External hard drive eject error

Joined
Apr 16, 2011
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Hi all,

Earlier on I accidentally knocked my (Seagate) external hard drive USB while I was moving my Macbook, so it effectively was disconnected without me having properly ejected it.

Now I'm having problems. I'm in the middle of downloading something but my download won't complete because my computer doesn't seem to recognise my hard drive is plugged in.

I get this message "The disk was not ejected properly. If possible, always eject a disk before unplugging it or turning it off", with an exclamation mark.

I've tried using Disk Utility to repair the drive, but the problem has not been resolved. Erasing the data on the hard drive is not an option! It's 500GB and almost full, with a lot of important stuff.

Thanks for any advice!
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Try rebooting your MacBook with the drive plugged in. If that doesn't work, unplug the drive and plug it back in, do that several times. And lastly, try resetting the PRAM - NVRAM on your MacBook.
 
Joined
Apr 15, 2011
Messages
40
Reaction score
1
Points
8
Your Mac's Specs
Sept. '07 white 13" MacBook 8,2 - 10.7.5
I had this happen once myself, and I had to repair the external hard drive with disk utility three times before it actually repaired. It would repair it and say that it was done, but the computer would reject the thing. Sigh, try repairing again for lack of knowing what else to do. I was beginning to think it was done for, but it finally worked. You might simply try doing the disk utility repair a couple more times.
 
OP
K
Joined
Apr 16, 2011
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Thanks for the suggestions- unfortunately no luck though. The weird thing is that the drive is accessible, then not accessible, and on and on. And it seems to be making and odd sort of squeaking noise. At this point I'm pretty scared that I will lose my 100GB music library.

Also, I don't seem to be able to reset PRAM as suggested- holding down the four keys doesn't have any result.

What a disaster!
 
M

MacInWin

Guest
if the drive is making a noise, the "knock" may have damaged it internally. I'd suggest you get a replacement drive and copy everything from the old to the new as quick as you can. It may take many tries to rescue as much as you can before it dies. And I suggest it WILL die.
 
C

chas_m

Guest
You should have been making backups of that drive (or any drive with "important stuff" on it) BEFORE the accident happened, and you certainly should be making those backups NOW as urgently as possible. That drive is on the way out.
 
OP
K
Joined
Apr 16, 2011
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Yes, I should have, but well... sh*t happens.

The drive is fairly new, the mac is very new, and I haven't got all the money in the world to buy multiple hard drives unfortunately. I intended to eventually copy all the docs repeatedly, but I hadn't been expecting that things would go so wrong so quickly.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top