I've been on this problem through multiple generations of macOS, hoping for resolution with every new whole or dot upgrade, so I can use this key enclosure again with my primary Mac... instead of only my older ones with which it is perfectly stable.
Can you explain; how can data be lost or corrupted because of improper eject; even if it happens during heavy data transfers, you'd think a computer would be able to reject corrupted files and repair the damage, if any, to the file register, and be able to resume normal functionality - it's a computer.
The internet is your friend. Do a search and read results and you'll get the answer. OR, physically pull the plug on one of your drives right now and read Apple's own warning about improperly ejecting a drive. If there was no issue/worry, why do they show that warning?
There are
many posts out there of unexpected ejections, corruptions, lost data, sometimes having to just reformat and reload from backup. It's not any one drive, one cable, one firmware, one brand, etc. The common variable is either Mac or macOS.
In my case, my problematic drive (important to me) mostly functions as a scratch drive for FCPX edits. Unexpected ejections occur during active transfers, while- for example- FCPX is rendering video or saving the edited file/library to it. Inevitably and more than once for me- unexpected ejection- and then FCPX could no longer read some files, messing up the work.
Now I'm a smart guy, so I run backups to protect against natural occurrences of such problems, so I've generally been able to recover... though at costs of sometimes losing chunks of fairly important work that has to be recreated (and thus taking another couple of hours to get back to the same place again). A couple of times, the corruption has been such that I've had to just format the drive, wait for a backup to reload (on a pre-BigSur Mac of course, as my time limit is only up to 3 hours with this one) which can take many hours or even into the next day.
Time is money... and the frustrations with this problem leading to wasting time to
recreate creations eventually drive users to a solution like the one I've adopted... retiring using the enclosure on the main Mac- my very best, most powerful, newest Mac by the way (purchased specifically for heavier lifting tasks like FCPX edits)- and only use it on Macs running pre-BigSur macOS or ANY PC, where- through
same cable, with
same firmware, with
same drives inside-
it is perfectly stable again.
It doubles in providing some other typical storage things... and random ejections disturb such uses. For example, I store the family home movies on it to watch on AppleTVs. Gathered family watching a movie MIGHT get to enjoy the full movie or it might suddenly cease playback. Why? You guessed it. And when it does this, it doesn't come back. In my case, it needs to be turned off and turned back on again, then wait for it to connect, turn off the TV app on the Mac and turn that back on again... and then the TV app may need to be redirected to that home movie file again... which is aggravating while guests are waiting to finish watching the movie.
In thorough testing, I dug out ALL hard drive enclosure I have on hand- at least 20, some as old as late 1990s/early 2000s (long since retired but still functional). Some of the ancient ones would not "unexpectedly eject." Others much newer
will "unexpectedly eject." The common variable narrows down to macOS (since BigSur).
All of them are
stable on pre-BigSur Macs.
Again, the most telling way I became towards "certain" is the MANY tales online if one goes deep digging into this topic- as I have, desperately searching for a solution that would work- in which you'll find
MANY posts all over the web, of people with perfectly stable drives, upgrading to macOS BigSur or newer- and suddenly having "unexpected ejection" problems (ALL OTHER VARIABLES REMAIN THE SAME). In some of those cases, they needed the drive more than they needed new macOS features so they went to the trouble to downgrade the
same Mac to pre-Big Sur macOS and the same drive becomes perfectly stable again. In seeing that enough times, I don't know how to conclude anything else except the lone variable that changed.
If anyone reads this and are in doubt, hop up to your search field and type in "macOS unexpected ejections" and then start clicking the pages and pages of links that will lead you down the very same rabbit hole... in which you'll quickly get a sense that this is not an isolated problem... or just one guy's problem... or just one enclosure/cable/firmware/setup... etc. Even Apples own support forums have MANY "me too" posts about exactly this. Sometimes they seem to clear it out but then they pile right back up again. Just checked right now and there are again multiple threads about this on Apple's support forums and at least one on Apple's developer form.
ALL THIS WRITTEN: does EVERYBODY have this problem? NO! Some have no problem at all... as I can vouch for firsthand with about 75% of all drives I own since the late 1990s. I know it is not brand or "cheap" (enclosures only) or any one cable or any one firmware or any one chipset. And I've basically tried the multitude of "I cracked it" solutions also discoverable all over the web which tend to be red herrings... such that even the solution finder/poster often comes back to refute the breakthrough later in their own thread.
