Seagate Expansion 2 TB External USB drive keeps disconnecting

Hi,
I just attached a nearly new Seagate 2 TB Expansion USB external drive to my iMac running Snow Leopard, as a Time Machine drive.
The drive sits idle until Time Machine does a backup. However, the drive keeps disconnecting momentarily - I get the "your drive was not ejected properly" error message, the drive icon disappears for a few seconds, and then the drive reconnects by itself. Happens several times an hour.
Is this a known glitch? Do I need to replace the drive (it's under warranty, but still a bit of a nuisance)?

My logs...
Mar 18 19:11:42: --- last message repeated 2 times ---
Mar 18 19:11:42 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: replay_journal: from: 3182592 to: 3252224 (joffset 0x8f25f95000)
Mar 18 19:11:42 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: journal replay done.
Mar 18 19:28:39 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 DisablePolling
Mar 18 19:28:39 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: disk1s2: media is not present.
Mar 18 19:28:39 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: dojnlio: strategy err 0x6
Mar 18 19:28:39 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: end_transaction: only wrote 0 of 8192 bytes to the journal!
Mar 18 19:28:39 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: close: journal 0x4efcb10, is invalid. aborting outstanding transactions
Mar 18 19:28:39 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 overriding stop
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 overriding init
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: GetVendorAndModelIDInfo suceeded
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: probe suceeded bidding for device
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start begin
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 ResetMediumCharacteristics
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 EnablePolling
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s4
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s5
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s6
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s7
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s8
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::EnableSmart: begin
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::EnableSmart: using IssueSmartEnable
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: IssueSAT12Request - begin
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: IssueSAT12Request - SCSITaskStatus 0
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: IssueSAT12Request - returning main line 1
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s9
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s10
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s11
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::Start currentSecurityState = kSecurityNotSupported
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s12
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s13
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 DetermineMediumCapacity start
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 DetermineMediumCapacity results: 0x0200 0xe8e088ae
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 SetMediumCharacteristics
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::Start sending kIOMediaStateOnline message
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s14
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start exit
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: Couldn't alloc class "comseagateFDEBootStrap"
Mar 18 19:28:52: --- last message repeated 2 times ---
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: replay_journal: from: 3252224 to: 3305472 (joffset 0x8f25f95000)
Mar 18 19:28:52 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: journal replay done.
Mar 18 19:48:50 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 DisablePolling
Mar 18 19:48:50 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: disk1s2: media is not present.
Mar 18 19:48:50 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: dojnlio: strategy err 0x6
Mar 18 19:48:50 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: end_transaction: only wrote 0 of 8192 bytes to the journal!
Mar 18 19:48:50 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: close: journal 0x4efcb10, is invalid. aborting outstanding transactions
Mar 18 19:48:50 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 overriding stop
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 overriding init
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: GetVendorAndModelIDInfo suceeded
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: probe suceeded bidding for device
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start begin
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 ResetMediumCharacteristics
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 EnablePolling
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s4
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s5
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s6
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s7
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s8
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::EnableSmart: begin
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::EnableSmart: using IssueSmartEnable
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: IssueSAT12Request - begin
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: IssueSAT12Request - SCSITaskStatus 0
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: IssueSAT12Request - returning main line 1
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s9
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s10
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s11
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::Start currentSecurityState = kSecurityNotSupported
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s12
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s13
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 DetermineMediumCapacity start
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 DetermineMediumCapacity results: 0x0200 0xe8e088ae
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 SetMediumCharacteristics
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::Start sending kIOMediaStateOnline message
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s14
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start exit
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: Couldn't alloc class "comseagateFDEBootStrap"
Mar 18 19:49:03: --- last message repeated 2 times ---
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: replay_journal: from: 3305472 to: 3358720 (joffset 0x8f25f95000)
Mar 18 19:49:03 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: journal replay done.
Mar 18 20:08:01 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 DisablePolling
Mar 18 20:08:01 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: disk1s2: media is not present.
Mar 18 20:08:01 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: dojnlio: strategy err 0x6
Mar 18 20:08:01 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: end_transaction: only wrote 0 of 8192 bytes to the journal!
Mar 18 20:08:01 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: close: journal 0x4efcb10, is invalid. aborting outstanding transactions
Mar 18 20:08:01 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 overriding stop
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 overriding init
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: GetVendorAndModelIDInfo suceeded
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: probe suceeded bidding for device
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start begin
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 ResetMediumCharacteristics
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 EnablePolling
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s4
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s5
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s6
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s7
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s8
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::EnableSmart: begin
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::EnableSmart: using IssueSmartEnable
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: IssueSAT12Request - begin
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: IssueSAT12Request - SCSITaskStatus 0
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: IssueSAT12Request - returning main line 1
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s9
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s10
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s11
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::Start currentSecurityState = kSecurityNotSupported
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s12
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s13
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 DetermineMediumCapacity start
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 DetermineMediumCapacity results: 0x0200 0xe8e088ae
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 SetMediumCharacteristics
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::Start sending kIOMediaStateOnline message
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s14
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start exit
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: Couldn't alloc class "comseagateFDEBootStrap"
Mar 18 20:08:13: --- last message repeated 2 times ---
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: replay_journal: from: 3358720 to: 3411968 (joffset 0x8f25f95000)
Mar 18 20:08:13 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: journal replay done.
Mar 18 20:29:11 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 DisablePolling
Mar 18 20:29:11 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: disk1s2: media is not present.
Mar 18 20:29:11 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: dojnlio: strategy err 0x6
Mar 18 20:29:11 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: end_transaction: only wrote 0 of 8192 bytes to the journal!
Mar 18 20:29:11 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: close: journal 0x4efcb10, is invalid. aborting outstanding transactions
Mar 18 20:29:11 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 overriding stop
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 overriding init
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: GetVendorAndModelIDInfo suceeded
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: probe suceeded bidding for device
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start begin
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 ResetMediumCharacteristics
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 EnablePolling
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s4
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s5
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s6
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s7
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s8
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::EnableSmart: begin
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::EnableSmart: using IssueSmartEnable
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: IssueSAT12Request - begin
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: IssueSAT12Request - SCSITaskStatus 0
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: IssueSAT12Request - returning main line 1
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s9
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s10
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s11
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::Start currentSecurityState = kSecurityNotSupported
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s12
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s13
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 DetermineMediumCapacity start
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 DetermineMediumCapacity results: 0x0200 0xe8e088ae
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00 SetMediumCharacteristics
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00::Start sending kIOMediaStateOnline message
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start s14
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: comseagateIOPowSec00: start exit
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: Couldn't alloc class "comseagateFDEBootStrap"
Mar 18 20:29:24: --- last message repeated 2 times ---
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: replay_journal: from: 3411968 to: 3465216 (joffset 0x8f25f95000)
Mar 18 20:29:24 ****-******-mac-mini kernel[0]: jnl: disk1s2: journal replay done.

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External USB drive keeps unloading when mini goes to sleep

I hooked up one of these a few days ago
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HC-3502H&cat=CSE
I put a 250G WD drive in it and connected it to my mini.
I keep my mini powered on all the time and set it to sleep after20 minutes of inactivity.
All seemed well for a couple days, then yesterday when I went to wake up the mini, it displayed the warning message that I had disconnected a drive improperly and that I should eject it first, data could be lost blah, blah blah, and the drive icon was gone from my desktop. I had to power cycle the external enclosure to get the drive to show back up (it was easier than trying to find the right USB plug to unplug/replug). Since I had never seen that before I thought it was a fluke and went and had dinner. After dinner (and the mini was asleep) I woke the mini back up, and had the same error - and the drive icon was gone again. Power cycle the ext box, and back it pops.
I went to system prefs and unchecked "Put the hard drive(s) to sleep when possible"...that didn't fix it.
Any idea why this is happening all of a sudden, and more importantly, how to make it stop? (short of never putting the mini to sleep). Thanks

Since this case functions as a USB 2.0 hub, try it with only the drive attached (don't use the "hub" functionality). Also detach all other USB and FireWire peripherals connected directly to the Mac, and only connect the keyboard/mouse directly to the Mac's port. Does this problem occur when only the drive is attached?
If the problem goes away, add one peripheral at a time back to your system and check if the problem occurs each time. Determine which device causes the problem to recur.

USB Hard Drives Keep Disconnecting or Not Responding

Hi,
This is a long post - but one that I hope someone can offer advice on.
The Hardware
Mac Pro running OSX 10.8 (but this has happened on all versions of the OS i.e. 10.6/.7 etc)
3 x Internal SATA Hard Drives - All working perfectly.
External Drives:
2 x Western Digital My Book 1TB USB Hard Drives
1 x Seagate 750GB Hard Drive with USB2 connectivity
2 x IcyBox Dual Bay USB2 hard Drive enclosures using JMicron Chipsets - these enclosures have 2 x 1TB Western Digital Green in each (totaling 4 TB across the 2 enclosures).
D-Link 7 Port USB2 Hub
The Problem
- USB Hard Drives connected to the Mac are ejected from the system without notice and at random times AND/OR
- The external hard drive remains mounted, but when trying to write to the drive/partitions, Finder throws an error message up saying the operation cannot be completed - error code -50.
- Time Machine: TM will back up successfully several times, before eventually throwing an error up that it cannot create the folders required on the drive.
- The only way to be able to use the drives again is either remount the drive, or in some case, it is required to completely power the drive down and then reconnect.
Re-creating the problem
I have honestly not found a sure-fire way of replicating the problem. It seems completely random. It happens when I am actually sat at the computer, but it also happens when I am away from the computer.
In the past - my Time Machine hard drive has been one of the Western Digital MyBook drives. I also used the second MyBook for SuperDuper backups (extra redundancy). The 4TB drives in the IcyBox enclosures have been used to backup my ripped movie collection.
Recently however - I decided to have 2 of the 1TB drives in the IcyBox enclosures to be TM and SuperDuper backups. I have however reverted TM back to one of the Western Digital drives, purely for testing purposes. SuperDuper is backing up to one of the 1TB drives in the IcyBox.
I am trying various things to see if I can find the issue, but it is such a random event that it is taking ages to even come close to find a problem. Sometimes the drives will stay active for a few days, sometimes only a few hours, even minutes.
Theories
I have several theories as to why my USB drives continually disconnect.
1. The D-Link USB Hub.
Could connecting the drives through the hub be causing the problem? I don't really see how, unless it is a documented case that D-Link USB hubs do not play nice with OSX? To try and rule this out I have connected the current Time Machine back up drive (Western Digital MyBook) directly to the USB port on the back of the computer. The SuperDuper (IcyBox enclosure) drive is currently connected through the D-Link hub. I have removed all the other drives from the enclosures - so at present I have only 2 external drives connected (1 x 1TB Western Digital MyBook, 1 x 1TB Western Digital Green inside one of the IcyBox dual-bay enclosures - connected through D-Link Hub).
2. JMicron Chipset
I have done a bit of research on the internet and there are a few indications that perhaps JMicron SATA-to-USB controller chipsets found in a lot of external hard drive enclosures (including the dual bay IcyBox external enclosures that I have) do not play nice with OSX. If the JMicron chipsets in the 2 IcyBox enclosures is a problem - would that cause issues with other USB devices on the USB bus off the Mac? (i.e. can the JMicron chipset in the enclosures cause devices such as the WD MyBook drives which I assume use a non-JMicron chipset, to experience similar failures?)
3. Green Hard Drives
As I have said, I have 4 Western Digital Green 1TB hard drives inside the IcyBox Dual Bay Enclosures. Could the fact that these drives are 'Green' be causing a problem? They do go to sleep after x number of minutes, but they do wake up when required. But could on the occasion when I have problems, could this be caused by the 'Green' feature interrupting OSX in waking the drives? Coupled with JMicron chipset, could this be compounding the issue?
Possible Solutions
I am prepared to spend money on replacement drives and/or enclosures etc - but I would hate to spend x amount of money and have the same problem. So I am hoping to get some advice on what drives/enclosures are more than likely to work flawlessly with OSX.
Thanks for reading!

FYI - re: the SuperDuper drive that is in one of the IcyBox enclosures.
I just opened this drive up in Finder. I heard the drive wake up, but when I came to copy a file over (tried various file sizes) - I got the error -50 message.
Here is the info from Console.
31/07/2012 23:35:52.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:52.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.000 kernel[0]: disk4s2: 0xe000c2e4 (UNDEFINED).
31/07/2012 23:35:53.320 fseventsd[55]: disk logger: failed to open output file /Volumes/Data 1/.fseventsd/0000000002478a7f (No such file or directory). mount point /Volumes/Data 1/.fseventsd
31/07/2012 23:35:53.320 fseventsd[55]: disk logger: failed to open output file /Volumes/Data 1/.fseventsd/0000000002478a7f (No such file or directory). mount point /Volumes/Data 1/.fseventsd
Also, while the drive was inaccessible, I tried 'Verify Disk' in Disk Utility - here are the results
Verifying volume “SuperDuper”
Checking file systemPerforming live verification.
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking catalog hierarchy.
Checking extended attributes file.
Invalid leaf record count
(It should be 2 instead of 1)
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
The volume SuperDuper was found corrupt and needs to be repaired.
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
Please also note that the all my external hard drives have recently been reformated using GUID part. map and HFS Journaled.

Keep losing DWC130 external USB drive

I keep losing the connection to the DWC130 External USB drive on Windows 8.1. If I leave a Windows Explorer window open, after 10 minutes or so when I go to the external Toshiba drive its like it has lost its connection. The drive dissappears from the list of connected drives, and after a few seconds a new window opens with a refreshed connection to the drive. Why do I keep losing this live connection to the drive? How can I stablize this?

I read something about some of these external drives needing more power, even when plugged into the USB 3 port. The article suggested a "Y" connector to allow the one drive to plug into two USB 3 ports simultaneously. I guess that's possible, but before doing so I'm going to call my local computer center today where I purchased the hard drive to see if they know of this problem and how to resolve it.
Actually, that is NOT possible. The DWC130 external drive has a power adaptor and plugs into an outlet for its power source. So, something else is at play here.

How can I do backups on internal disc while sharing an external USB drive?

Hi,
On my Airport Utility there are two lines: "Time Capsule Disc", and below (indented) "Data".
(When I plug an external USB drive I can see it in this window as well)
Clicking (selecting) the first line, on the right hand side I can see the disc details (name, capacity and SMART Status (Verified)), and two buttons: Compress and Erase (I don't know if these are the words used on the english version mine is spanish).
Clicking on the second line (Data) I can see the Name "Data", capacity, used and available sizes and number of users connected.
First question:
Why Time Machine can't see the "Data" volume if I untick the "Share files" checkbox?
Second question:
Moreover, I've got a USB External Drive attached to my Time Capsule, so I have to have the "Share Files" checkbox ON, this makes my USB disc (fat32) available to my Windows computers but ALSO the "Data" volume can be seen from Windows. If there is any attempt to assign a Windows drive letter to the "Data" volume, next time Time machine wants to do a backup I'm getting a "disc wrong or missing, check credentials (or something similar)".
In summary, what I'm trying to do is Time Machine backups to the internal Time Capsule disc (making that disc unavailable/invisible to any other computer in my network) while sharing a USB external drive attached to Time Capsule.
Advice, please!

Yes you can go to > Music > iTunes folder and copy the whole iTunes folder and drag the folder to your external and then on the new Mac click and highlight the iTunes folder and then in iTunes click on the button at the top (add folder to library) and you should see all your songs transfer from the external to the Mac and all songs start filling up in your iTunes library on the Mac.
This is the easiest method all songs and other media such as songs, movies, apps will be transferred over however you may not be able to keep ratings & last played counts using this method.
To keep all metadata including ratings & play count use the Apple method exclusively for this if you have to have your metadata, play counts and ratings saved.
I used scenario one above because it one of the simplest methods and I was just satisfied enough just to transfer all media over.

Mini doesn't always connect bluetooth and external (USB) drives on boot

I have had a new Intel mini for 4 months now (we also have a PPC G5, which we love). In the last few weeks the mini started to not connect my Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, nor recognize some of my USB peripherals when booting up. When this happens, it also makes a repeated "startup sound - bong!" echo when the start button is pressed. I have two external USB drives, one 500GB Phantom and one 500GB WD MyBook. When the Apple logo appears at boot, I can see the activity lights flashing on the drives as the BIOS interrogates the USB connections, but after the Leopard start up desktop appears, the only drive shown is Macintosh HD, the mouse pointer is at the top left of the display and will not move, nor will the keyboard do anything. I have read every post on this subject and tried all of the resets suggested. Sometimes this works after a few attempts, sometimes it takes 6 or more tries - disconnecting all cables, and turning the computer on again and again. Occasionally the WD MyBook drive appears on the desktop, yet still the Bluetooth is unresponsive and the other drive absent. I am getting frustrated having to disconnect everything and trying to boot this thing up, sometimes for one hour or longer before I can use it properly (all of my work is on the external drives).
There MUST be a firmware update for this by now, because I see that I am not the only one experiencing these problems, and this is obviously some problem with how the BIOS is communicating with the bus.

Hi amyta pdx-
I'd be careful jumping to conclusions or the troubleshooting process may get clouded. For one thing those WD drives are junk and most people using them eventually have problems.
What happens with everything disconnected from the Mac except a mouse connected to a USB port on the Mac and the monitor connected to the video port only?
Luck-
-DP

Errors on external USB drive

I'm trying to track down the cause of failed backups to a brand-new 300Gb Seagate drive in a external USB <-> SATA enclosure.
I observe these errors in Retrospects verification phase.
These errors could
- be 10.4.6 not playing well with external USB drives - that the new drive is essentially DOA
- that the enclosure is a dud.
- reflect an inability on Retrospect's part (e.g. unable to work properly with USB drives on 10.4.6)
I've asked on the EMC Retrospect forum for their take on this, buts that's a very slow forum...
Any pointers are welcome. I strongly prefer not to have to buy commercial solutions; after all, the "fix" may be to ask the supplier to take his drive back and refund me and I wouldn't want to spend if that's the case. Command-line solutions are fine.
The data can be correctly backed up to another external drive (via Firewire) so its not the source data. Its not the specific USB port: tried other ports, etc. At one point there were some errors reported by Disk Utility, but I've repaired these and it now claims all is well.
Dual G5/2Ghz/4GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.6) ExternalUSB enclosure; 300Gb Seagate SATA drive

I see my question is so popular, I'm left composing a soliloquy... :-/
Anyway, an upgrade to OS X 10.4.7 (from 10.4.6) seems to have put this right, after a lot of different testing exercises and reading. At least for the first time in many attempts I've been able to run a sizeable backup using Retrospect without the verification pass yielding hundreds of errors.
It would seem, at least for Retropsect users, that OS X 10.4.6 needs to be avoided if you intend backing up to an external USB drive--?
Dual G5/2.0Ghz/4GB RAM

Is it possible to format an external USB drive with XFS or EXT3 ?

Greetings all.
I am running a 2,8Ghz 8x core with 6Gb ram. I have a NAS, (Buffalo Pro Duo Linkstation) which has a built in linux which saves data using XFS (I think). It has a built in backup routine, but the drive it backs up to MUST be in XFS or EXT3 (Fat 32 works but it drops all files over 2GB ;( ... ) So - here's my question:
How can I format the external USB drive (A seagate freeagent) in XFS or EXT3 so that it can run on my Buffalo? My preference is to use a GUI mac program (does one exist?) or to use a command line UNIX command (FSK? - but then, how????). I could also use (GASP!) a windows utility on parallels, or even install a linux distro via parallels. But it should be easy I hope...
Looking forward to any ideas/thoughts, tips, etc.
thanks and best to all from Berlin,
Jason

Download a "Live CD" (one you can boot of into running copy of Linux without having to install anything; for example, [OpenSUSE Live CD|http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.0/iso/cd/openSUSE-11.0-GNOME-Li veCD-x86_64.iso]).
Use OS X' Disk Utility to burn it to a CD.
Insert the CD you just burned (if it ejected afterwards), and then restart your Mac.
Hold down the 'C' key on the keyboard as the Mac boots, and it should switch to booting off the CD. Once the CD starts loading, you can let go. It will take a couple of minutes, but it will eventually boot into Linux.
Attach your USB drive.
Run gparted (you need to search the menus for it, it's under system administration, I think -- or you can open up a terminal window and simply type 'gparted').
Find your disk (/dev/sdb or /dev/sda) and partition and format it using the filesystem you want.
When done, restart the computer. You'll boot back into Mac OS X and have an EXT2/EXT3/XFS formatted external drive (that OS X won't recognize, by the way).

External USB drives slow

Hi,
I recently purchased 2 Seagate Freeagent 500gb. I was copying files from my old external to the new one and it was going to take a ridiculously long time. So I checked into it and found the drives were showing up on the "USB Bus" in System Profiler and not the "USB High Speed Bus". This brought the speed to 12MB/s instead of 480MB/s.
Big difference. I played around with it, ejected all the drives then plugged in the Seagate's first and they went to the the High Speed Bus.
The problem is as soon as I restart they go back to the slow 12MB/s bus. I then have to eject them, and load them 1 by 1.
What gives? Anybody have any ideas?

The following fix -- partitioning the external USB drive twice using the correct partition scheme -- fixed this problem for me.
I can't claim originality -- I got the idea from a Time Machine thread on apple.com (which I can't find now).
Unplugging the external USB drive and cycling power was not working for me -- so there may be more than one problem here.
Here's what worked (note that this will erase the disk!):
1 - Open Disk Utility and highlight the disk description (not the volume name).
2 - Choose the "Partition" tab (which won't appear if you have the volume highlighted).
3 - In the Volume Scheme pull-down, select "2" (or any other number 1).
4 - Click the Options button and choose the GUID Partition Table (if you've got an Intel Mac -- other choices are explained on the page that appears).
5 - Click "Apply."
6 - Now repeat steps 3 - 5, except create a single partition (Volume Scheme = 1).
That should do it!
While you've got Disk Utility open, you may want to check your drive format as well.
(cross-posted in http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6050391#6050391 )

Seagate Expansion 2 TB External USB drive keeps disconnecting

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