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Resolved Disks not ejected properly

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Bill Av

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 21, 2006
300
213
Can a bad USB hub cause drives to be ejected improperly if they're not plugged into the hub?

I have a M1 Mac Studio. I have three hard drives plugged into a powered hub that connects to one of the USB A ports on the Studio. I also have two SSDs in a Thunderbolt 3 dock set up as RAID 0 connected to one of the Thunderbolt ports

Two of the hard drives kept getting ejected - sometimes during a backup session. They're desktop drives with their own power supplies.

During troubleshooting, I moved things around, changed cables and plugged the hub into the other USB A port.

A few hours later, the SSDs improperly ejected on their own. This never happened before.

Can a faulty device (I'm guessing the hub) cause problems on the other ports? Does it matter which port you plug a USB hub into?
 
Short answer is yes, a hub can cause that sort of behavior. So can a cable.

Troubleshooting can be somewhat arduous, especially if it takes "a few hours" for the fault to show up. There are a few methodologies you could use... Split Half (remove half the devices; if issue goes away add half of remainder back in; if it doesn't go away remove half of what remains; rinse; repeat) is one option I like to employ, especially if it's a fairly complex system (five external SSDs qualifies as "Complex" in my view.)
 
It shouldn't matter which port each device is plugged in to on the hub. All the ports are the same.

Since you've moved connections around, I'd suspect it's a bad cable.
 
Another "Fishrrman impertinent question™":

Do you really need to have ALL those drives connected and running ALL the time...?
 
Fishrrman said:
Another "Fishrrman impertinent question™":

Do you really need to have ALL those drives connected and running ALL the time...?
Click to expand...
They're not running all the time. The hard drives are backup drives connected to smart plugs. I power them on when needed. Usually a few times a month. The one I use for Time Machine has never disconnected improperly, despite being connected to the hub, as well as being the oldest drive I have.

Anyway, I replaced the hub and I haven't had any issues since, but I've only done one backup so far.

Edit. Spoke too soon. I did another backup. my non-Time machine drive just ejected. At least it make it through the backup
 
Last edited:
OP wrote:
"The hard drives are backup drives connected to smart plugs"

Hmmm....
Just wondering... what's a "smart plug"?
(as distinguished from a run-o-the-mill "ordinary" plug...)

More...
I looked at some of these for sale on amazon, and still wondering... how do they work out in practice?

Have you tried using the drives WITHOUT the smart plugs?
 
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Fishrrman said:
OP wrote:
"The hard drives are backup drives connected to smart plugs"

Hmmm....
Just wondering... what's a "smart plug"?
(as distinguished from a run-o-the-mill "ordinary" plug...)

More...
I looked at some of these for sale on amazon, and still wondering... how do they work out in practice?

Have you tried using the drives WITHOUT the smart plugs?
Click to expand...
That's an excellent suggestion. I'm going to give it a try. I kind of hope that they're not the problem. I have all my power stuff hidden between my desk and the wall. Without the plugs, I'd have to leave things on or move the desk

But they work well. I use them on items without power switches. As you mentioned, there's no point in letting hard drives stay on if they're not in use.
 
At the risk of jinxing myself, the issue has stopped since I took out the smart plug. Thanks, Fisherman, for the suggestion. I don't think I would have considered it if you hadn't mentioned it.
 
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