing music from it. I can disconnect the USB cable and power cord for a couple of hours and then it's fine again. It's been occuring every day for the past three days. Should I be worried?
PS: I've already backed up everything.
Click to expand...

With 10.9.5, everyone of my drives would take turns randomly disconnecting. Whether or not they were USB, Thunderbolt or TB/FireWire. When in use or not. Seems to be fine since 10.10 - 10.10.1.
 
V

vmacrob

macrumors newbie
Jan 8, 2014
16
2
lazyn said:
Hi,
I'm running 10.9.5 on a Mac Book Pro.
My Seagate OneTouch 4 has been behaving weirdly for the past weeks.
A few weeks ago, it started to disconnect itself when going to sleep and I couldn't mount it back. I disconnected the USB cable and power cord for a couple of hours and then it was fine.
After a couple of issues, it was ok for awhile. And now it disconnects itself randomly even when I'm using it e.g. playing music from it. I can disconnect the USB cable and power cord for a couple of hours and then it's fine again. It's been occuring every day for the past three days. Should I be worried?
PS: I've already backed up everything.
Click to expand...

Have you tried using another cable? I had a drive act similarly a few weeks back, and that did the trick.
 
theSeb

theSeb

macrumors 604
Aug 10, 2010
7,466
1,893
none
My USB bus powered drives disconnect all the time, usually when the computer goes to sleep, whether they are connected directly, or via a USB hub. I get the "disk was not ejected properly" message about once a day. This behaviour was in Mavericks and I have the same issue in Yosemite.

I don't have any USB 3 drives with an external power source to check if this happens on them as well.
 
L

lazyn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 8, 2012
12
0
Thanks for the replies.
I'll try another cable and see how it goes.
 
R

Ray2

macrumors 65816
Jul 8, 2014
1,164
482
theSeb said:
My USB bus powered drives disconnect all the time, usually when the computer goes to sleep, whether they are connected directly, or via a USB hub. I get the "disk was not ejected properly" message about once a day. This behaviour was in Mavericks and I have the same issue in Yosemite.

I don't have any USB 3 drives with an external power source to check if this happens on them as well.
Click to expand...

+1. Not to mention with Yosemite we now have FireWire drives not being able to sleep and, at times not being able to eject on shutdown or restart. The latter leaves me with an endless spinner and the need to switch off the drives manually so the Mac's will shut down.

How Apple could mess up I/O after decades or reliable operation is beyond me.
 
theSeb

theSeb

macrumors 604
Aug 10, 2010
7,466
1,893
none
Ray2 said:
+1. Not to mention with Yosemite we now have FireWire drives not being able to sleep and, at times not being able to eject on shutdown or restart. The latter leaves me with an endless spinner and the need to switch off the drives manually so the Mac's will shut down.

How Apple could mess up I/O after decades or reliable operation is beyond me.
Click to expand...

Indeed. This happens with all of my USB 3 bus powered 2.5" drives and I have 5 of them from different manufacturers. Do you have the same issue with USB 3 externally powered drives? I need to expand my backup, but I don't want to get a USB drive, if this happens.

I have 3 other storage devices:
1. Lacie 2 Big Thunderbolt
2. Promise R4 Thunderbolt
3. G-tech 3 TB connected via the Lacie eSATA thunderbolt hub

I don't get this issue on the 3 devices connected via TB.
 
R

Ray2

macrumors 65816
Jul 8, 2014
1,164
482
theSeb said:
Indeed. This happens with all of my USB 3 bus powered 2.5" drives and I have 5 of them from different manufacturers. Do you have the same issue with USB 3 externally powered drives? I need to expand my backup, but I don't want to get a USB drive, if this happens.

I have 3 other storage devices:
1. Lacie 2 Big Thunderbolt
2. Promise R4 Thunderbolt
3. G-tech 3 TB connected via the Lacie eSATA thunderbolt hub

I don't get this issue on the 3 devices connected via TB.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input on Thunderbolt. I no longer have any USB 3 drives with external power capability. I returned all but 1 of 5 and keep it (a portable -- no external power port) for travel only. Its seldom plugged in and I simply set my wife's Air to never sleep when its used.

Good enough for an interim solution until I bite the bullet on my old, no Thunderbolt, Mac's. Probably pick up a portable for my wife's spinner and see how it goes.
 
L

lazyn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 8, 2012
12
0
After some testing, it appears the cable was the issue.
Rookie mistake really. I should have thought of it :rolleyes:
 
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