Why does my iMac eject my external hard drive?

At least once a week I find that my external hard drive has disconnected from my iMac and Time Machine has not created an update. I am using the USB 2.0 connection and I never eject the drive or unplug it. I either put my computer to sleep before walking away or it will do so automatically through the utility. I am counting my blessings that I have not had a reason to need to restore from Time Machine, but when the drive ejects on its own I am not all that confident. Anyone else having this issue, or have a probable cause?

Greetings Jon,
Could be a variety of things. Work your way through the list testing to see which one might be the culprit.
Drive is having an internal issue which causes it to lose connection (bad bus etc) -- try a different hard drive to see if the same issue occurs.
USB cable is having an issue -- use a different cable
If you go through the hub the hub is having an issue -- plug the drive directly into the computer with the USB cable to bypass a possible hub with an issue.
Bad USB port on the computer -- plug the drive into one of the other ports
Interference from another device on the USB bus -- unplug any other USB devices you have plugged in that are not essential during testing.
Try repairing the drive: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/8492.html
Unlikely:
These issues are rarely on the computer's end beyond the USB ports but these are steps you can take on the computer:
Safe Boot your computer and then restart normally and test: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455
Reset your SMC and test: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Reset your PRAM and test: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
Hope that helps!

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Why does my iMac not 'see' a hard drive now?

Hello
Having had all sorts of problems with my iMac 24" (2008) - mostly spinning beach balls - I decided to format and reinstall from scratch.
I used disk utility and erased my hard disk (probably incorrectly!) and now I'm stuck.
I've used my original Leopard install disk and can get as far as 'Select a destination' - but no disk appears on which to install.
When I go back to Disk Utility - - no hard drive is showing at all. (just shows Pioneer DVD-RW DVR- and the install disc).
Before I take to a professional repairer, can anyone make any suggestions of action I could try?
Any help welcomed! TIA
David

Hi BDAqua
Thanks for responding.
After my post, I went for a walk by a local river, giving my iMac (and me!) time to cool down. When I returned, I switched on my computer ....... and this time the disk DID show up! Duh! <shakes head>
Long story short, I installed Leopard, then Snow Leopard - updated - and then successfully installed Mountain Lion, which I am using now.
However, having read here https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2433700?start=0&tstart=0
I supect that it is just a matter of time before my hard disk 'gives up the ghost'!
All data I value is stored elsewhere - I'm hopefully ready for anything!
Cheers
David

I got a macbook pro 2008 and can not back up using time machine. it eject my external hard drive everytime. does someone has a fix???

i got a macbook pro 2008 and can not back up using time machine. it eject my external hard drive everytime. does anybody has a fix???

Does your external hard drive have it's own power supply? It should.
Is your external hard drive formatted with the NTFS file system? It won't work.
It needs to be formatted either with Mac OS Extended or FAT32.
(There are drivers available to add NTFS support to OS X but their quality is unknown, especially the "free" ones.)

Why can't I see my external hard drive, Intel iMac / 500 GB, G-Drive

Why can't I see my external hard drive? I have a new iMac, Intel based i5, running Lion (2-3 months old). I have a 500 GB G-Drive external hard drive that has showed up when connected to my iMac for the past 2-3 months. Now it's gone. It's NOT visible when using Disk Utilities. I have all of the radio buttons chosen in the Finder Preferences. I've unplugged and replugged in the drive, have switched the cable ports and have switched firewire cable. The G-Drive powers up and whirls, so I don't believe the problem is with the drive. Yes, I set my Preferences to make sure ALL disk types are visible. I've restarted my iMac on a number of occations. I rest my SMC by totally unplugging my iMac for a minute, then plugging it back in. Any suggestions?

Unplug the HD, Zap the PRAM, reconnect the HD, power it up, and see if that fixes the problem. If not, then maybe the HDs bitten the dust. Try on another computer to verify.

I didn't safely eject my external hard-drive and now my files are not showing up on my other computer?

I didn't safely eject my external hard-drive as my imac was in sleep mode and I thought it was shut-down. Now I have turned up to uni and plugged my hard-drive into the uni computers (apple) and the word document I was working on last night (before my computer went to sleep mode, and it may still have been open, I cant remember) is gone.....
I have phoned home and got a family member to try and recover the file. They said they can see it when they open Word under recent documents, however its "ghost" and nothing happens when you click on it.
My question is, when I go home and plug my hard-drive back into my imac, will I be able to recover this word file? or have I lost it forever?

I only saved it to my external hard-drive and saved it at the completion of working on it. However left the document open, went to dinner, and this morning pulled the hard-drive out, whilst the computer was asleep not shut-down and now the file doesn't appear.
I thought when I clicked save then it saved straight away, therefore anything i do after that point (ie a un safe ejection) shouldn't make a difference. Clearly, no matter if you saved the document, if you un-safely eject the hard-drive then the file is lost anyway?

Can time machine back up an imac and an external hard drive?

I currently back up my imac via time machine but to reduce space on my hard drive I want to move my itunes library onto an external hard drive. If i do this can time machine still back up my imac and the external hard drive with the itunes library on automatically?
Regards
Toekoms

toekoms wrote:
I currently back up my imac via time machine but to reduce space on my hard drive I want to move my itunes library onto an external hard drive. If i do this can time machine still back up my imac and the external hard drive with the itunes library on automatically?
yes, given enough space on the destination drive (your library may grow over time). also, the drive needs to be connected directly to your Mac.
you might want to make sure the drive is not excluded from TM backups by checking in system preferences > time machine > options.
also, as for moving your iTunes library, see this read for tips/instructions.
JGG
edited by the Jolly Green Giant (where Green stands for environmentally friendly)

Does anyone use a LaCie external hard drive with their Mac using imovie '09? I have some questions.

Does anyone use a LaCie external hard drive with their Mac using imovie '09? I have some questions.

Are you actually having a problem with the new Lacie drive, or are you just asking is the Lacie drive somehow different from your old G-Drive?
From a connection standpoint, most Lacie desktop drives have both USB and FireWire connections, just like the G-Drives do. You would connect and use it the same as a G-Drive.
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How can I restore files from a time machine back-up of my iMac to an EXTERNAL hard drive connected to MacBook Pro. Using Migrat

I would like to restore files from a time machine back-up of my iMac to an EXTERNAL hard drive connected to MacBook Pro. When I tried using Migration Assistant it only gives me my internal hard drive as an option to restore to. The internal hard drive on my macbook isnt large enough to store the files.

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
OS X can only restore data to the drive where Time Machine backed up files from.
If you want to restore files from the Time Machine backup onto an external drive, your only option is to access to the Time Machine drive manually (open a Finder window and choose your Time Machine drive in the Finder sidebar), navigate through its folders and copy the files you want to the external drive

HT201250 I run time machine on my iMac using an external hard drive. I just bought a MacBook Pro and want to know if i can run time machine on it using my wireless network on to the iMac external hard drive

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Time machine external hard drive requires repair every time I turned the computer off or after I ejected the external hard drive?

Time machine external hard drive requires repair every time I turned the computer off or after I ejected the external hard drive?

What kind of repair?

How do i safely eject an external hard drive?

how do i safely eject an external hard drive after back up is done?

Press the eject key, or open a program like iTunes and eject it, or drag the desktop icon to the trash.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

Syncing -whenever I connect my iPad to my computer it ejects my external hard drive which is where my iTunes library is stored? What's the deal???

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Anyone know how to fix this?

You can't connect directly to the external drive, but should be able to use iTunes Home Sharing via the laptop.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH1453

I would like to transfer my iTunes and photos etc from my PC to my new iMac via a external hard drive. Would somebody recommend one. I read that the Western Digital Mybook Essential 3.0 is good.

I would like to transfer my iTunes and photos etc from my PC to my new iMac via a external hard drive. Would somebody recommend one. I read that the Western Digital Mybook Essential 3.0 is good. Though as Mac has 2.0 is this fast enough? I am a basic user, surfing only.

If you plan on using the WD with the Mac after the iTunes transfer I would strongly recommend against WD. WD external HD's tend to be the most troublesome with Macs. If you intend to use the drive for backup using Time Machine or creating a bootable clone then I'd recommend a higher quality drive than WD. The drives I'd recommend in that case would be:
OWC Mercury Elite Pro series
LaCie d2 Quadra series
G-Tech G-DRIVE series
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You also my find this article helpful: Move an iTunes library from a PC to Mac (and back)

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Silly question, how do i transfer movies from my iMac to my external hard drive? I have read a few blogs about it but it is not very clear.
If i change the format from - Windows NT File System (NTFS) to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) will it erase everything of my hard drive?
I have a 2T Seagate hard drive and already have used 1T of it. Im to scared to do anything with out the correct answer as i dont want to accidently delete anything of my dard drive.
PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!
Thanks

Please tell us what Mac you have and what version of OS X.

Time achine. Each time I wake up my Mac. it says that I did not eject the disk properly. Do I have to eject the external hard drive before putting the Mac. to sleep?

Time Machine. Each time I wake up my Mac. it says that I did not eject the disk properly. Do I have to eject the external hard drive each time I put the Mac. to sleep?

If you do eject or disconnect that external drive before sleep, do you ever get that message?
Some Drives & chipsets will not work right with sleep, what brand/model is it?

Why does my iMac eject my external hard drive?

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