5 Replies Latest reply: Jan 29, 2013 10:40 AM by edex67
Anniedan Level 1 Level 1 (0 points)

My iTunes library is currently wireless, through my Airport Extreme, so I can use it both with my Macbook Air and my iMac. Of course the downside is only one computer can access it at a time and I'm limited by the range of the Airport, but it works for me... Since my library is too big for iTunes Match anyways and I live in a small appartment it's perfect.


Anyways, my problem is, this setup is fairly new, and a few times yesterday while I was working on adding new music to my library (ripping my CDs in lossless), I got the error message that connection was lost with my iTunes drive!


My internet didn't seem to flinch though, which is weird. But it doesn't seem to be the "the disk was not ejected properly" external disk error that's been going around, as I HAVE that **** problem with another of my drives... (connected via cable) and it's not the same error message.
This one is just saying the connection was lost... like Airport had the hiccups or something.


Time for me to click on "ignore" and I could go back to what I was doing.


Except twice, this happened WHILE a track was importing into iTunes!

The first time, I got an error message saying it was impossible to read or write to the device... I was scared... closed iTunes, re-opened... and it looked like nothing happened! Phew. Even the freshly imported tracks were there, up the to one that was importing when it lost connection, which of course wasn't imported.


But then it happened again... while it was, again, importing...
This time, restarting iTunes didn't cut it.


When I opened Airport Utility to check, I had yellow question mark, and a message saying the attached drive was failing, or corrupted, something like that (can't remember), to plug it directly in my computer and repair it!


I did that, opened Disk Utility... and the drive won't mount.


I tried the few tricks I know, still won't mount.
So now I'm in the middle of creating a disk image on one of my other external drives (it's been hours and only a third has been done, I'm crossing my fingers it doesn't just freeze, give me an error message or tell me there's not enough space... because I couldn't check how much space was used since it wouldn't mount... and it has been a while since I checked).
I'm also in the middle of checking for data recovery with my old StellarPhoenix app... not even sure what it could do or if it still works...


But all that to wonder : can a simple network disconnection be enough to do that???

If so, how come people rely on NAS, how come so many use Airport in conjunction with external drives?! It just doesn't make sense to me...



Maybe this was just a weird coincidence? Or maybe I'm taking the problem the wrong way, and the lost connection happened because the drive was failing? In that case I just find it weird that I didn't see any sign of that while it was connected directly to my iMac, right until a few days ago!


...Gee, I'm tired of buying external drives!


For the curious, this one is a 2TB Samsung (Iomega), bought in december 2010, so just 2 years old.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion, 21in.
  • 1. Re: Can losing connection with an external drive lead to its failure?
    edex67 Level 4 Level 4 (3,250 points)

    Yes, a network connection can do this. Think about it, if a USB drive is corrupted by the cable being unplugged (while data is being written) a network connection can do the same thing to the filesystem (although it is less likely). I rely on network storage but drives have been corrupted before (I keep gparted on hand to repair the file systems).

  • 2. Re: Can losing connection with an external drive lead to its failure?
    Anniedan Level 1 Level 1 (0 points)

    Thanks edex67!


    Now the question would be, are numerous losses of connection in a day normal for Airport Extreme, or is mine failing?

    Can't find a model number and the serial doesn't lead anywhere, but I'm pretty sure it dates back to 2008, the second generation.


    A small update: Problem seems to definitely be just in the filesystem since after formatting all seems well, while I can't restore with my disk image, as after hours of scanning it, I now get the error message that Disk Utility can't scan it because of an internal error.
    Now let's hope I can save the data, because even though I regularly did backups of that disk, I would still lose those hours of new imports and organization I had just done when it failed... 


    I'l look for Gparted also... thanks!

  • 3. Re: Can losing connection with an external drive lead to its failure?
    edex67 Level 4 Level 4 (3,250 points)

    Your AirPort may be failing, this could be taken as an excuse to take advantagesof the brand new dual-band 450Mbps Extreme .

    Look at the bottom of the AirPort, there should be a number saying "Axxxx" e.g. A1354. This is the model number.

  • 4. Re: Can losing connection with an external drive lead to its failure?
    Anniedan Level 1 Level 1 (0 points)

    Yeah, that's what I was thinking... the model number (which I should've seen earlier... was looking with my eyes closed I guess!) confirms that it's a second generation, from 2008.
    I guess I should buy the new Airport first, before a new drive.


    As for Gparted, even though I'm no noob when it comes to tech, it's too advanced for me! I don't feel confident enough to go fiddle in the filesystem myself... wouldn't even know what to look for...


    Thanks for all your help!!!

  • 5. Re: Can losing connection with an external drive lead to its failure?
    edex67 Level 4 Level 4 (3,250 points)

    Gparted will automatically scan your filesystem, much like Disk Utility. The advantage is it's a bootable CD so OS X won't inadvertantly interfere with the diskcheck.