External HD Ejecting Involuntarily

I've seen a few threads on this topic, but none of which describe my situation. I have a Mac Mini running 10.5.8, with a Seagate FreeAgent 500GB external HD. I've never had any problems with it. It is my backup point for TimeMachine as well as where I put my iPhoto library.
Suddenly, yes, as dramatic as it is, suddenly today, it started to eject itself. I've seen threads about power, but it does have a power from a plug as well as the USB.
The odd addition is this... it starts to happen as I hear static on my speakers... you know the old cell phone beeps and blips that used to happen when a call comes in... yes those. And while using iPhoto or iMovie.
No notice comes up, the drive just ejects. If I unplug the USB and plug it in again, it loads back in, then ejects as soon as I start using iPhoto or iMovie... and yes the Beeps and Blips are there as well.
Ummm... help?

Yes, I've tried a new USB cable and I have a USB keyboard and iPhone dock both connected to the Mac Mini.

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    Whenever my mac is on and I have forgotten to power up the external speakers, once I flick the switch on the system all the external Hard Drives attached to my mac eject (750GB WD USB2, 4TB Seagate USB3, 5TB Seagate USB3).
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