10tb G-Drive randomly disconnects on 2020 iMac

G-Technology G-DRIVE
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10tb G-Drive worked perfectly on my 2015 iMac, then when I upgraded to a new 2020 iMac it randomly disconnects. All the time. This has rendered it useless as a backup drive.

I’m using the Thunderbolt cable that came with it. Tried everything I know and it’s still happening.

Any solution will be much appreciated.

1 Like
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same issue here!! am considering just returning it.

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Their tech support told me to try formatting the drive. I have a Lacie drive coming and I’ll copy everything on the G-Tech over to the Lacie and try formatting to see if that helps. If not, it totally ■■■■■.

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Same drive, same Mac, same problem…

I’m trying the spindown set to zero feature now. If it works, I’ll advise.

“sudo pmset -c spindown 0”

If not, drive goes back. Reformatting is a tech support ‘hail mary’. Nope.

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Same issue with 20TB G-Raid Thunderbolt 3. It seems to disconnect only when computer goes to sleep. Support suggested set preference for drive to sleep “never”, but that didn’t work. I also tried reformatting, as suggested, but to no avail. I also have a G-Raid 8TB without any issues. I’m on an iMac and latest Catalina. I’m replacing the drive to see if it might be defective.

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I’ve been dealing with this for 7 months now. On a 2019 iMac.

The drive stops responding and the finder goes into spinning beach ball mode. I have to shut down the machine and restart. EVERY. TIME. It’s a nightmare.

Support was very helpful at first but now they’ve kinda just dropped off. But replacing the unit has not worked. Replacing the cable makes no difference either. I’m not sure what the problem is. I think there might be some kind of issue with their kernel extension and the System Integrity Protection on the Mac. I keep meaning to try turning SIP off but have not done so. For now I just keep the drive disconnected until I need to use it.

I’m really hoping Big Sur solves the problem but I’m not convinced. Still not jumping in that pool for a few more weeks.

Strangely enough I have another Shuttle-XL hooked up to a 2013 MacPro running Sierra via TB3 to TB2 adapter and it’s rock solid.

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I am having the same issue, though on an older iMac (running catalina)…I just got this 10tb drive for time machine a week ago, and when it idles, it unmounts. it is frustrating to say the least.

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I added a Lacie 20TB drive to my system and plug the G-Tech 10tb into that, and I’m not having any more unmounting issues.

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I have the same issue with two 10TB USB-C drives on my MacBook Pro. I have two other 10TB USB 3.0 drives that never have this issue. I contacted G-Tech customer support but haven’t gotten a response in three days. I reformatted both drives and they still eject themselves. It seems to happen only after the drive has spun down from inactivity and then when it spins up again, they eject. Drives are going back to the store and I’ll buy a different brand.

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I am joining this discussion late,. I have a 14TB G-Drive that is doing the same thing. The drive is connected to an old 2012 Mac Mini server running Catalina. I’ve run this setup for years without any problem. I added the G -Drive last year. Since then, I have noticed frequent intermittent disconnects, beach ball, etc. Strangely, the drive will sometimes re-mount after 10-15 minutes, but this is a working server drive that is reading and writing all the time, so that’s not good enough. I have another 14TB non-Thunderbolt drive that I was using as a mirror, for the first one but it does not exhibit this behavior so I have switched the drives. If anyone has found a fix, I’d be grateful!

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I contacted WD Support back in January and here is what they said:

*"The hard drives could get ejected when your computer goes to sleep. We also experience this issue with our other drives as well so it is not a particular issue with G-drive USB-C. "

I have never experienced this issue with my USB 3.0 drives but it continuously happened with the USB-C drives. Since I do not set my computer to never go to sleep, I had to return the USB-C drives. It’s not a solution but WD did not have a reasonable solution to this issue. Good luck.

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Thanks. One of my C drives works fine, the other doesn’t. I have a 6 TB G Drive that’s fine, too. And the server never sleeps. I’m guessing its a driver problem or something like that. Too bad. Otherwise these are great drives.