IMac ejects external hard drives unexpectedly

I am working along and all of a sudden my external hard drives are ejected for no apparent reason.
How do I fix that?

Could be a faulty cable. Try another cable and try the drives one at a time.
Reset the SMC
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord.
Wait fifteen seconds.
Attach the computer's power cord.
Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.

Similar Messages

  • New 27" iMac ejecting external hard drive and not detecting it consistently

    I purchased my iMac from Best Buy two days ago and am wondering if I have a lemon. During the process of transferring files via an external hard drive I have noticed a number of issues. My old 2007 iMac had no problem reading the drive but my new iMac keeps ejecting the disk every couple of minutes. I will get a message in the corner of my computer stating that it was not ejected properly.
    At one point, the new iMac would not read the drive at all. I plugged in my iPhone and it detected it at first but eventually ejected it and would not detect it again either, not even to charge it. I restarted the computer and it started detecting the iPhone and the external the drive, but now I am back to getting the same error message. I have tried to repair the disk using disk utility and it does not detect any problems. I also tried using every single usb port.
    I would appreciate any suggestions and will be taking it back if it keeps having issues.
    New 27" iMac
    3.2 GHz Intel Core i5
    8 gb 1600 MHz DDR3
    Mavericks 10.9.4

    You have 90 days of free AppleCare telephone support, call them today and report the issue. You can find the number in your country by clicking:
    Contact Apple for support and service

  • HT2729 Digital Copies to my IMac with external hard drive, then on my MacBook Pro I can see the movies, but if I close out my IMac, I can't access my movies on my laptop???  Can anyone help me out here?  Thanks.

    I have my itunes stored on my external hard drive of my IMac.
    I have started to put my Digital Copies to my IMac with external hard drive, then on my MacBook Pro I can see the movies, but if I close out my IMac, I can't access my movies on my laptop???
    Can anyone help me out here?  Thanks.

    I have my itunes stored on my external hard drive of my IMac.
    I have started to put my Digital Copies to my IMac with external hard drive, then on my MacBook Pro I can see the movies, but if I close out my IMac, I can't access my movies on my laptop???
    Can anyone help me out here?  Thanks.

  • When ever the power goes out or I restart my iMac the external hard drive that is used by Time Machine for backups is dismounted ?

    When ever the power goes out or I restart my iMac the external hard drive that is used for backups by Time Machine is dismounted and all backups are gone. I can reselect it and it will start working again, but I am worried if the iMac hard drive should fail will I be left without a backup ?

    fzgy wrote:
    "Mac OS X can't repair the disk.  You can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can't save changes to files on the disk.  Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can."
    It's possible a heavy-duty 3rd-party disk repair app can fix it, but they're expensive (DiskWarrior is about $100), and there's no guarantee it can do it.
    Am prompted to reformat but I don't have a good understanding of what this means and how to do it.
    That will erase it.  See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #5.
    It sounds very much like the disk is beginning to fail, although it's possible there's a bad port, cable, connection or power supply (if it has its own).
    I'd suggest getting a new one, and using it for your Time Machine backups; once you have a good backup there, reformat the old one (and select Security Options to write zeros to the whole drive -- if that fails, you know the drive is toast).  Use it for secondary backups, per FAQ #27.   If it has failed, get a second new one for secondary backups. 

  • Is it safe to eject external hard drive while Macbook Pro is on sleep?

    Hi guys. This is the external hard drive I use for Time Machine. When in sleep mode, the external hard drive is off, but wakes up periodically when Macbook Pro Retina does its Power Sleep features including periodic back up. So...is it ok to eject external hard drive while on sleep?
    Thanks.

    Oh. Normally I leave my external hard drive connected to Macbook Pro and rarely eject it. But once in a while, I need to get that hard drive to connect to other computer for file transfer. So the question was when I need to do this (eject hard drive) while Macbook is on sleep, do I need to wake it up and log in and eject? I thought you were saying that I should always eject before the machine goes to sleep. I think I misunderstood you.
    So, I need to wake it up, log in and eject before disconnecting it?

  • I did backup from my Imac to external hard drive, how can I unzip that backup to my mac

    I did backup from my Imac to external hard drive, how can I unzip that backup to my mac again

    It may be Time Machine, but Time Machine doesn't store backups in .zip folders. Open Finder and select your backup external disk in the Finder sidebar, under "Devices". If you are using Time Machine, you should see a folder called "Backups.backupdb".
    If you are using Time Machine and you want to restore a full Time Machine backup, there are different methods depending on the Mac OS X version you are using. Open  > About this Mac, see Version and tell me what version you are using

  • Safely eject external hard drive

    Anyone know of a good way to safely eject external hard drives shared over a network with a Time Capsule? It seems to me like you'd need to unplug the Time Capsule,  as that is the only way to power it off, before disconnecting an external hard drive. This interrupts the network connection at home, though, so if there's some way to do this in Finder on a connected Mac, I'd like to know!

    Sorry but I am a bit unclear..
    The drive is plugged into a Mac and the share is from this Mac to the network?? Or is the external drive plugged into the Time Capsule?
    You should be able to eject the hard disk if mounted simply by clicking the arrow in the normal way. That will not stop it showing up in the client computer.. simply dismount it when mounted. As a network shared disk.. the share will still be active..
    To dismount the disk from the computer it is shared on, will have to be done from that computer.
    Unless you use Remote Access of some sort to take over the local computer you really cannot control shares that are offered from another computer.
    I am not sure I have answered your question though.
    What are you trying to achieve.

  • Thunderbolt external hard drives unexpectedly eject

    Aloha, This is my first post to the community and I would greatly appreciate any help.
    I run two thunderbolt external hard drives: 3 TB Seagate Backup Plus and a 2 TB LaCie lessee drive.
    For several months, both drives will eject for no apparent reason. Recently, the 3 TB Seagate drive will only periodically mount. I can feel the drive spin and a light will go on, but it does not mount. This is a partitioned drive and on one partitions is a very large Aperture library, and being able to have access to these assets is becoming a concern.
    Additionally, I have been able to get the Seagate drive to boot, but was only able to see one of its partitions. When I ran Disk Utility, the drive unexpectedly ejected.
    Steps taken to address the issue
    I have done numerous shutdowns to include unplugging the power cord from the computer, depressing the start button for 15 seconds, plugging in the power cord and waiting 30 seconds before powering up the machine, then plugging in the power cord to the hard drive, and then the thunderbolt cord to the computer, and have used two different thunderbolt cords, in addition to resetting system preferences and cleaning cachet's.
    Computer:
    27 inch iMac (three years old)
    OS 10.9.5
    3.4 GHz, Intel Core i7
    16 GB 1333 MHz DDR 3
    External Hard Drive
      Vendor Name: Seagate
      Device Name: GoFlex Desk Adapter Thunderbolt
      Route String: 3
      Firmware Version: 26.0
      Port (Upstream):
      Status: Device connected
      Link Status: 0x2
      Port Micro Firmware Version: 0.2.5
      Cable Firmware Version: 0.1.22
      Port:
      Status: No device connected
      Link Status: 0x7
      Port Micro Firmware Version: 0.2.5
    I am no expert: essentially I know enough to get into trouble. Might the issue  be the iMac thunderbolt connection, given both drives sporadically eject? or might it be the thunderbolt connector that the drive sits in, given that I can occasionally get the drive to mount?
    Any and all thoughts are greatly appreciated!
    Mahalo nui loa (Thank you very much)

    Aloha,
    It was a long week. Here is an update.
    Had the opportunity to go to the Apple Store yesterday and purchase new thunderbolt cables, and hooked everything up this morning.
    I disconnected the Seagate drive from the sled, and brushed the contacts.
    The Seagate hard drive did not boot on my iMac and Disk Utility could not see it. That said, when booted to my wife's iMac, Disk Utility could see the drive, but I could not verify or repair it. The data from my wife's iMac is attached.
    Also, I tried to run Data Rescue 4. It would not see the drive. I do have Disk Warrior, if that is a reasonable option to try.
    Additionally, the LaCie (now connected to my iMac with a new thunderbolt cable) has not yet been ejected. The computer has gone to sleep several times and I have awakened it.
    I very much appreciate your thoughts and time, And I look forward to your thoughts, To include any experience in getting the data off of the Seagate. It contains seven years worth of photographs, which I would hate to lose. I also got the message about redundant backups. There may be some of the backup in Crash Plan.
    Mahalo nui loa
    WRL

  • Forgot to eject external hard drive-won't mount, doesn't show

    Hello,
    I just bought a great running G-Technology (500GB) firewire/usb portable hard drive to replace an older much less stable drive. I wanted to copy the files from one to another when the imac disc just stated spinning forever. Having experienced this before I tried shutting off the old drive, but to no avail. So I panicked and shut everything down. Obviously, I didn't eject the new hard drive. After restarting I was able to get the old drive to appear on the desktop but not the new one. It doesn't show in Disk Utility and I've tried going to Go/Go To Folder/type:/volumes and where the icon of the new drive doesn't show up. I've unplugged it, restarted the computer with and without the new drive plugged in. The new drive light is on and power seems to be going to it when plugged in. What to do? I hope I didn't ruin the drive. It's less than a week old. Thanks for any help! Kris

    If you are trying yo use the drive's USB connectivity, "portable" could be the key word. Some drives that must get their power from the computer's USB port ("bus-powered drives") may not get enough power under some circumstances. Their counterpart is the desktop or "self-powered" external drive that comes with its own power brick.
    There are workabouts for your existing drive if it lacks its own power supply:
    1) Try a different USB port. Not all USB ports provide the same level of power. Ports on the keyboard should be avoided--they can seldom power even a thumb drive
    2) Get a self-powered USB hub. It  adds to the power feed for the drive and usually fixes the issue
    3) Get a USB "Y" cable like this:
    1 Meter USB 2.0 A to 5 Pin Mini B Cable - Auxiliary USB "Y" Power Design for external hard drives.
    It uses two of the comptuer's ports for extra power.
    If you are connecting with FireWire, then the drive is likely faulty.

  • Switching on external audio ejects external hard drives

    Hi folks. Weird problem here.
    I have an iMac (27-inch, Late 2012, 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5, 32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3) with a regular 3.5mm line-out jack going from the audio out port to an external speaker/subwoofer system.
    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).
    Normally they reappear after a minute or so but sometimes they don't and I have to restart in order to have them show up.
    I am beginning to think that it is related to an issue I have had ongoing for a number of months (since upgrading to Yosemite actually) 27" iMac randomly reboots whereby I would have messages appearing throughout the day saying "external Disks have not been ejected properly", and then having 2 HD's terminally fail on me.
    I have seen other threads talking about glitches with their audio when using audio in/out devices but I have seen nothing about hard- drives being ejected.
    I suspect that the Headphone/optical digital audio output (minijack) is susceptible to power surges, such as a connected device being switched on and this somehow causes the ejection.
    Anyone else have similar problems or know of a possible cause?

    Hi folks. Weird problem here.
    I have an iMac (27-inch, Late 2012, 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5, 32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3) with a regular 3.5mm line-out jack going from the audio out port to an external speaker/subwoofer system.
    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).
    Normally they reappear after a minute or so but sometimes they don't and I have to restart in order to have them show up.
    I am beginning to think that it is related to an issue I have had ongoing for a number of months (since upgrading to Yosemite actually) 27" iMac randomly reboots whereby I would have messages appearing throughout the day saying "external Disks have not been ejected properly", and then having 2 HD's terminally fail on me.
    I have seen other threads talking about glitches with their audio when using audio in/out devices but I have seen nothing about hard- drives being ejected.
    I suspect that the Headphone/optical digital audio output (minijack) is susceptible to power surges, such as a connected device being switched on and this somehow causes the ejection.
    Anyone else have similar problems or know of a possible cause?

  • Backing up photos on iMac using external hard drive and time machine

    How do i back up photos from my imac using an external hard drive and time machine
    Thanks in advance

    Apple explains how to use Time Machine in http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427.
    Setting up and using TM is very simple to do, connect any external HD (format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using Disk Utility ) and your computer shoudl ask if you want to use that EHD for a Time Machine backup. If you have any questions visit your local Apple Store or reseller and they can answer how to setup and use TM and also should be able to offer suggestions on EHDs. My personal preference is OWC (www.macsales.com) Mercury Elite Pro due to the build quality and OWC's level of support.

  • Improperly ejected external hard drive is not displaying on computer...not even in Disk Utility

    My external hard drive has been repeatedly ejected improperly and now it is not displaying on my computer, not even in disk utility.  How do I re-mount this external hard drive?  In the past when this has happened, all I had to do was go to Disk Utility or use DiskWarrior to fix the issue but now it won't even show up in either of these apps.
    Any help would be appreciated
    2008 MacBook Pro 10.9.3, WD My Studio 1 TB External HD

    From the menu bar, select
     ▹ System Preferences ▹ Energy Saver ▹ Power Adapter  
    and uncheck the box labeled Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible, if it's checked.
    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.
    Test the drive with another Mac. Test another drive with this Mac.
    If the drive is bus-powered, but has an AC adapter, connect the adapter.
    Start up in Recovery mode and launch Disk Utility. Is the drive recognized?
    Start up in Safe Mode and test.
    Reset the NVRAM.
    Reset the System Management Controller.
    If the drive doesn't work under any of the above conditions, and if another drive does work with the same Mac, then the drive has failed. 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.

  • Error message when trying to eject external hard drive

    I'm trying to eject an external hard drive (I've tried all of the prompts multiple times) and continue to get the error message, "The volume can’t be ejected because it’s currently in use.".  Has anybody run into this?

    Well... I did it the "wrong" way and turned off the hard drive before ejecting it.  Of course my Mac "yelled" at me.  When I tested to make sure the HD was working properly it seemed to and then ejected easily.  Who knows???

  • Safely Eject External Hard Drive Before Sleep

    After returning from a state of sleep, my computer always gives me this error message:
    This is referring to the "unsafe ejection" of my external hard drive which I have hooked up to Time Machine for backups. I would think that the Mac has some sort of shutdown script it would run before going to sleep to safely eject the hard drives connected to the machine, but apparently it does not.
    Does anyone know how I can avoid this message? In other words, is there a way to have my computer safely eject all drives before going to sleep?

    In case anyone remembers the "good old days" - a few years back (mostly during OS 10.4 - Tiger), there were multiple problems reported with either USB and/or Firewire externals on wake-up; this included hard drives and hubs mostly. I was experiencing problems myself continuously with one of my hubs. Apple finally came out with one of their articles stating that the problems arose because, upon wake-up command, the computer would get confused momentarily as to what to start with first - internal HD, external HD, hub, or whatever and suggesting that you simply unmount (before sleep) whatever was causing the problem. The second suggestion was to unplug/plug in the USB or firewire cable after wakeup, which is what I had to do to get my keyboard and mouse working which were plugged into the hub. That was when I started to unmount and unplug my externals unless I actually needed them and I'm actually still doing that (habits!). I haven't had a problem with my hubs for a while now, but I'm wondering if it could be the same type of problem.

  • PC cannot recognize iMac's external Hard Drive on network

    I have a network with my PC and iMac. The iMac has an external hard drive that I recently added. I can see my PC from the Mac and I can see the iMac from the PC. What I cannot see is the external Hard Drive connected to the Mac from my PC, only the normal folders on my Mac. Can't find anything to allow me to do this.
    Any ideas?
    iMac   Mac OS X (10.4.3)  

    Before I tried the software suggested I spoke with my son who finally gave me a script to enter in terminal which added the external drive as something that would be recognized. After a few tries it actually worked and I can read and write to my external drive from my PC. Thanks for the advice and assistance.
    Now I just have to figure out how to get iLife 06 to load as it keeps crashing my Mac. Tried 6 times and now I have no iPhoto nor the iWeb, 2 of the 3 programs I really need and use!
    Happy "Mac"ing.

Maybe you are looking for