In an earlier thread I'd complained about the fact that my Time Machine
drive was constantly being reindexed by spotlight.

I'm now suspecting there may be a different problem involved, as I've
now noticed that my Time Machine volume has a tendency to spontaneously
"disappear" from my list of drives, only to reappear at some later time.

I noticed this a day or two ago when I received a notification "The
drive [TM Drive] was not properly ejected" (or something to that
effect). which required me to unplug and replug the drive from the USB
port to get it to remount.

Since then, I've noticed a few times where the drive has spontaneously
disappeared (without notification) only to spontaneously remount at some
later time.

This *seems* (based on only a few days careful observation) to be more
common when the mac awakes from sleep, but the one time I received a
notification about an improperly ejected drive did not occur on wake,
but in the middle of an active session.

Disk First Aid reports no problems with the drive itself, and I haven't
had issues with this drive in the past.

I've got four external hard drives and none of the others are having
issues with either constant spotlight indexing or with spontaneous
unmounting.

My old iMac recently died and a I replaced it with this refurb 2020
iMac. I'm using the same drives, but these problems didn't start until I
got the new (well, new to me) machine. I've tried moving the TM drive to
a different USB port but that had no effect, so I'm not dealing with a
defective port.

Two general questions:

(1) If the drive is periodically unmounting, would that explain why
spotlight is constantly reindexing it?

(2) Any ideas why it would be periodically unmounting in the first place
(especially with a 'not properly ejected' warning)?

André

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On 21. Aug 2023 at 04:49:27 CEST, "André G. Isaak" <agisaak@gm.invalid>
wrote:

> Two general questions:
>
> (1) If the drive is periodically unmounting, would that explain why
> spotlight is constantly reindexing it?
>

Yes.

> (2) Any ideas why it would be periodically unmounting in the first place
> (especially with a 'not properly ejected' warning)?

Could be that it is not getting sufficient power.
You said it is plugged directly into the mac and not into some hub?

On 2023-08-21 00:41, Bernd Froehlich wrote:
> On 21. Aug 2023 at 04:49:27 CEST, "André G. Isaak" <agisaak@gm.invalid>
> wrote:
>
>> Two general questions:
>>
>> (1) If the drive is periodically unmounting, would that explain why
>> spotlight is constantly reindexing it?
>>
>
> Yes.
>
>> (2) Any ideas why it would be periodically unmounting in the first place
>> (especially with a 'not properly ejected' warning)?
>
> Could be that it is not getting sufficient power.
> You said it is plugged directly into the mac and not into some hub?

It's a seagate drive plugged directly into the iMac. No hub involved.

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On 21. Aug 2023 at 09:10:02 CEST, "André G. Isaak" <agisaak@gm.invalid>
wrote:

> It's a seagate drive plugged directly into the iMac. No hub involved.

Maybe a defective cable then. Try another one.

Or maybe the drive is simply dying (how old is it?)

On 2023-08-20 22:49, André G. Isaak wrote:

> Two general questions:
>
> (1) If the drive is periodically unmounting, would that explain why
> spotlight is constantly reindexing it?

Yes

>
> (2) Any ideas why it would be periodically unmounting in the first place
> (especially with a 'not properly ejected' warning)?

Time to clean all the USB contacts with alcohol and emery paper.
Cable ends, computer side and drive side.

Clean the power leads to the external drive too - emery paper.

(High count sandpaper will do too - 800 grit per inch or so ).

May have a power issue with the external drive.

Is the external drive power supply esp. hot?

Is the USB cable perhaps bad in some intermittent fashion?
Do you have a different cable you can try?

--
“If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything."
-Ronald Coase

On Aug 21, 2023 at 10:57:14 AM PDT, "Alan Browne" <bitbucket@blackhole.com>
wrote:

> On 2023-08-20 22:49, André G. Isaak wrote:
>
>> Two general questions:
>>
>> (1) If the drive is periodically unmounting, would that explain why
>> spotlight is constantly reindexing it?
>
> Yes
>
>>
>> (2) Any ideas why it would be periodically unmounting in the first place
>> (especially with a 'not properly ejected' warning)?
>
> Time to clean all the USB contacts with alcohol and emery paper.
> Cable ends, computer side and drive side.
>
> Clean the power leads to the external drive too - emery paper.
>
> (High count sandpaper will do too - 800 grit per inch or so ).
>
> May have a power issue with the external drive.
>
> Is the external drive power supply esp. hot?
>
> Is the USB cable perhaps bad in some intermittent fashion?
> Do you have a different cable you can try?

Interesting. I've never heard or thought of cleaning usb contacts.

On 2023-08-30 01:43, gtr wrote:
> On Aug 21, 2023 at 10:57:14 AM PDT, "Alan Browne" <bitbucket@blackhole.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On 2023-08-20 22:49, André G. Isaak wrote:
>>
>>> Two general questions:
>>>
>>> (1) If the drive is periodically unmounting, would that explain why
>>> spotlight is constantly reindexing it?
>>
>> Yes
>>
>>>
>>> (2) Any ideas why it would be periodically unmounting in the first place
>>> (especially with a 'not properly ejected' warning)?
>>
>> Time to clean all the USB contacts with alcohol and emery paper.
>> Cable ends, computer side and drive side.
>>
>> Clean the power leads to the external drive too - emery paper.
>>
>> (High count sandpaper will do too - 800 grit per inch or so ).
>>
>> May have a power issue with the external drive.
>>
>> Is the external drive power supply esp. hot?
>>
>> Is the USB cable perhaps bad in some intermittent fashion?
>> Do you have a different cable you can try?
>
> Interesting. I've never heard or thought of cleaning usb contacts.

Contacts are often a place where tarnish can build up or otherwise get
contaminated. USB cables suck for cleaning, generally.

Lightning cables are often tarnished at the male end - but seem to work
fine anyway (at least in my car).

--
“If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything."
-Ronald Coase

On 2023-08-21 02:26, Bernd Froehlich wrote:
> On 21. Aug 2023 at 09:10:02 CEST, "André G. Isaak" <agisaak@gm.invalid>
> wrote:
>
>> It's a seagate drive plugged directly into the iMac. No hub involved.
>
> Maybe a defective cable then. Try another one.
>
> Or maybe the drive is simply dying (how old is it?)

Sorry that I disappeared from this conversation -- I had a minor run-in
with Covid which had me incapacitated for awhile.

I think I've discovered what is going on and it is a software issue
rather than a hardware issue, albeit an unusual one.

The problem with the drive umounting seems to *only* occur when
parallels desktop is runnning (which it usually is). I discovered that
when I start a new VM in parallels I get a message saying 'the drive [TM
drive] is in use by another device and cannot be used' at which point
the drive dismounts, so it looks like the host and the VM are
'competing' for who has access to the drive.

When the computer wakes from sleep this also occurs albeit not
regularly, so I suspect that when the computer wakes up there is also
sometimes a renegotiation between the host and the VM for who controls
the drive.

I suspect this only affects the TM drive since parallels can share
non-TM drives with the host.

This issue didn't affect my older computer, but when I purchased the new
one I also had to update parallels desktop, so this issue is either a
glitch in the newer version of parallels desktop or a glitch with Monterey.

I mentioned before that I needed to physically disconnect and reconnect
the drive when it unmounted to get it back. However, I discovered that
if I quite parallels desktop, I can remount the drive from within disk
utility without reconnecting it.

Definitely weird...

Anyways, I appreciate all the suggestions.

André

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On 2023-09-01, André G Isaak <agisaak@gm.invalid> wrote:
> On 2023-08-21 02:26, Bernd Froehlich wrote:
>> On 21. Aug 2023 at 09:10:02 CEST, "André G. Isaak" <agisaak@gm.invalid>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> It's a seagate drive plugged directly into the iMac. No hub
>>> involved.
>>
>> Maybe a defective cable then. Try another one.
>>
>> Or maybe the drive is simply dying (how old is it?)
>
> Sorry that I disappeared from this conversation -- I had a minor
> run-in with Covid which had me incapacitated for awhile.
>
> I think I've discovered what is going on and it is a software issue
> rather than a hardware issue, albeit an unusual one.
>
> The problem with the drive umounting seems to *only* occur when
> parallels desktop is runnning (which it usually is). I discovered that
> when I start a new VM in parallels I get a message saying 'the drive
> [TM drive] is in use by another device and cannot be used' at which
> point the drive dismounts, so it looks like the host and the VM are
> 'competing' for who has access to the drive.

VMware Fusion has a way to tell a VM whether or not to use certain
devices, where the default behavior is to ask you each time the device
is encountered:

<https://ibb.co/B2HqhfQ>

I'd be really surprised if Parallels Desktop doesn't have that option as
well. It's been years since I've used Parallels though.

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On 2023-09-01 11:07, Jolly Roger wrote:

> VMware Fusion has a way to tell a VM whether or not to use certain
> devices, where the default behavior is to ask you each time the device
> is encountered:

Parallels desktop behaves the same way. But for some reason there seems
to be a glitch in how it handles the TM drive. For non-TM drives and
other devices it gives me a 'remember my choice' option, but it isn't
doing this for the TM drive. I think it's a problem with the current
version of parallels desktop which hopefully they will fix.

André

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On 2023-09-01 10:29, André G. Isaak wrote:
> On 2023-08-21 02:26, Bernd Froehlich wrote:
>> On 21. Aug 2023 at 09:10:02 CEST, "André G. Isaak" <agisaak@gm.invalid>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> It's a seagate drive plugged directly into the iMac. No hub involved.
>>
>> Maybe a defective cable then. Try another one.
>>
>> Or maybe the drive is simply dying (how old is it?)
>
> Sorry that I disappeared from this conversation -- I had a minor run-in
> with Covid which had me incapacitated for awhile.'

New variant? ( Omicron strain variant BA.2.86 - just hit Canada (BC)).

How bad did it hit you?

> I think I've discovered what is going on and it is a software issue
> rather than a hardware issue, albeit an unusual one.
>
> The problem with the drive umounting seems to *only* occur when
> parallels desktop is runnning (which it usually is). I discovered that
> when I start a new VM in parallels I get a message saying 'the drive [TM
> drive] is in use by another device and cannot be used' at which point
> the drive dismounts, so it looks like the host and the VM are
> 'competing'  for who has access to the drive.
>
> When the computer wakes from sleep this also occurs albeit not
> regularly, so I suspect that when the computer wakes up there is also
> sometimes a renegotiation between the host and the VM for who controls
> the drive.
>
> I suspect this only affects the TM drive since parallels can share
> non-TM drives with the host.
>
> This issue didn't affect my older computer, but when I purchased the new
> one I also had to update parallels desktop, so this issue is either a
> glitch in the newer version of parallels desktop or a glitch with Monterey.
>
> I mentioned before that I needed to physically disconnect and reconnect
> the drive when it unmounted to get it back. However, I discovered that
> if I quite parallels desktop, I can remount the drive from within disk
> utility without reconnecting it.

Have you been to the Parallels user forums to see if anyone else is
having these issues?

--
“If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything."
-Ronald Coase

On 2023-09-01 12:20, Alan Browne wrote:
> On 2023-09-01 10:29, André G. Isaak wrote:
>> On 2023-08-21 02:26, Bernd Froehlich wrote:
>>> On 21. Aug 2023 at 09:10:02 CEST, "André G. Isaak" <agisaak@gm.invalid>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> It's a seagate drive plugged directly into the iMac. No hub involved.
>>>
>>> Maybe a defective cable then. Try another one.
>>>
>>> Or maybe the drive is simply dying (how old is it?)
>>
>> Sorry that I disappeared from this conversation -- I had a minor
>> run-in with Covid which had me incapacitated for awhile.'
>
> New variant? ( Omicron strain variant BA.2.86 - just hit Canada (BC)).

Not sure, but I'm in Alberta.

> How bad did it hit you?

Not that bad. It just kept me in bed for a few days. I didn't seek
medical treatment.

Have you been to the Parallels user forums to see if anyone else is
> having these issues?
>

I'll definitely be looking into that.

André

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On 2023-09-01, André G Isaak <agisaak@gm.invalid> wrote:
> On 2023-09-01 11:07, Jolly Roger wrote:
>
>> VMware Fusion has a way to tell a VM whether or not to use certain
>> devices, where the default behavior is to ask you each time the
>> device is encountered:
>
> Parallels desktop behaves the same way. But for some reason there
> seems to be a glitch in how it handles the TM drive. For non-TM drives
> and other devices it gives me a 'remember my choice' option, but it
> isn't doing this for the TM drive. I think it's a problem with the
> current version of parallels desktop which hopefully they will fix.

Ah, yes. That does sound like a bug. Hope they fix it for you soon! Be
sure and report it to them.

--
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR