An external disk was not ejected properly and now i cannot see it

I have a simpledrive external disk that I use for Time Machine. It is connected via USB. I believe my daughter unplugged the drive without properly ejecting it and now I can't see it. When I plug it in to the USB port it powers up, but I cannot find it, even in the disk utility. The Mac is not seeing it when it tries to run Time Machine. I tried connecting it to my old PC as well just to see, but it is doing the same thing there. Any ideas for how to get this cleared up? Thanks!

Problem solved...I decided to unplug the power from the external disk, and afterwards it showed up again. Don't ask me why, but it worked.

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Message: external disk was not ejected properly. Is this happening when my computer goes to sleep?

I am not sure why I keep getting this message since I am usually good at remembering to eject the disk before turning it off. A thought occured to me that my computer is set to go to sleep every 3 hours which might be causing it to eject improperly. I have just come from a computer that 2 internal drives so I didn't have to deal with an external TM backup that was running all the time. Do I have to turn sleep mode off to avoid this problem?

Oh yeah I forgot to say I use an ETHERNET connection.

Has any one come up with a solution to the "the disk was not ejected properly" when using time machine with an iMac and seagate back up drive?

I recently bought an iMac and love it.
Only proplem I have is I keep getting an error message "the disk was not ejected properly"
Everything is backing up fine on my Seagate 2TB external USB drive.
Each time there is access on the seagate and it stops in between needing to back up again I get this message.
Can anyone help?

The drive is malfunctioning.
If the drive has more than one interface (USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, eSATA), try one of the other interfaces.
Check that the data cable is securely inserted at both ends.
Try a different cable.
If you're connecting the drive through a hub, connect it directly to a built-in port on the Mac.
If you're connecting it directly, try a different port.
Disconnect all other devices on the bus, or as many as possible.
If the drive is bus-powered, but has an AC adapter, connect the adapter.
If the drive doesn't work under any of the above conditions, it has to be replaced. You may be able to salvage the mechanism by removing it from the enclosure and installing it in another one, or in a drive dock.

Disk was not ejected properly comes up when I start my computer. I'm running 10.7.5 and have not ejected any disks or had problems in the past ejecting.

I can't figure out what disk was not ejected properly. All I have connected is an external HD. How can I find the disk that needs to be ejected?

If your profile is correct and you are still on Tiger (10.4.x) then insert the Tiger Install disc that came with the computer and run Disk Utility and repair Disk Permissions. Also it would be wise to do 2-3 Intel iMac SMC and PRAM resets in a row. They can be a little stubborn so doing several could be what it takes.

The disk was not ejected properly. ... External HD was removedWhat disk?

I recently experimented with the backup software that came with my Western Digital external hard-drive, as an alternative to Time Machine. Unsatisfied with the WD program, I deleted it once I switched to another, larger hard-drive, from Seagate, and have switched back to Time Machine. Ever since I removed the WD drive and deleted the WD software (by highlighting the file name in Finder and pressing delete), every 15 minutes or so I get the following message: "The disk was not ejected properly. If possible, always eject a disk before unplugging it or turning it off." Did I properly delete the software? Is the error message related to the software and WD hardware, which perhaps the Mac continues to look for though it's been disconnected? The software was programmed to launch a backup a few times every hour, I think.

If you can see the drive in Disk Utility (Applications -> Utilities), then I'd suggest reformatting/repartitioning it. I just got a new LaCie external HD and it had some sort of software on it - I simply ignored it and set it up by clicking on partition. If you are only going to use it with a Mac, use "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" as the format and (under options) "GUID Partition Map". You can choose 1 or more partitions. It will then erase the drive properly and you should be good to go. If you need to use the drive with both Mac OS and Windows, I can't help with the format because I don't do Windows, but if you click on the "?" in Disk Utility, there should be plenty of help there.

Waking iMac has The disk was not ejected properly. I have OS 10.8.5 using My Book Thunderbolt Duo external HD.

Waking iMac, since last OS10.8.5 update, gives "The disk was not ejected properly" message. Western Digital sent a replacement drive to find out the problem doesn't go away. I have tried Option, Command, R and P at start up. This doesn't help. Anything else I might try to rectify the situation?

The drive is malfunctioning.
If the drive has more than one interface (USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, eSATA), try one of the other interfaces.
Check that the data cable is securely inserted at both ends.
Try a different cable.
If you're connecting the drive through a hub, connect it directly to a built-in port on the Mac.
If you're connecting it directly, try a different port.
Disconnect all other devices on the bus, or as many as possible.
If the drive is bus-powered, but has an AC adapter, connect the adapter.
If the drive doesn't work under any of the above conditions, it has to be replaced. You may be able to salvage the mechanism by removing it from the enclosure and installing it in another one, or in a drive dock.

Ever since upgrading to Lion I keep getting the error message "disk was not ejected properly."

Ever since upgrading to Lion on my iMac G5 Intel Core 2 Duo, I keep getting the error message "disk was not ejected properly." I have repaired permissions and reformatted my external LaCie 2TB USB hard disk, but the error continues. I use this disk for my Time Machine backups. This always seems to happen when the computer wakes from sleep, but not consistently. The computer was asleep overnight and backed up as soon as it awakend this morning. Two hours later I get the improper ejection message. I have used the same external disk with Snow Leopard (all versions), but never had this error message or problem. This disk has been in use without any problems since February, 2011. Upgrading to Lion is when this problem began. This is the below message (but from online image from Snow Leopard, but Lion message is essentially the same).

I had a similar issue. Mine was with a Seagate GoFlex drive. The solution was to install GoFlex for Mac 1.1.2 which included a 64-bit driver to disable the drives built in sleep timer:
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=goflex-mac-install-softw are&vgnextoid=77002aaf8cc5d210VgnVCM1000001a48090aRCRD
I document how I discovered this in my blog post:
http://www.innerexception.com/2011/10/tale-of-computing-misery-how-to-fix.html

The disk was not ejected properly

I have 3 Seagate 1.5TB external USB drives. Two of which I am using with a MacbookPro 17" first gen. Latest snow leopard. The third one I am tethering to a Dell XPS server. The one attached to the Dell works fine.
On the MBP17 Every now and again (randomly) the disk disappears from finder and I get this dialog:
|
| The disk was not ejected properly. If
| possible, always eject a disk before
| unplugging it or turning it off.
|
| To eject a disk, select it in the finder and choose File
| > Eject. The next time you connect the disk, Mac OS
| X will attempt to repair any damage to the
| information on the disk.
|
| ( OK )
I've replaced one of the drives through Seagate RMA and the same thing happens with the returned/refurbished drive. So, I really don't think there's anything wrong with the drives.
I've tried at least 3 different USB cables of different lengths from different vendors. One is only 1.5feet & gold plated. Still, random ejects. Using the disk attached to an old dual G5 I have... I don't have this problem.
Anyway, I am thus quite leery of using it for anything other than backups. I've never had the problem while actually copying files, only when I'm doing something else (like typing an email, or browsing the net).
I recall having read some older Macbook Pro 17" owners having similar issues with >= 1TB drives on these forums [http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2151621&start=120&tstart=0] but no solutions.
If someone can point me to a solution I would be very grateful.
Message was edited by: phpguru

@Gizmolab - Thanks for that reply. It seems like a decent theory. I found Seagate Diagnostics for Mac. It says it's only for drives that have a FireWire800 port. The ones I am using have USB only. I installed it anyway. When I run diagnostics it says no drives found so I cannot diagnose them. I'll see how it goes though, maybe it updated the driver.
To add some more info to this thread... I figured I'd try Disk Utility to manage the drives manually. I've tried dismounting them and also just dragging the volumes to the trash when they are not in use, and using Disk Utility to mount them again when they are needed.
What I've found is that in addition to the drives automagically ejecting themselves (and remounting again automatically about 20 to 30 seconds later)... is that a dismounted drive will automagically mount, too. Okay fine, I'll dismount them and unplug the USB cables, and reattach them when I need them.
Disk Utility reports that there appears to be no problems with the disk... thankfully. While typing this reply, I heard the disk go to sleep and about 3 minutes later it just ejected itself dang it. So Seagate Diagnostics appears to be only for Firewire800 drives.

Since installing OS 10.8 keep getting "This disk was not ejected properly" messages. Why?

Since I installed Mountain Lion (OS 10.8) on my Mac Book Pro (early 2011), I keep getting "This disk was not ejected properly" messages. No yet sure what I do preceeding this occurence. Anyone else have this problem?

I am one of those who had experienced this kind of problem. My former Time Machine disk used to automatically eject itself when my iMac sleeps, hence upon waking up my iMac. i always get the error message that the disk was not properly ejected.
From what I was able to gather from my experience, until the time that I found a workable solution, I think I can say that the problem is most probably caused by the incompatibility of certain external drives with how the iMac operates when on sleep and upon waking up. Some external drives are just not able to cope with how the iMac tries to remount a connected disk after it wakes up from sleep. There are just some external drives that cannot continue to be mounted after the iMac wakes from sleep. There are just some external drives that are not responsive enough. In other words, the existence of the problem lies with the type of external drive you are using.
My former Time Machine disk, the problematic one, was an Imation M300 Apollo 1 TB external disk. It unmounts everytime my iMac went to sleep, but does not remount after waking up the iMac. The disk will continue to be unmounted until I physically remove its USB connector and replug it in the iMac.
I replaced my former Time Machine disk with my current one, a Transcend Storejet 1 TB. And the problem went away. The Transcend disk continue to be mounted after the iMac is woken up even from the longest of sleep. I have even the energy saving option "put the hard disk to sleep..." checked. The Transcend disk comes with a Y cable, i.e. it has two USB connectors, but I only connect the one for both data and power--and it still remains mounted even after waking the iMac from sleep.
The sad realization, however, is that since there are only some external drives that are not able to work with the iMac, no matter how many those some may seem to be, it will be highly unlikely for Apple to itself fix this kind of a problem.
I, therefore, make the following recommendations:
1. Check first if your problematic disk has a firmware upgrade available. In some cases, the firmware upgrade may be enough to make the disk more responsive to the iMac waking up.
2. If there is no firmware upgrade available, check if your power/data USB cable is properly working.
3. If your power/data USB cable is in order, and the problem still persists, I think it is inevitable that you have to replace the problematic disk with a newer one that could respond well with the iMac's wake/sleep operation. With what disk will you replace your problematic one? I can only recommend from my personal experience the Transcend disk I mentioned earlier. You may also search this forum on other brands of disks that may also work.
Regards.

Disk was not ejected properly

"The Disk was not ejected properly" this message keeps on coming up and seems to be referring to USB Memory Sticks. No disk had been removed. This is only happening since installing Mountain Lion and is very annoying especially since it keeps on displaying the message again and again.

I've been following this issue for a long time on one of the other Apple forum discussions. A suggestion was made to install an app called Jettison (by St. Clair Software). Since doing this two days ago, I have not seen the infamous "improper ejection" error message. Jettison seems to do, automatically without any effort on my part, exactly what the developer says: "Jettison eliminates the hassle of manually ejecting external drives before you put your MacBook to sleep and remounting them when it wakes."
By automatically unmounting my two external USB drives when the computer goes to sleep, Jettison is eliminating the opportunity for Apple's faulty USB power management system to improperly eject my external drives. As soon as my computer wakes up, Jettison quickly remounts the external drives. And, most importantly, Jettison has NOT caused any conflict with my Time Machine backups or my SuperDuper clone backups (three of which are scheduled to run automatically at 1:00am every night.
See: <http://stclairsoft.com/Jettison/index.html>

How do I stop " disk was not ejected properly" message from showing

My phone's jack isn't that great, and always seems to unplug and plug itself back in causing the " disk was not ejected properly" message to constantly show up. During movies this can become quite annoying, making it exit full screen mode.
Is there any way to prevent this message from coming up so that I do not have to constantly deal with it?
Thanks guys!

I got a new iMac in January 2011. I properly ejected my external hard drive and got the same message. I plugged it back in and ejected it again. Nothing works. I keep getting the same error message every few minutes and it's driving me nuts. I have no loose connections. Everything else works. Does anyone have a solution for getting this to stop?

Why doesn't the mac tell me which disk was not ejected properly? How can I find out which one it is referring to?

If the mac knows that a disk was not ejected properly why doesn't it tell me which one? Would that be making life too easy for non computer nerds????

Hello Rails50
All External Hard Drives, Flash Drives, Camera Cards, iPods, iPads etc. need to be ejected before you disconnect them. Likewise you may also get that message from any of the above mentioned devices if it is going bad, has a bad cord or a flaky connection.
To check your Console Log Messages, go to: Applications > Utilities > Console and select All Messages.
On that note, it would also help greatly if we knew what external device(s) you are using with your iMac?
Dennis

"disk was not ejected properly" errors

I have 3 external Lacie drives (all Thunderbolt) connected to my iMac: 2 3TB drives and 1 512 GB SSD.
I back up my internal 3TB Fusion drive to both 3TB external Lacie drives at the end of each day.
(The SSD is used strictly as a scratch disk (I'm a professional landscape photographer). The SSD is always kept on, BTW.)
After I back up to these 2 3TB drives, I always eject them and then turn them off before putting the iMac to sleep. (The only time I have them running is during backups at the end of each work day.)
However, during the past couple of weeks I've been receiving the "disk was not ejected properly" error every time I wake the iMac. I'm 100% certain that each of the 3TB drives was properly ejected before turning them off (and then subsequently putting the iMac to sleep).
Restarting the iMac doesn't change the situation in the sense that every time I thereafter put the iMac to sleep I get the error message upon waking.
Any ideas....?

After doing some further testing, it appears it's the SSD.
With the two separate 3 TB completely shut down, then doing a restart with the only operating drive being the SSD, then putting the iMac to sleep, upon waking I get the same error message.
After contacting Lacie about this they advised taking two specific steps:
(1) switching the polarity of the thunderbolt cable.
This didn't help.
(2) making sure to manually eject the SSD in the Finder before putting the iMac to sleep.
This didn't help either.
I get the same error message upon waking the iMac.
After contacting Lacie a second time (today) they say that it is the Mac OS that's the problem, not the drive. I find this hard to believe, but technically I'm not expert enough to be able to know whether or not they are telling the truth. (I doubt it.)
Although I have done a Disk Utility test of the SSD and everything indeed tests out fine.

Popping error message "The disk was not ejected properly"

Although I am rejecting my external hard disks, still when I unplug them the error message "The disk was not ejected properly" pops up.
Worth to note that disks are not in sleep.
My McPro is running OS X Lion.

I've been following this issue for a long time on one of the other Apple forum discussions. A suggestion was made to install an app called Jettison (by St. Clair Software). Since doing this two days ago, I have not seen the infamous "improper ejection" error message. Jettison seems to do, automatically without any effort on my part, exactly what the developer says: "Jettison eliminates the hassle of manually ejecting external drives before you put your MacBook to sleep and remounting them when it wakes."
By automatically unmounting my two external USB drives when the computer goes to sleep, Jettison is eliminating the opportunity for Apple's faulty USB power management system to improperly eject my external drives. As soon as my computer wakes up, Jettison quickly remounts the external drives. And, most importantly, Jettison has NOT caused any conflict with my Time Machine backups or my SuperDuper clone backups (three of which are scheduled to run automatically at 1:00am every night.
See: <http://stclairsoft.com/Jettison/index.html>

Error statement - "the disk was not ejected properly."

Error statement - "the disk was not ejected properly." I have my back disk pluged into my computer and when goes to sleep at night it gives me this error, how can I fix it.

I've been following this issue for a long time on one of the other Apple forum discussions. A suggestion was made to install an app called Jettison (by St. Clair Software). Since doing this two days ago, I have not seen the infamous "improper ejection" error message. Jettison seems to do, automatically without any effort on my part, exactly what the developer says: "Jettison eliminates the hassle of manually ejecting external drives before you put your MacBook to sleep and remounting them when it wakes."
By automatically unmounting my two external USB drives when the computer goes to sleep, Jettison is eliminating the opportunity for Apple's faulty USB power management system to improperly eject my external drives. As soon as my computer wakes up, Jettison quickly remounts the external drives. And, most importantly, Jettison has NOT caused any conflict with my Time Machine backups or my SuperDuper clone backups (three of which are scheduled to run automatically at 1:00am every night.
See: <http://stclairsoft.com/Jettison/index.html>

An external disk was not ejected properly and now i cannot see it

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