Disk not properly ejected

I have an external drive connected by USB and running as a backup under Time Machine.
Every time my iMac goes into Sleep mode it immediately comes up with a system error message 'The Disk was not properly ejected....'
I have spoken to Apple support and after repairing disk permissions and other things they were unable to cure the issue. Disk utility was unable to see the verify and repair disk permission options for the external drive despite being logged in as the administrator that set up the Time Machine backup.
When I eject the external disk the problem no longer occurs

whatdoIneedanalaisfor wrote:
I have an external drive connected by USB and running as a backup under Time Machine.
Every time my iMac goes into Sleep mode it immediately comes up with a system error message 'The Disk was not properly ejected....'
There was an update the other day, for some Macs having troubles with external drives, that might apply here: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL947 If you haven't installed it, give it a try.
I have spoken to Apple support and after repairing disk permissions and other things they were unable to cure the issue. Disk utility was unable to see the verify and repair disk permission options for the external drive despite being logged in as the administrator that set up the Time Machine backup.
That is correct. DU only handles permissions on an OSX volume. From Disk Utility's Help:
+*Disk Utility repairs the permissions for files installed by the Mac OS X Installer, Software Update, or an Apple software installer. It doesn’t repair permissions for your documents, your home folder, and third-party applications.+*
+*You can verify or repair permissions only on a disk with Mac OS X installed.+*
p.s., I've asked a Host to edit-out your Mac's serial number. You never know what somebody's liable to do with it.

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I have a 1TB WD external hard disk, which suddenly cannot be detected in my system. When i connect the hardisk to the macbook, the disk appears and immediately disconnects with the message "Disk not properly ejected". Any advice ?

I have a 1TB WD external hard disk, which suddenly cannot be detected in my system. When i connect the hardisk to the macbook, the disk appears and immediately disconnects with the message "Disk not properly ejected". Any advice ?

verify on another Mac if the same
WD is having issues with mavericks as you can see on the WD forum, did you install any WD software (never do that) when you connected the drive for the first time?
possible issue is a dead SATA bridge card or the new WD firmware w/ Mavericks.
SATA card issue
Your dead external hard drive is likely fine! Great hope for your 'faulty' external HD
http://community.wd.com/t5/External-Drives-for-Mac/bd-p/passport_mac
verify on another Mac if all possible

Frequent message that time machine disk not properly ejected

I am using a 750 GB USB HDD for Time Machine backups. I am getting frequent pop up message stating that the external drive was not properly ejected when in fact it wasn't ejected at all - on 24/7. Backups are halted until I click the OK button on the pop up. This seems to happen when I get back on after the machine wakes up. I had the same problem with my 2007 iMac (which this machine replaced) and I googled the problem and found that many had the same issue, but couldn't find a solution.

Thanks for the suggestion, Kappy. Indeed my Energy Saver preferences were set to sleep the Hard Drive whenever possible. I just disabled that. My TM drive has not been kicked out since, but I'll know better in a few days if the problem has been completely solved.
Fingers crossed.

Time machine causes error message " Disk not properly ejected" with USB backup drive

I am using iMac OS X Lion and Time Machine causes the error message with a WD 1.5 TB drive in aThermaltake dock, USB. every time I wake up the computer.... Ejection of Time Machine and shut it down and turn opp power to drive causes the error message problem to disappear. What is the solutin?

If it were mine I would replace the drive with another brand. WD drives EHD's tend to have more issues than any other EHD. If you want to continue using it you can try resetting the SMC (may take 2-3 tries) and/or restarting in Safe Mode to reset some caches, it's possible one or more has become corrupt.
SMC RESET
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and all peripherals.
Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
Release the power button.
Attach the computers power cable.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
PRAM RESET
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.

Error message "disk was not properly ejected" while syncing to iPod Classic

Hello,
I am having a terrible problem with my iPod Classic. All was fine until this morning. For some reason now when I try to sync iPod I receive several error messages. The iPod will start syncing slowly then I receive "Disk was not properly ejected". At this point the iPod disappears from left side of iTunes. The iPod still says "connected". After I click "ok" on error another error message appears saying "iPod cannot be synced, disk could not be read from or written to".
Please help, my music is all I have as I am wheelchair bound.

To be clear, I'm unsure whether or not iOS 6.0 is the latest iPod Touch software but I did get this error message when I attempted to update:
I hope this helps. Thank you!

After ejecting a disk plugged into the USB port using Finder, I am now getting "The disk was not properly ejected" message. This didn't used to happen. How can this be corrected?

After ejecting a disk plugged into the USB port using Finder, I am now getting "The disk was not properly ejected" message. This didn't used to happen. How can this be corrected?

When you right (control) click on the disk and click eject "disk name", do you pull it immeadiatly or wait a few seconds for it to unmount? Try waiting and see if you get the same message. If you do, when the disk is connected go to applications/utilities/disk utility, after opening DU, select the volume in question from the left side bar and try a permissions repair, you may also run verify disk and see if it comes up with any errors (they will be in red)

Why does my computer tell me the "Disk was not properly ejected" when waking from sleep mode?

I am a real "Newbie" to Mac OS. I have a new iMac 21.5" running OS X Lion. When I awake the computer from sleep mode with the spacebar on the keyboard, I get the message "The disk was not ejected proper, etc.". Iss there something I am doing wrong?
Thanks,
Mike G.

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.

"Drive not properly ejected"--How do I keep a USB drive mounted constantly?

I have a 2-month-old iMac, and have had a USB external SATA-enclosure 2.5" 500gb drive attached the whole time. About a week ago, it started randomly giving the "Drive not properly ejected" message and usually it remounts after a few seconds. Sometimes it doesn't and I have to unplug it and plug it back in.
I thought the drive was at fault, so I switched it with a similar drive that was connected to my AirPort Extreme base station. The problem stayed with the Mac. Also I imagined that (somehow) the iMac wasn't supplying enough power, so I bought a powered USB hub. The result is the same.
I don't understand how it can work for two months and then suddenly get this problem. The only change along the line is that about a week ago I did a software update ("About this Mac" says it is 10.6.7). The latest update DOES coincide with the appearance of this problem.
How do I resolve this?
(Notes: There at least one other thread here where people seem to think that this is a Time Machine problem. I think this is because many people connect large external drives for the purpose of backup. I upgraded to iMac from Mac Mini. I installed Snow Leopard right after I bought the iMac and then tried to restore from my Time Machine backup. Something went wrong, so I mirrored my Mac Mini drive onto a 500gb SATA 2.5", put it in a FireWire enclosure and boot from that. I use the iMac's internal 1T drive for Time Machine. That may sound like "lazy man solution", but it could have a great advantage someday where I could plug that FireWire drive into my Mac Mini and not have any downtime should iMac need to be repaired. The random disconnecting of the USB drive doesn't coincide with any Time Machine events. TM is working fine.)

Kappy,
Thank you for your help with this problem!
Your hypothesis for the drive/enclosure being a problem is good thinking, however:
-The problem never existed for the first two months I had the iMac.
-I can switch similar drives with iMac and AirPort Extreme, and the problem stays with the iMac.
-It has nothing to do with Time Machine as I am using a FireWire drive to boot, and the iMac internal 1TB for Time Machine.
-A friend suggested a cable problem, but I have tried many combinations and it wouldn't explain why suddenly after 2 months three sets of USB cables can fail at the same time (at least one, I used for 3 years with Mac Mini.)
I now have a 111gb drive connected to my AirPort Extreme and it has been copying files to my FireWire drive slowly but surely for two hours now. The same drive disconnected after 13 minutes on the iMac. All indications are pointing to OSX 10.6.7. The perfect test (for anyone with convenient resources) would be to install Snow Leopard from disc on a clean Mac and not upgrade it, plug in a USB drive and see if it can last a day or two. Then, upgrade to 10.6.7 and see what happens. I hope someone can try this.
(Is this a ploy to try to sell more FireWire equipment? I hope not.)

IPod not properly ejected- now iTunes will not work - Help!

My friend had his ipod connected to my computer to charge. Conneceted through USB on a Dell/ Windows 2000 / system. He disconnected the ipod without properly ejecting it - Now, when i connect my ipod, iTunes will not recognize it- iTunes does not open- screen just reads do not disconnect. When i manually open itunes with the ipod attached, it freezes. I have re-installed iTunes, rebooted the ipod, nothing works. Recommendations? Have scowered this site for answers, tried just about everything, nothing has worked. Your help is greatly appreciated!
PC Windows 2000

See if anything in this Knowledge Base article helps: iPod shows up in Windows but not in iTunes

I keep getting "Device not properly ejected" message and no device is being used. Help?

I keep getting "Device not properlt ejecte" message and no device is being used. Help?

Hello,
No external Drives, camera cards, or CDs/DVDs in use? Any Network Volumes mounted?

Warning regarding disk not being ejected properly

I continually and sporadically get a screen warning that "the disk was not ejected properly" when no disk has been removed from the system. What problem would this indicate? How can it be resolved? Thanks for any help you can give me.

Many of those WD drive cases, the drive was part of the case, which was news to me.
www.macsales.com/firewire has bare drive cases, case with drives.
maybe you can cut down on clutter in the process.
The ideal would be a PCIe SATA controller in your Mac Pro, then connect drive cases, and you can have 2-4 drives per case and their own power adapter and supply.
It may have seemed cheap and simple to just start with a single drive for a need but at some point... consolidate your drives if possible.
I would not use a Passport unless you travel with it, they are more commonly used by laptop owners. They tend to put 5400 rpm drives in those, or green type, rather than a standard desktop or WD Black that is most common, to reduce heat and lower power requirement.
This is the newest 2TB Passport
http://www.amazon.com/Passport-Ultra-Portable-External-Backup/dp/B00E055H5O/
You also would be better off with a PCIe USB3 controller. I think (not sure so check it out, but USB3 probably supplies more power to the drive than the Mac's USB2 bus ports do.
http://www.amazon.com/Compatible-Windows-ORICO-PFU3-4P-Controller/dp/B008V3THAC/ r
OWC would be a good place just to check - Sonnet and CalDigit are popular and supported, USB3 cards do tend to cost more, and support has always been at the whim of OS X and changes.
The above USB3 card though does say "10.8.2 and above" and is cheap.

I have v10.8.2 os on my mac. i use an external drive for backup which is on whenever the mac is on. whenever the mac wakes up i get the reminder that the drive was not properly ejected. i did not have this issue with snow leopard?

since i have upgraded to mountain lion i get a popup whenever my system wakes up telling me that my external drive was not ejected properly. i did not have this issue with snowleopard. i leave my hard drive on and connected for use with time machine.

Message was edited by: leroydouglas
better yet, try this solution:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/12351186#12351186

"Drive not properly ejected" message pops up constantly, but nothing was connected?????

I am constantly getting that message (approx every 5 minutes) on my iMac27. Simple box pop-up that reuires an acknowlodgement before proceding but it provides NO information on drive, size and I have not plugged OR unplugged anything.
This problem started AFTER i updated all of my iDevices to IOS5... 3 iTouches, 2 iPhones and 2 iPads.
Super annoying.
Thanks

Hello
try reset PRAM - hold togather justa after startup sound ALT-CMD-P-R key until 2-3 more startup sound
see if your problem ocure again
- verify your USB port verry carefully , may be a broken pin or a short cut in usb port
HTH
Pierre

Why is my External Disk Drive immediately Ejected?

I have an external hard drive that I've mounted many times onto my iMac running OSX 10.9.2. Now all of a sudden when I try to mount it I get the error message: "Disk not properly ejected". This even when I just connected it. When I tried again the disk image shows up for a second then I get the error message again. I connected the drive to my laptop and no problem.
I tried to run disk utilities but the drive doesn't show up.

Do 2-3 SMC and PRAM resets with NO peripherals attached and then attempt to connect the EHD. Your cable may need replacing or there could be other issues.

Disk Not Ejected Properly on wake

In the past week or so I am getting the standard Disk Not Ejected properly message everytime I wake my iMac up. However, all of my disks are still mounted properly and accessible so I have no idea what it thinks has been ejected.
I have been running on Mountain Lion with no issues since it became available and this problem has only just started.
Any suggestions?

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 not properly ejected

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