USB Drives Ejecting Everything.

I have had my 15" Macbook pro since 2010.
I have never had any issues until a few months ago - I do a lot of photo editing, and it seems WHATEVER I put into my USB drive, after a few minutes the computer randomly tries to eject it. Also- sometimes it won't even read my CFmemory cards (which I use a card reader plugged into my USB) anymore. And when it does- I have to move the files quick enough before the computer ejects them. Help? Is there anything Apple can do in store about this?
-RJ

So, my MacBook Pro has now undergone a logic board swap, and when I got it back from repair everything seemend perfectly fine. The external drives which kept getting ejected are not ejecting any more, no matter how much I wiggle the plug in the USB socket. Then yesterday I tried a small USB stick, and bam - it's getting ejected again when touched slightly. I tried 2 different sticks and the same thing is happening. Then I tried the HDDs again - no problems. Then tried the USB sticks again - no problems. This is really driving me crazy, I cannot understand why it happens so intermittently and then works prefectly like nothing ever happened. Also, it can't be a software issue since physically moving the USB plug affects it. Now I am not sure if I should take it back for another repair and keep fighting, or just learn to live with it. I am wondering if it is simply a design fault with the MacBook Pro, or something to do with the way the USB ports are built. Any ideas on what I should do?

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USB Drives Ejecting Themselves randomly

I am having a very odd, and potentially "dangerous" (as it may lead to corrupt backups) problem with the USB ports on my brand new late 2011 Macbook Pro 13". The problem is that any usb drive (incl. Powered External HDDs, USB sticks, memory card readers etc.) eject themselves randomly while connected to any of the two available USB ports. I have read through several discussions about this issue but have not been able to find any explanation or solution to this. The thing which bothers me most is that when I wiggle the usb plug in the port on the laptop, the drives eject SOMETIMES, and sometimes they just eject without me doing anything, and sometimes they don't eject at all; so I don't know if it is a hardware fault, or something which I can fix myself!
I brought the machine back to the store and plugged two USB sticks in and wiggled them about, and they stayed mounted, so that was a waste of time. Then I thaught, maybe it has something to do with power management, so I tried this with the MagSafe connected and disconnected. It seems that the ejecting happens when the MagSafe IS connected to the power, and more often with my POWERED External HDDs. It makes no difference which ports I use. I reset the System Management Controller (SMC) and the problem SEEMS to have stopped, but I only tested shortly after doing this.
My question is, should I be worried that I have faulty USB ports on my Macbook (since wiggling the connection seems to have affected it), or is it really something to do with the SMC and my hardware is all OK?
Thanks in advance for your help!

So, my MacBook Pro has now undergone a logic board swap, and when I got it back from repair everything seemend perfectly fine. The external drives which kept getting ejected are not ejecting any more, no matter how much I wiggle the plug in the USB socket. Then yesterday I tried a small USB stick, and bam - it's getting ejected again when touched slightly. I tried 2 different sticks and the same thing is happening. Then I tried the HDDs again - no problems. Then tried the USB sticks again - no problems. This is really driving me crazy, I cannot understand why it happens so intermittently and then works prefectly like nothing ever happened. Also, it can't be a software issue since physically moving the USB plug affects it. Now I am not sure if I should take it back for another repair and keep fighting, or just learn to live with it. I am wondering if it is simply a design fault with the MacBook Pro, or something to do with the way the USB ports are built. Any ideas on what I should do?

MBP 2010 - USB drives ejecting by themselves?

On my new 2.4 i5, USB hard drives are ejecting randomly by themselves and then giving me an error saying they were removed incorrectly?

Are these bus powered or self powered (ie with their own power supply) drives, djanthonyw? If they are "bus powered" are you using a "yoke" cable to two USB ports or just a single USB power feed (which is likely to fail to provide enough power in any high power demand situation, with the sort of consequence you mention)?
Any particular brand? (Some USB drive enclosures bridge sets/ drives don't seem to behave very well if the computer goes to sleep, for example)
Sticking to good FW drives can give some serious benefits beyond much faster speed in such circumstances.
Cheers
Rod

Leopard ejects DVDs Region 0 from USB drive that is region specific

This is against region specification standards. Region 0 is universal region that by spec is supposed to be played in any player in the world.
I think it is a bug because Leopard cannot handle external/USB DVD players properly. The issue is new and Tiger does not have it.
After opening case for another DVD movie related issue I am planning to open now whole bunch of them. The choices by Apple engineers are strange and might not follow paper written standards unfortunatelly.
Sincerely,
Maciej Samsel

I have more precise results of recent tests:
1. USB drive ejects poor (errors by media company producing region 0 DVDs?) region 0 DVD. USB drive is unlocked RPC-2 (still changes of region available). Other DVD region 0 is mounted. It is not systems fault. It is behavior of this particular DVD drive. Same drive tested under Tiger and Leopard.
2. Same movie and/or region 1 and region 2 movie mounts in another USB drive that is region free (RPC-1), but menu icons blink and clock vanishes. Icons are not accessible so when DVD (only DVD, because music CDs or data DVDs/CDs do not cause that) is mounted on your desktop forget ability to disable/enable wireles network, Blootooth, VPN, use spotlight or go to another account.

X1 Carbon Recovery - USB Drive - Can't get it to work

I just created my recovery disks on my X1C. I put them on a 16gb USB Drive.
Everything proceeded fine but I wanted to test them out before I went any further. I put the USB drive in, pressed F12 at bootup and then proceeded to select the USB drive as the boot drive.
The screen flashes and then takes me back to the boot menu.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Josh

I am having the exact same problem with my X230. It seems to be their wave of latest BIOS that causes this. See my thread :
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/X230-Booting-from-USB-problem/td-p/936473
I'm calling right now.

Kernel Panic when using USB Drive

This post originally started in the Time Machine topic but it now seems to be a basic issue with the USB i/f.
I am using a iMac IntelC2D to backup to a Seagate FreeAgent 750 USB drive. Everything has been working OK but just recently I have been suffering crashes every time Time Machine runs. I have reset PRAM but the problem persists. I have tested the backup volume on another machine running OS X 10.5.1 and it works OK. Testing with a different USB drive on the iMac causes the same problem. The hard drive itself is therefore OK. It seems to be a problem with the USB i/f on the iMac.
These are a couple of the crash reports which point to com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement
Is this a H/W problem? Suggestions are invited.
Wed Jan 9 15:59:00 2008
panic(cpu 1 caller 0x001A7BED): Kernel trap at 0x0000677c, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0xfa8d7de0, CR3: 0x010c9000, CR4: 0x00000660
EAX: 0xfa8d7de0, EBX: 0x00c1fb2c, ECX: 0x5ba860d7, EDX: 0x00000bde
CR2: 0xfa8d7de0, EBP: 0x348afd18, ESI: 0xfa8cbfdf, EDI: 0x00000000
EFL: 0x00010046, EIP: 0x0000677c, CS: 0x00000008, DS: 0x04260010
Error code: 0x00000002
Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x348afb28 : 0x12b0e1 (0x455670 0x348afb5c 0x133238 0x0)
0x348afb78 : 0x1a7bed (0x45ea20 0x677c 0xe 0x45e1d4)
0x348afc58 : 0x19e517 (0x348afc70 0x0 0x348afd18 0x677c)
0x348afc68 : 0x677c (0xe 0x4260048 0x10 0x10)
0x348afd18 : 0xc0b770 (0xfaac4b9f 0xbde 0x0 0x0)
0x348afe38 : 0x1a8a6a (0xffffffff 0x7fffffff 0x348afec8 0x6)
0x348afe58 : 0x1a1a4e (0x0 0x40f34f0 0xfa8cb366 0xbde)
0x348afe88 : 0x135772 (0x2e85e4bc 0xfa8cb366 0xbde 0x2e85e4a8)
0x348afee8 : 0x135d3a (0x1 0x40f34f0 0x4022e3c 0x0)
0x348aff38 : 0x13685a (0x40f350c 0x0 0x0 0x5b8984)
0x348aff78 : 0x1368db (0x41bf70 0x417ab00 0x0 0x417ab00)
0x348aff98 : 0x41c02f (0x41bf70 0x417ab00 0xbfff7630 0x40f0000)
0x348affc8 : 0x19e2ec (0x417ab00 0x0 0x1a10b5 0x47a0d60)
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement(9.25.0)@0xc08000->0xc1ffff
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task
Mac OS version:
9B18
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.1.0: Wed Oct 31 17:46:22 PDT 2007; root:xnu-1228.0.2~1/RELEASE_I386
System model name: iMac7,1 (Mac-F42386C8)
Wed Jan 9 15:59:00 2008
panic(cpu 1 caller 0x001A7BED): Kernel trap at 0x0000677c, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0xfa8d7de0, CR3: 0x010c9000, CR4: 0x00000660
EAX: 0xfa8d7de0, EBX: 0x00c1fb2c, ECX: 0x5ba860d7, EDX: 0x00000bde
CR2: 0xfa8d7de0, EBP: 0x348afd18, ESI: 0xfa8cbfdf, EDI: 0x00000000
EFL: 0x00010046, EIP: 0x0000677c, CS: 0x00000008, DS: 0x04260010
Error code: 0x00000002
Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x348afb28 : 0x12b0e1 (0x455670 0x348afb5c 0x133238 0x0)
0x348afb78 : 0x1a7bed (0x45ea20 0x677c 0xe 0x45e1d4)
0x348afc58 : 0x19e517 (0x348afc70 0x0 0x348afd18 0x677c)
0x348afc68 : 0x677c (0xe 0x4260048 0x10 0x10)
0x348afd18 : 0xc0b770 (0xfaac4b9f 0xbde 0x0 0x0)
0x348afe38 : 0x1a8a6a (0xffffffff 0x7fffffff 0x348afec8 0x6)
0x348afe58 : 0x1a1a4e (0x0 0x40f34f0 0xfa8cb366 0xbde)
0x348afe88 : 0x135772 (0x2e85e4bc 0xfa8cb366 0xbde 0x2e85e4a8)
0x348afee8 : 0x135d3a (0x1 0x40f34f0 0x4022e3c 0x0)
0x348aff38 : 0x13685a (0x40f350c 0x0 0x0 0x5b8984)
0x348aff78 : 0x1368db (0x41bf70 0x417ab00 0x0 0x417ab00)
0x348aff98 : 0x41c02f (0x41bf70 0x417ab00 0xbfff7630 0x40f0000)
0x348affc8 : 0x19e2ec (0x417ab00 0x0 0x1a10b5 0x47a0d60)
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement(9.25.0)@0xc08000->0xc1ffff
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task
Mac OS version:
9B18
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.1.0: Wed Oct 31 17:46:22 PDT 2007; root:xnu-1228.0.2~1/RELEASE_I386
System model name: iMac7,1 (Mac-F42386C8)
This is a repeatable problem on the iMac.

Just as final note on this topic. I discussed the problem with the local Apple Repair Centre who advised reinstalling 10.5.1, as suggested by baltwo, before bringing the machine in for repair. I did this and everything seemed OK. It has been running backups for 10 days now without a problem.

How to eject USB drive?

I have a USB drive that doesn't want to eject. It get the error that it is in use and can't be ejected. Yet, nothing is using it.
I'm trying to eject through Finder. Any ideas how to resolve this?

Worked just fine. Thanks.
Funny how Apple tech support can never solve anything. After an hour, they'll finally say, force quit everything, restart then restore to factory defaults. That's the common workflow. Get out the big hammer.

USB drive keep showing up after eject

I just bought a USB drive today and everything works perfectly except - after 3-4 seconds after I ejected the disk, it will keep showing up in Finder automatically and it keeps doing that everytime I ejected it. I disconnect the usb drive between the gap (after eject and its auto re-mount). So, anybody know what's the problem here? I verify and repair the usb disk (as well as my internal hard drive) in disk utility, but still the problem keeps showing up.
Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.6) 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 120GB HD, 1GB SDRAM

Adnan,
two suggestions:
1) Try it using a different Mac
2) Create a new user account and check things there
Mihalis.

Can't eject USB drive

Hi,
This is driving me crazy. Every time I used a USB drive, I am told that it can't be ejected because a program is using it. Sometimes it says the finder is using it (it shouldn't be: if the finder is using it it is only listing it as a drive). Relaunching the finder using "force quit" doesn't help: it just changes the message to "one or more programs may be using it". Shutting down every single program - none of which are using it anyway - doesn't help. I eventually get a force eject option, which I use, though that comes with a warning that force eject may damage files.
Any help appreciated. Running Yosemite on a late 2010 Air (though I get the same problem on my 2011 Macbook pro).
Thx.

I've been seeing the same problem (and reported it as a bug) with a number of applications (though not the Finder). When a file is in use it is flagged by the system Yosemite seems to either not change the file's flag to not in use or the system isn't getting that the flag has changed. So far exiting the program has solved it for me in every instance - though it is a pain. I think for now it is something we'll just have to live with until Apple tracks it down.

"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.)

Seagate USB drives appear on desktop but can't be read or ejected.

I have two different Seagate 1TB USB drives, both formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using Disk Utilities that work fine on my early 2013 MacBook Pro running Mavericks but cause various issues on my late 2013 Mac Pro (also running Mavericks). The drives will show up when connected to the Mac Pro, but when I try to view the contents of the drives, nothing appears and I cannot eject them. Sometimes, I end up with a spinning beach ball in the Finder. I have run the hardware test on my Mac Pro and no issues were detected. I have also Verified and Repaired the disks using Disk Utilities on my Macbook Pro and no issues were detected for those operations.
I'm figuring this must be some sort of driver issue, but I don't understand why the drives operate fine when connected to my Macbook Pro running Mavericks but not the Mac Pro running Mavericks. I didn't install any drivers on the Macbook Pro to get them to work, they just work.

>> also Verified and Repaired the disks using Disk Utilities on MacBook Pro
... and why would they need to be repaired on the nMP:?
It sounds like there is an issue with the port you use and assume you used the same cable.
Q: Does the case have its own power brick adapter or one of those cheaper and smaller bus powered?
Seagate does have a Thunderbolt docking station which is very nice and convenient, and of course will cost more than a USB3
Generally I recommend avoiding vendor's cases.
Seems like we need more information about the drives and case and interface etc.

USB external drive eject

I have a doubt: when I move my external USB drive to trash (for unmount it), it is unmounted, but still run again and light don't stop (hard drive motor run again)
I think that for this reason I have lost my data on HD used for backup with Time Machine
Thank's

To eject your drive safely, put it in the trash, and make sure it disappear from the desktop, and there is no activity on it, then you can unplug it.
It is possible that the drive is still running because it still have power.
Anyways, if you unplug it badly, the system will tell you. If you get no warning, then it is ok.

2.5 USB drives can not be ejected for some odd reasons

Ever since the last update every time i connect a 2.5 USB drive i can never eject according to Disk Utilities, i get that "quit applications" connected to the drive etc,
I restarted, re connected the drive and tried running disk tools again ad with nothing open again it says the same thing!
Any ideas what might be causing this?
Please advise
Cheers

You might look at the Activity Monitor (in the Utilities folder) to see if you can figure out what is running that might be related to files on the drive.
I also saw a donationware application MacWorld magazine reviewed called “What’s Keeping Me” which is supposed to do exactly what you are getting.
Here’s the WKM website:
http://www.hamsoftengineering.com/products/wkm/wkm.html

My Seagate external 250GB hard drive ejects improperly without command. I am trying to use Time Machine to backup my macbook via usb cable... I keep getting the message that the disked ejected improperly... Any solutions...

My Seagate external 250GB hard drive ejects improperly without command. I am trying to use Time Machine to backup my macbook via usb cable... I keep getting the message that the disked ejected improperly... Any solutions...

You are not alone. Thousands have this problem, on various models of Macs. Short answer, it has something to do with the disk going to sleep (possibly?). You can't do anything about it and Apple won't address the problem. Maybe you should buy a time capsule. Just keep giving them money and use their proprietary equipment.
For a more complete answer, see this thread (all 65+ pages of it with NO SOLUTION IN SIGHT... except for some 3rd party solutions that sometimes work, sometimes don't): Disk Drive ejecting itself

Lost data on external usb drive when ejecting

I have 2 Freecom XS 1TB USB drives to stare my photos on, one acting as the back-up to the other. They are formatted in FAT32, as I need to access them both from my laptop (Linux Mint 8) as well as the iMac.
I had no problems with this until yesterday, when I had them both connected to the Mac. I had ejected them, then shut down.
When I rebooted the iMac, neither disk had any folders or files on them, although disk utility showed that over 140GB of space was used up. I tried them with the laptop and got the same result.
I have/had 15 years of photos on the disks, and most of the files were RAW files (Sony ARW), with many tif/tiff and jpeg files too. Is there any way of my possibly recovering these files and folders? The RAW files are the most important to me.
I have searched the forum for ideas, but drawn a blank. Please help if you can!

Let me ask the obvious first. Have you attached the external drive back to the Windows machine you moved the data from. If so what happened? You might be able to recover using some free tools from this link. http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm
Give them a try if your Windows box does not see the data on the drive and then use this tool from WD after getting your data back http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119 to make an image if needed. Always remember to back up!
/DigitalDreamer

USB Drives Ejecting Everything.

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