Re: Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts

From	Fred Moore <fmoore@gcfn.org>
Newsgroups	comp.sys.mac.system
Subject	Re: Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts
Date	2014-06-12 11:28 -0400
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<lncgul$see$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	<lna032$ot0$1@dont-email.me> <1ln4nxp.18yalzyss7oo7N%dempson@actrix.gen.nz>

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On 6/11/14, 8:37 p, David Empson wrote:
> Fred Moore <fmoore@gcfn.org> wrote:
>
>> I just updated a friend's late 2012 Mac Mini from 10.8 to 10.9.
>>
>> It has a single Firewire external with 2 partitions, one for an alternate
>> boot/diagnostics volume and one for Time Machine. I ran all the usual
>> diagnostics (DiskWarrior, SMART, etc.) before the upgrade. Everything was
>> fine.
>>
>> Now whenever the machine is booted, both external partitions
>> spontaneously dismount a minute or so after booting is completed, each
>> producing a Finder window saying "Disk not ejected properly. Eject
>> "partition name" before disconnecting or turning it off." Not only are
>> both partitions dismounted, but the physical hard drive does not even
>> appear in Disk Utility so there is no way to remount them. It's as
>> though the external was actually unplugged or had been powered off. I
>> have replugged the Firewire cable and the unit seems to have continuous
>> power.
>
> Do you really mean 10.9, or is it in fact running 10.9.3?

Sorry for not being specific. The Mini was upgraded last Friday from 
10.8.<current> directly to 10.9.3 via Software Update. No intermediate 
updates needed or applied.

> In my experience, early 10.9 versions definitely had problems with
> external drives spontaneously unmounting. I haven't seen any such
> problems with Firewire drives since I updated to 10.9.2 (using mostly
> OWC drives, some bus powered, some with their own power supply), nor
> with USB drives in 10.9.3.
>
> I've seen some reports of ongoing problems with USB 3.0 and eSATA drives
> spontaneously unmounting in 10.9.3 (when the drive is idle for a while,
> or the computer wakes from sleep).

Yes, I've seen some of those reports as well. This connection is via 
Firewire, but I have seen vague reports of FW dismounts as well.

> As an experiment, you could try disabling the Energy Saver preference to
> put drives to sleep when possible.

Yes, I'll have to check. I keep this turned on on my setup, but usually 
turn it off on commercial users's setup.

My setup and the user's setup is so very similar, that I'm drawn back to 
billy@MIX.COM's comments about SuperDuper! My installation is so very 
similar to the user, except I don't have automatic backups scheduled on 
my machine, and I have no problems.

Thanks, David, and all the rest who have replied. I've got a lot to 
check out. I'll get back to you all as soon as I have more info.

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Thread

Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts Fred Moore <fmoore@gcfn.org> - 2014-06-11 12:28 -0400
  Re: Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2014-06-11 17:00 +0000
    Re: Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts Fred Moore <fmoore@gcfn.org> - 2014-06-11 16:04 -0400
      Re: Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts Fred Moore <fmoore@gcfn.org> - 2014-06-11 17:30 -0400
        Re: Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> - 2014-06-11 18:01 -0700
          Re: Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts billy@MIX.COM - 2014-06-12 06:47 +0000
            Re: Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts Fred Moore <fmoore@gcfn.org> - 2014-06-12 11:15 -0400
          Re: Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts billy@MIX.COM - 2014-06-12 07:08 +0000
          Re: Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts Fred Moore <fmoore@gcfn.org> - 2014-06-12 11:06 -0400
  Re: Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-06-11 19:34 +0000
    Re: Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts Fred Moore <fmoore@gcfn.org> - 2014-06-11 16:07 -0400
      Re: Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2014-06-11 16:11 -0400
  Re: Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) - 2014-06-12 12:37 +1200
    Re: Help! 10.9 Spontaneous Ext. HD Dismounts Fred Moore <fmoore@gcfn.org> - 2014-06-12 11:28 -0400

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