Time Machine - Auto Mount/Unmount

[warning9]

Ok so, I have a unibody Macbook, I recently switched from PC two months ago. With my old pc laptop when I got home, I would plug in my monitor, usb hub and power adapter. Then, when it was asleep before I left for work I would unplug everything without even starting it up. This worked fine for a while, until I switched to Mac.

It seems OS X does not like it when you just disconnect things (mainly the external HDD, for time machine, that is plugged into the above mentioned USB hub).

Everytime I get to work, I get a "OMG YOU DISCONNECTED SOMETHING WITHOUT EJECTING IT FIRST!!!!!" message. Now, my time machine backup is corrupt.

This brings me to my main question. Is there anyway to make time machine mount an external HDD to make it's backup and then unmount it when it is finished? That way I would not have any problems with unplugging the hub.

 

[Richard1028]

Is there anyway to make time machine mount an external HDD to make it's backup and then unmount it when it is finished?

That kind of makes the benefits of using Time Machine pointless then doesn't it? The whole purpose is to keep your backups up to date and it can't do that when disconnected.

So you're saying if you sleep your mac, then disconnect the hub and restart... it says you improperly removed a device? (I don't use a hub). I can see why OSX gives you the error... when you wake up your mac it expects to find those devices again.

What if you shut it down first, then removed the hub?

 

[warning9]

If I shut it down, I don't get the error. I guess I will have to just shut it down when I'm done at night. I still think there should be a better way.

 

[mackmgg]

If I shut it down, I don't get the error. I guess I will have to just shut it down when I'm done at night. I still think there should be a better way.

Shutting it down will eject all discs. You can probably make/find online an applescript to eject upon Time Machine completion. There are plenty of hacks for it out there so I dont see why this isn't one of them.

 

[smartalic34]

what about ejecting and unplugging it right before you go to bed? will your schedule allow for that? then you wouldnt have to worry about it in the morning. unless you plug it in to back up right before bed?...

 

[warning9]

Yes, that would be fine too. It just seems odd, because if you use a time capsule then it connects to the server and then disconnects when it is done. I just don't understand why it is so different with external disks.