External SSD disconnects randomly

I have a new MacBook Pro Retina 13". Because storage space is limited, I'm using a Samsung SSD as an external drive. This drive is in a USB 3.0 a case from OWC. The Aperture library I'm working from lives on that drive, so it needs to be a reliable connection.
The problem: When I step away long enough for the screen to go blank, I wake it up to find that the external drive has been disconnected. I see an error message admonishing me to eject disks properly. I cannot re-mount the disk by any means except to log out/back in. Logging out takes ages, so that I generally have to shut the computer down by holding the power key. It mounts up just fine when I re-boot or log back in.
Computer is plugged in
Energy Saver settings are set to allow system sleep after ten minutes or so, and to put hard disks to sleep when possible
Console log is jammed full of info around this timeframe, but i don't see anything relevant (maybe i'm not interpreting it correctly)
Any thoughts?

same/similar problem with a Dell monitor
Aug 2010 Macbook Pro
For some reason it worked for a while (though often I had to restart) and now it is not working at all - external monitor is black & flashes the desktop every minute or so.
Extremely frustrating

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[SOLVED] External USB HDD drive gets disconnected randomly

Hi,
I'm encountering problem with external HDD drive. Recently I've installed a new drive and reinstalled Arch. I use my old disk as external one connected by USB. Unfortunately it get's disconnected randomly. This is what I found in journal:
journalctl
lut 22 17:06:39 t61 kernel: usb 2-1: USB disconnect, device number 2
lut 22 17:06:39 t61 udisksd[346]: Cleaning up mount point /run/media/kuba/ExtStorage (device 8:19 no longer exist)
lut 22 17:06:39 t61 systemd-udevd[165]: error opening USB device 'descriptors' file
lut 22 17:06:39 t61 kernel: Buffer I/O error on dev sdb3, logical block 33062912, lost sync page write
lut 22 17:06:39 t61 kernel: JBD2: Error -5 detected when updating journal superblock for sdb3-8.
lut 22 17:06:39 t61 udisksd[346]: Cleaning up mount point /run/media/kuba/ea5c6a7b-1f73-4527-b99c-29920084bd42 (device 8:17 no longer exist)
lut 22 17:06:39 t61 kernel: Buffer I/O error on dev sdb1, logical block 5275648, lost sync page write
lut 22 17:06:39 t61 kernel: JBD2: Error -5 detected when updating journal superblock for sdb1-8.
lut 22 17:06:40 t61 kernel: usb 2-1: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
uname -a
Linux t61 3.18.6-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Feb 7 08:44:05 CET 2015 x86_64 GNU/Linux
smartctl -a /dev/sdb
smartctl 6.3 2014-07-26 r3976 [x86_64-linux-3.18.6-1-ARCH] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-14, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Western Digital Scorpio Blue Serial ATA
Device Model: WDC WD3200BEVT-00A23T0
Serial Number: WD-WXG1AB002023
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 2054a2f6c
Firmware Version: 01.01A01
User Capacity: 320,072,933,376 bytes [320 GB]
Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical
Rotation Rate: 5400 rpm
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: ATA8-ACS (minor revision not indicated)
SATA Version is: SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s
Local Time is: Sun Feb 22 20:46:13 2015 CET
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
was never started.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 7800) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 93) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 5) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x7037) SCT Status supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 1
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 152 147 021 Pre-fail Always - 1375
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 096 096 000 Old_age Always - 4249
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 087 087 000 Old_age Always - 9983
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 096 096 000 Old_age Always - 4032
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 113
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 162 162 000 Old_age Always - 114798
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 115 096 000 Old_age Always - 28
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Short offline Completed without error 00% 7530 -
# 2 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 7530 -
# 3 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 6969 -
# 4 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 5007 -
# 5 Short offline Completed without error 00% 5006 -
# 6 Short offline Completed without error 00% 3168 -
# 7 Short offline Completed without error 00% 1270 -
# 8 Short offline Completed without error 00% 944 -
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
So it's like I want to continue watching a movie from external drive and then player crashes because my hard disk partitions got unmounted...
I'm wondering if it can happen because disk is underpowered (it's connected only to one USB port because I lost my original USB cable which had two USB plugs). Anyway it would be strange as problem occurs also when disk is 'idle' so then the power consumption is also lower I assume. I can only say this disk was working just fine when used as internal drive. Any ideas?
Last edited by jakub (2015-02-22 20:08:50)

Your recommendation to check cable was just - a good recommendation I played a little bit with the B connector and disk immediately stopped working. OMG it was so simple ;p Thanks. I have to buy a new cable (I hope the case is all right).
EDIT:
Confirmed with portable mp3 player. Cable (B connector) is damaged.
I just won't delete this thread as it's a perfect example to show that basic stuff and simplest things should be always checked first !
Last edited by jakub (2015-02-22 20:28:26)

FireWire400 Drive disconnects randomly - Acomdata 250GB External - Help?

I bought a Acomdata 250GB External hard drive with FireWire400. It has worked beautifully for me for the past week or so. I used it with Time Machine and I also backed up files (movies, music, etc.) onto it which worked pretty well. I never formatted it or anything, just plugged it in and it started working. I use it in Windows sometimes using MacDrive - software which lets you access Mac formatted drives. I do this to transfer my Music to my Windows XP partition (Boot Camp) and things like that. Just recenetly (past 2 days or so) it disconnects randomly even when a file transfer is in progress. If I unplug and replug it, it sometimes fixes it. But other times I need to flip the power switch on/off for it to start up again. I feel like cutting the power like that must be bad for the drive. In my 2 weeks of ownership I never turned it off until I started having the issues, I just would let it spin down when I turn off the computer. I thought it got too hot so I let it sit for a while but I still have issues. I've heard you should totally unhook everthing (Firewire cable, power cable, then take everything out of your laptop (ethernet, Firewire, battery, etc.) and let them sit for like 30 minutes to get all power cycled and stuff. I'll try that now but can anyone throw me a bone? Please?

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Thunderbolt external SSD won't mount

I'm using the Elgato Thunderbolt SSD as an external hard disk with my 2013 MBP. Since I'm also using a Thunderbolt display, I usually daisy-chain the disk to the display.
Recently I disconnected the Thunderbolt display from my computer without unmounting the external SSD. Since this also disconnected the disk, I got the usual ticking-off ("You should eject a disk before disconnecting it").
However... since then, the external disk won't mount. It doesn't show up on the desktop or in Disk Utility, though it DOES show up ("Thunderbolt SSD") in System Information.
Because the SSD gets warm when it's in use, I think it's still working. I just can't access it.
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Is the Apple Thunderbolt Display at the END of the daisy-chain? That's where it should be - all other TB devices should be connected first, with the Display at the end of the chain.
As to why you're having a problem getting the TB SSD to work, I'm stumped. It seems as if you've done everything that I would try to do to get everything working... and I'm assuming that you have powered down and unplugged the Display and all other devices for 15 minutes or so?
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Running dead iMac from external SSD?

After watching a video on how to install an SSD in my early 2008 iMac, I bought an external USB enclosure and opted to simply boot off it, using my iMac's internal drive as a backup. This has worked great for more than a year. But last week, after 5 years of yeoman service, the internal drive died. The iMac still boots up fine off the external SSD. I would just like to know if there's any reason I shouldn't continue to use the iMac in this fashion. Any comments or advice appreciated.

Just tried to boot the newly cloned external SSD. Pressed the option key on startup to bring up the startup disk icons. Just got a gray screen. Did a hard shutdown, disconnected the two SSD's. Waited. Reconnected everything. Tried again. This time one SSD icon of the two came up but nothing happened when I clicked on it. Shut down again. Zapped the PRAM. Booted again. This time I got both SSD icons. Yay. But the cursor wouldn't move nor would the arrow keys do anything. Boo. This time I disconnected the SSD's and pulled the power cord from the back of the iMac. Waited a few minutes then reconnected. Booted again. Again got the single icon and the frozen cursor. I had the feeling that the dead (or almost dead) internal hard drive was somehow getting in the way of the startup process. I disconnected one of the SSD's and the remaining one booted fine. I re-connected the second one. It mounted. I opened up the Startup Disk Pref Pane. Only one of the SSD's showed up so I selected the one there. I re-booted & voila. All is sweetness and light. I think I'm going to have to open up the box and disconnect the comatose HD so I don't have to do this dance anymore.

My second screen disconnects randomly after installing Yosemite. ¿Any suggestion?

My second screen disconnects randomly after installing Yosemite. ¿Any suggestion?

Hello Juanjeli,
Thanks for the question. Based on what you stated, it seems like you are having trouble using an external display. I would recommend that you read this article, it may be able to help you resolve or isolate the issue.
Apple computers: Troubleshooting issues with video on internal or external displays
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
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GoFlex drive disconnects randomly after ML install

After installing ML, my 1 TB GoFlex, drive connected via Firewire 800, disconnects randomly and gives me the "The disk was not ejected properly..." error. Then it reconnects immediately. It does this a lot and, like I said, randomly. Has anyone else experienced this problem with an external drive?

Yes, I can't get any external drive (formatted in exFat and over 1TB) to come after installing Mountain Lion. My smaller drives like 250GB etc work fine but anything 1TB or over gets disconnected constantly or doesn't come up at all. I have tried to verify the disk and repair the disk in disk utility but it says it cannot be repaired. But the drive works fine on my Lion laptop..eh

Boot from external SSD cause freeze

I bought a Samsung 830 SSD ( 256 GB model MZ-7PC256D )
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I installed Lion (I'm running OS X 10.7.5) on the new external drive using the OS X Recovery.
Everything runs fine and very fast except that system randomly freeze.
I can't open/close apps and the spinning beachball appears. I can't do anything other than power-off holding down the power button.
I disabled the "disk sleep" option, disk seems ok (I checked the status and said verified) but system keeps freezing.
It appears that after the first freeze, soon occur a second one.
Also, I noticed strange(?) sound (something like tock) from the adapter/SSD during the normal use.
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17/12/12 18:04:06,000 kernel: SMC::smcInitHelper ERROR: MMIO regMap == NULL - fall back to old SMC mode
17/12/12 18:04:09,043 WindowServer: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
17/12/12 18:04:09,888 Finder: kCGErrorIllegalArgument: _CGSFindSharedWindow: WID 31
17/12/12 18:04:09,888 Finder: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
17/12/12 18:04:09,888 Finder: kCGErrorIllegalArgument: CGSRemoveSurface: Invalid window 0x1f
17/12/12 18:04:17,891 talagent: CGSConnectionRelinquishWindowRights(cid, newWindowNumber, reservedRights): CGError 1001 on line 619
17/12/12 18:04:17,891 talagent: CGSReleaseWindow(cid, wid): CGError 1001 on line 759
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I'm not certain this is the culprit, but the overall consensus that I've read online points to the fact that most (or all?) available external Thunderbolt drive enclosures that are *bus-powered only* (so no independent power brick with the enclosure) have difficulty providing enough power to SSD's that exceed ~240GB. And without enough power the system freezes or causes other errors.
Here's at least one thorough examination that came to this conclusion:
http://wolfgangtechnology.blogspot.com/2012/06/mac-with-seagate-thunderbolt-adap ter.html
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I'm looking into doing the same as you (using external SSD as primary boot drive) but there aren't that many relatively-affordable enclosures to choose from at this point (off the top of my head just the Seagate GoFlex, Buffalo Ministation, and Lacie offerings come to mind) and there's still an outstanding question as to whether the available enclosures support the SATA III spec to really get the most out of the fastest SSD's available today.
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Is there a way to run a external ssd with my mid 2011 iMac hdd in a raid configuration and basically have a fusion drive

is there a way to run a external ssd with my mid 2011 iMac hdd in a raid configuration and basically have a fusion drive

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Can I use an external SSD drive as main drive?

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Certainly can, however its a bad idea due to extreme cost and having to buy an awkward external enclosure for the microSATA or PCIe SSD
SSD and an enclosure like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-3-0-mini-pci-e-mSATA-SSD-adapter-external-Enclosure- case-with-cable-driver-/221178575483
OWC sells better SSD enclosures however.
Also a bad idea due to BUS SPEEDS, and SSD are far too expensive, and you cant get enough storage to cover your internal conventional HD in its size
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Can I boot from an external ssd via thunderbolt?

My MBP is super fast with an SSD second drive.
in my Imac, can I get that same speed if I boot from an external SSD drive through thunderbolt port? or would the ssd have to be inside the imac? I guess I want to know if the thunderbolt connection is slower than if I had the SSD inside the Imac?

Don't know if the Thunderbolt port is bootable but its speed exceeds the 6Gbs negotiated speed of SATA III drives.

External SSD drive not working with mavericks anymore!

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These are user forums and are not monitored by Apple.
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Len61 got my reply, I have copied below.
Hi - I have been on the phone with support 4X since late December - all good calls. They have been scratching their heads on this issue.
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Seeking help, I boot from external SSD drives from my 2010 iMac. I recently installed Yosemite on an External SSD with a firewire connection and all went well with the installation and first boot. After completing set up and restarting my iMac Yosemite will no longer boot from the firewire connection it will boot to the loading bar and then get the dreaded Goest Buster Emblem, if I swap out the SSD to USB connection it boots normally. I have 6 SSD Drives with Mavericks and Lion installed on that will boot from the Firewire Connection. Any suggestions ?

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Hi,
I'm running Mac OS X Lion (latest version) on a MacBook Pro mid-2010 model. OS X Lion was installed via recovery tools a few days ago.
Today I plugged in a brand new Crucial M4 SSD via USB and it got detected. I restarted the laptop in recovery mode using cmd + R and chose to install Lion on the external SSD. For this I first had to partition the SSD before it showed up as a valid drive where Lion could be installed.
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Hi,
Thanks. But I don't have access to another computer or another enclosure. The enclosure I have has an in-built USB cable.
The SSD DID get recognised and I almost installed Lion on it completely, but then what I said above happened.
Is there any other alternative?
Cheers.

External SSD disconnects randomly

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