New G-Drive Mini Triple randomly unmounting when Powerbook is NOT asleep.
by Ray Mond
on
Jan 10, 2009 at 6:59:04 am
Purchased a 200 GB G-Drive Mini Triple (5400) a few days ago via G-Tech online sales. Shipping cost me $40 but the well packaged drive arrived within 2 days. Drive is compact and matches well with my Powerbook G4's cosmetics. With the FW400 connected and using Mac OS 10.4.11's Disk Utility, partitioning the drive was easy and straight forward. Unfortunately, after a few successful file transfers, I'm having problems with the drive randomly unmounting during write and read operations. A "Device Removal" error window pops up as if the drive was disconnected improperly. In addition, the files that were successfully transfered from my HD to the mini are now corrupt with Error Code-50. There are older threads showing similar problems when using a G-Drive Mini. Is this a defective unit or is this problem ubiquitous?
Re: New G-Drive Mini Triple randomly unmounting when Powerbook is NOT asleep. by Mat Fett on Jan 15, 2009 at 6:54:54 pm
I am also having a problem wiht my G-Mini randomly unmounting. I use the drive for my iTunes library feeding my Apple TV and it unmounts during movie playbacks and also while I am trying to so Secure Empty Trash. I get the "Device Removal" error sometimes but not every time. I have to power off the drive and restart it to get it to remount. I have run the disk utility (disk verify/disk restore) and have no errors on the drive.
I am connecting to my MacBook Pro (2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, OS X 10.5.6) using using USB.
Re: New G-Drive Mini Triple randomly unmounting when Powerbook is NOT asleep. by Eduard Chugunov on Jan 15, 2009 at 11:46:33 pm
Hi Mat,
I believe that you problem may be due the the fact that you are using the USB to connect to the unit. The G-Drive mini is not designed to power up some of the newer drives that are on the market. Most of those drives require more then the 500 mini amp that a single usb port and provide.
What seems to be happening is that you computer is just barely able to get the drive to spin and mount but once you start to use more bandwidth on the usb, it draws more power and un-mounts.
My suggestion to you would be one of the following. One, purchase a power adapter for the external drive or two, use the firewire port instead of the usb if you are able to, it will speed you transfer speed and provide better power to the external drive.
Re: New G-Drive Mini Triple randomly unmounting when Powerbook is NOT asleep. by Mat Fett on Jan 15, 2009 at 11:58:25 pm
Eduard - Thanks for the reply. I'm a bit confused however. I bought this G-mini just a few months ago so I can't imagine that it is not compatible with other current equipment. Also, your answer seems to indicate that the G-Tech drive is getting its power through the USB connection. If so, why does it need a power cord? Mine does use a power cord, and the drive stays powered up and sometimes the drive continues spinning for extended periods after it has unmounted.
Does that provide you with any additional information?
Re: New G-Drive Mini Triple randomly unmounting when Powerbook is NOT asleep. by Mat Fett on Jan 17, 2009 at 5:27:03 am
Tonight my G-Mini now fails to even mount at all.... I am really disappointed with the money I spent on these products (G-Raid 2 and G-Mini). I'm tired of paying up for what is sold as a quality product and having it last less than 1 yr.
Any suggestions from anyone on more reliable external drives than G-Tech?
Re: New G-Drive Mini Triple randomly unmounting when Powerbook is NOT asleep. by Ray Mond on Jan 17, 2009 at 6:40:09 am
Mat,
I just sent my G-Drive Mini back to G-Tech. I suggest you do the same as the products are under warranty for 3 years. I don't know if this is a solution but if enough people send their defective products back, if the company wants to remain solvent, they will have to address the problem. In the meantime, I am looking at Lacie drives as an alternative.
Re: New G-Drive Mini Triple randomly unmounting when Powerbook is NOT asleep. by Mat Fett on Jan 17, 2009 at 6:57:24 am
I may have to do that but I was hoping that there might be a more simple solution.
Re: LaCie drives, I got two G-Tech drives and the Apple Time Capsule after my 500GB LaCie drive failed.
I'm beginning to think a Drobo box with some imexpensive 1T SATA drives may be a better solution than buying expensive brand name externals as backups.
Re: New G-Drive Mini Triple randomly unmounting when Powerbook is NOT asleep. by Pete Schlatter on Jan 26, 2009 at 5:04:04 pm
Hey Guys,
Sorry to hear about your troubles with the G-DRIVE mini. The issues you have described are NOT normal and I would recommend visiting our website, filling out the support form (www.g-technology.com/support)and returning your product for repair.
We always hate to hear when one of our products fail in the field. And even though we design our products with the best components we can find - electronics sometimes fail. Out of the 1000's of G-DRIVE minis our loyal customers buy each month, we see a very small number returned. Also, products returned are examined to determine the reason for failure, so we can learn to make a better product.
I know none of this really matters when your hard drive doesn't mount, but please understand we take building quality products seriously.
Re: New G-Drive Mini Triple randomly unmounting when Powerbook is NOT asleep. by mat fett on Jan 26, 2009 at 6:09:29 pm
Pete - Thanks for the reply and I did send a message through the G-Tech website regarding my problem. I am concerned however that responses from your organization in this thread refer to my product as a G-Drive mini when in fact I purchased the G-Mini. These are two very different products and I don't even see the G-Mini for sale on your website anymore.
Re: New G-Drive Mini Triple randomly unmounting when Powerbook is NOT asleep. by Pete Schlatter on Jan 26, 2009 at 6:58:16 pm
Hi Mat,
I see... it looks like you responded to a thread title G-DRIVE mini Triple, so we assumed you had the same drive. Sorry for the confusion and I'm glad you're in touch with our support department. They'll take good care of you.
