Why is my MacBook continuously ejecting Western Digital external hard drive?

[harrybarnettw]

My MacBook continuously ejects my Western Digital external hard drive which is preventing me from using my Lightroom workflow. Can someone help me resolve the issue? Below is info on my hardware and software:

• Computer: 2017 MacBook
• OS: Big Sur 11.4
• External Hard Drive: Western Digital My Passport Ultra
• External Hard Drive Software: WD Discovery 4.3.327

[GoldingD]

Define ejecting.

[GoldingD]

Thinking about that, and googling. 
Energy saving preferences, do not allow drives to sleep due to inactivity.

Note that LrC may not be actively communicating with that drive while LrC is running. The program is nit on it, and your catalog may or may not be on it. If your images are on it, well, LrC does not access those files very often.

[harrybarnettw]

The drive will disconnect after no more than 30 seconds or so. My catalog and previews are on my Hard Drive while my images are on the external drive. Does that info help?

[GoldingD]

while my images are on the external drive.

So, external drive goes asleep (if allowed), lrC goes to access a photo, no drive!

You need to check out if the hard drive is allowed to go asleep, to save energy, when MACOS thinks it is not in use.

https://www.lifewire.com/use-energy-saver-preferences-pane-2260733

[Conrad C]

I've heard of problems like this too and they are unlikely to have anything to do with Lightroom, more likely a problem with macOS that requires troubleshooting. The advice earlier to set Energy Saver preferences to not put hard drives to sleep is often suggested. But random ejects of external drives can have a number of other causes. For example:

https://talk.tidbits.com/t/catalina-users-are-you-seeing-external-hard-drive-disconnects/

https://www.akitio.com/faq/335-why-does-my-drive-disconnect-from-my-mac

https://www.macworld.com/article/232753/what-to-do-if-your-macs-hard-drive-starts-unmounting-itself-...