Disappearing External Drive Partitions

DEVONthink
1

I’m experiencing a very odd problem and I wondered if this has ever happened to anyone else:

I have the DT database on a 4Tb external hard drive and it is backed up to the cloud and to a local 2Tb Western Digital Passport drive. I never have a problem with the WD drive but the partitions disappear on the external 4Tb drive after about an hour. I can see the partitions in Finder on the left but the databases (17 of them) are not visible. The partitions are also not visible using Disk Utility. I can eject 2 of the 3 partitions by force ejecting them (something I never knew Apple had before this issue) but the only way to “eject” the 3rd partition is to shut the drive down, unplug the USB cable, unplug the power cable, plug them both back in and turn the power back on. The partitions then re-appear.

I called OWC tech support and the technician thought there was a problem with formatting, which I don’t think is the issue. He then suggested changing the USB cable, which I have done and am now monitoring the issue. If changing the USB cable fixes the problem, I’ll be ecstatic because this issue has brought my work to a halt. I have not the slightest idea how a USB cable could go bad, but I’m hoping this is the problem.

I’ll post the results tomorrow. If anyone else has ever experienced anything like this, I’d sure like to know if I have company!

2

Are you using one of the partitions for Time Machine?

I have not the slightest idea how a USB cable could go bad, but I’m hoping this is the problem.

It’s mechanical not magical. All hardware is susceptible to failure over time, whether a port or a cable or hard drive, etc.

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3

Bluefrog:

I have had problems with Time Machine so I no longer use it. I use Super Duper! instead. I also have Carbon Copy but don’t use it either. Yes, hardware is susceptible to failure but I never touch that cable. I’ll find out in the next 24 hours if the cable is the cause of my problem.

4

Bluefrog:

I use a separate external drive for my hard disk backup. The DT databases and a 50Gb collection of documents are the only files on the drive. The other partition is for Carbon Copy but I don’t use Carbon Copy any longer.

5

Vibrations. If it is mechanical, vibrations could break or loose not well soldered cables. And perhaps with the combination of a bad movement while cleaning your desktop (or your cat laying at the hotness of your disk… ).

And/or temperature dilatations/contractions due heat.

Sometimes it is dust. You remove the cable (this should happen most frequently with memory strips), attach one more time and works for a couple of years.

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