External Drive Ejecting Itself on Write

[Megagator]

I have a late 2013 iMac with several seagate desktop drives attached via USB 3. They all used to work great, even through the Mavericks update. But now one volume keeps ejecting itself whenever I try to write to it. Reading is fine, but once I try to move a file to the drive, it fails and Finder sends a notification telling me a "disk was not ejected properly, please eject the disk before disconnecting". Then the disk usually remounts and shows back up in Finder, but sometimes never remounts and needs to be unplugged and reinserted. Console gives these logs as I try to write a file:

1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: device/channel is not attached.
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: device/channel is not attached.
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: device/channel is not attached.
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: media is not present.
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: jnl: disk4s2: do_jnl_io: strategy err 0x6
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: jnl: disk4s2: write_journal_header: error writing the journal header!
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: media is not present.
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: media is not present.
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: media is not present.
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: media is not present.
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: media is not present.
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: media is not present.
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: media is not present.
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: media is not present.
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: hfs: unmount initiated on Joker on device disk4s2
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: jnl: disk4s2: close: journal 0xffffff80189368e0, is invalid. aborting outstanding transactions
1/3/14 11:13:53.578 fseventsd[66]: disk logger: failed to open output file /Volumes/Joker/.fseventsd/6365734ec35ad33c (No such file or directory). mount point /Volumes/Joker/.fseventsd
1/3/14 11:13:53.579 fseventsd[66]: disk logger: failed to open output file /Volumes/Joker/.fseventsd/6365734ec35ad33c (No such file or directory). mount point /Volumes/Joker/.fseventsd
1/3/14 11:13:53.000 kernel[0]: USBMSC Identifier (non-unique): 0x00000000 0xbc2 0xa0a5 0x4, 3
1/3/14 11:13:54.632 WindowServer[127]: CGXSetWindowListSystemAlpha: Invalid window 54283 (index 0/1)
1/3/14 11:13:54.738 Finder[252]: find_shared_window: WID 54258
1/3/14 11:13:54.738 Finder[252]: CGSClearWindowTags: Invalid window 0xd3f2
1/3/14 11:14:13.000 kernel[0]: USBMSC Identifier (non-unique): 0x00000000 0xbc2 0xa0a5 0x4, 3
1/3/14 11:14:14.000 kernel[0]: jnl: disk4s2: replay_journal: from: 18740736 to: 20079616 (joffset 0x1d1c000)
1/3/14 11:14:14.000 kernel[0]: jnl: disk4s2: journal replay done.
1/3/14 11:14:14.000 kernel[0]: hfs: mounted Joker on device disk4s2
1/3/14 11:14:14.723 fseventsd[66]: event logs in /Volumes/Joker/.fseventsd out of sync with volume. destroying old logs. (954 0 1126)
1/3/14 11:14:15.388 fseventsd[66]: log dir: /Volumes/Joker/.fseventsd getting new uuid: 5136F3A3-AA60-487B-A41E-3D69341D4238
1/3/14 11:14:16.045 com.apple.usbmuxd[80]: _SendAttachNotification Device 10:40:f3:c0:b6:1a@fe80::1240:f3ff:fec0:b61a._apple-mobdev2._tcp.local. has already appeared on interface 4. Suppressing duplicate attach notification.

I tried reformatting, erasing, and a firmware update on the drive but this issue still persists. Any ideas?

 

[AppleFan22]

Probably not software issue

It sounds more like this is to do with the actual USB slot itself. Try moving the hard disk to another slot. That might do it. Or it might even be the USB that's connected to the hard disk. Make sure that any connector wires are fully plugged in too. Also check the files on the disk. They may be broken, so it could be a faulty hard disk.

Hope this helps

 

[bobr1952]

Several? Meaning more than 2 and connected through a USB hub? If that is the case, I would guess that is the problem with not enough power to write.

 

[Megagator]

It sounds more like this is to do with the actual USB slot itself. Try moving the hard disk to another slot. That might do it. Or it might even be the USB that's connected to the hard disk. Make sure that any connector wires are fully plugged in too. Also check the files on the disk. They may be broken, so it could be a faulty hard disk.

Hope this helps

I've tried all four USB 3 ports on the back of the iMac, no difference. In fact I have an identical hard drive, but double the capacity, and switching USB and power from one to the other does nothing. One works, and the other doesn't.

Several? Meaning more than 2 and connected through a USB hub? If that is the case, I would guess that is the problem with not enough power to write.

No hub, plugged straight into the iMac, and they have there own power supply from a power strip.

There is also a huge thread from 2009 on Apple's support forum https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2151621?start=0&tstart=0. I will have to read through this, but it nothing to do with sleep settings.
I guess this is an issue with the drive itself?

 

[Bear]

I've tried all four USB 3 ports on the back of the iMac, no difference. In fact I have an identical hard drive, but double the capacity, and switching USB and power from one to the other does nothing. One works, and the other doesn't.
...

This sounds like a hardware issue with the drive. Contact Seagate for a warranty replacement if the drive is new enough.

 

[UpdateAddict]

For what it’s worth, OP, I’ve had similar problems of spontaneous ejections during heavy I/O with my external drive connected to a Late 2013 rMBP, the last a few days ago on 10.9.1. Continuing to have no such problems when the drive is connected to my non-Mavericks Macs (well, there are the sleep ejections on 10.8, but at least that doesn’t happen during I/O).

Have you tested your external with other computers, preferably ones without Mavericks?

 

[Megagator]

For what it’s worth, OP, I’ve had similar problems of spontaneous ejections during heavy I/O with my external drive connected to a Late 2013 rMBP, the last a few days ago on 10.9.1. Continuing to have no such problems when the drive is connected to my non-Mavericks Macs (well, there are the sleep ejections on 10.8, but at least that doesn’t happen during I/O).

Have you tested your external with other computers, preferably ones without Mavericks?

Oddly, I have tested it on another iMac with Mavericks and it successfully copied hundreds of gigabytes without fail (same power supply). I don't have any non-Mavericks machines nearby.