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LaCie external drive gets 'Disk not ejected properly' on M1 Mac

I'm encountering a recurring issue with my LaCie 5TB external drive on my new MacBook Pro M1. It consistently gives me the bothersome "Disk not ejected properly" errors, disconnecting and reconnecting on its own. I've exhausted several troubleshooting steps, including trying different cables and ports, and adjusting battery sleep settings, but to no avail. Interestingly, the drive functions flawlessly on my iMac without any disconnections. It's solely on the MacBook that this problem persists. I've also tested other external drives on the MacBook, and they work perfectly fine. LaCie offered to send a replacement, but since the drive works fine on the iMac, I don't believe it's a failing drive. Both the iMac and MacBook run the latest version of Big Sur.

Best Answered by

Jenny Zeng

Answered on Monday, April 29, 2024

There are various reasons that may cause your Lacie external hard drive to disconnect from your M1 Mac, such as disk sleep issues, damaged ports or cables, operating system bugs, insufficient power supply, outdated driver, third-party software interference, etc.

I see that you've tried to troubleshoot the issue by using different ports and cables and adjusting the battery sleep settings. To stop the "Disk Not Ejected Properly" message from recurring, here's what I recommend you do next:

Try using your Lacie drive with a powered USB hub: Chances are that the USB port on your Mac isn't providing enough voltage for your drive to work correctly. You can ensure it's receiving enough power by connecting with a powered hub.

Set the default disk sleep time to maximum: You can prevent your external hard disk from sleeping to avoid it disconnecting from your Mac. Open Terminal and run the following command in order.

sudo pmset -gsudo pmset -a disksleep 1410065408

Format the drive: If the message "Disk Not Ejected Properly" keeps showing up, consider backing up data on your drive and reformating it. If you can't access the drive, recover your data with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac first.

It'll find the inaccessible data on your external hard drive and allow you to preview them for free. Click the button below to download it for free.

If you'd like to learn about the details of the above solution or other solutions, check out the following guide:

Fix External Hard Drive Keeps Disconnecting on Mac