Freezing Due to External USB 3 Hard Drive: Next Steps?

I've been experiencing some issues with freezing and I think I've finally pinned it down to my USB 3 WD External Hard Drive.

With the drive ejected, everything works fine, except for some intermitting Wifi issues (far less frequent). I've tested for two ~15 hour blocks.

When the drive is active, I experience freezes that happen anywhere from 5mins to 3 hours from startup.

In the course of trying to solve the issue I have:

Updated my external's firmware.
Upgraded BIOS to 9f
Disabled Legacy USB

I use a GA-Z97X-UD5H for which I've read the following in a comprehensive review:

USB 3.0 support is provided by the Z97 Express controller and the number of available ports is further increased by the use of an integrated Renesas® uPD720210 USB 3.0 hub. A total of 8 USB 3.0 ports and 6 USB 1.1/2.0 ports are available as a result of this configuration.

Click to expand...

I'm wondering what to try now. I am running the latest Yosemite 10.10.2.

I have the following Multibeast settings, although I have since set GenerateCStates and GeneratePStates to No:


Quick Start > DSDT Free DSDT Free pre-configured choices:


Drivers -> Disk -> 3rd Party SATA
Drivers -> Misc -> FakeSMC v6.14.1364
Bootloaders -> Chimera v4.0.1
Customize -> Boot Options -> Basic Boot Options
Customize -> Boot Options -> Generate CPU States
Customize -> Boot Options -> Hibernate Mode - Desktop
Customize -> Boot Options -> Use KernelCache
Customize -> Boot Options -> Kext Dev Mode
Customize -> System Definition -> Mac Pro -> Mac Pro 3,1
Customize -> Themes -> tonymacx86 Black


Drivers > Audio > Realtek ALCxxx > ALC1150
Replaces /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext with a patched 10.10.1 AppleHDA.kext edited by toleda to enable full functionality for the Realtek ALC1150 high-definition audio codec. Patches /Extra/DSDT.aml if found to replace the current layout-id with layout-id 1. Adds HDAEnabler=Yes, HDEFLayoutID=01000000 to /Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist. AppleHDA-1150.pkg

Drivers > Disk > 3rd Party SATA
Provides support for the ASMedia ASM1061, JMicron 36x (aka GSATA) and Marvell 88SE912x, 88SE9172 and 88SE9230 SATA controllers. All drives connected to these ports show on the desktop as Internal and can NOT be hot swapped. Installs AHCI_3rdParty_SATA.kext in /System/Library/Extensions. AHCI_3rdParty_SATA.pkg

Drivers > Disk > TRIM Enabler > 10.10.x TRIM Patch
Patches the 10.10.x version of /System/Library/Extensions/IOAHCIFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOAHCIBlockStorage.kext to enable TRIM on non-Apple SSD drives. TRIM-Enabler-10.10.0

Drivers > Misc > EvOreboot
If you don't have a DSDT, shutdown and reboot do not work without this kext. Installs EvOreboot.kext in /System/Library/Extensions.]EvOreboot.pkg

Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC v6.14.1364
FakeSMC.kext is the only absolutely mandatory kext, and is required for booting the system. Original by netkas, new branch by kozlek. Installs FakeSMC.kext in /System/Library/Extensions/. FakeSMC-v6.14.1364.pkg

Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC v6.14.1364 Plugins
Installs FakeSMC plugins ACPISensors.kext, CPUSensors.kext, GPUSensors.kext and LPCSensors.kext in /System/Library/Extensions/FakeSMC.kext/Contents/PlugIns. These plugins allow software access to motherboard hardware monitors. FakeSMC-v6.14.1364-Plugins.pkg

Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC v6.14.1364 HWMonitor Application
Hardware Monitoring application from kozlek's branch. Requires FakeSMC Motherboard Plugins. Installs /Applications/HWMonitor.app. FakeSMC-v6.14.1364-HWMonitor.pkg

Drivers > Misc > USB 3.0 - Universal
RehabMan's branch of Zenith432's GenericUSBXHCI.kext to enable USB 3.0. Installs GenericUSBXHCI.kext in /System/Library/Extensions/. Also enables USB 2.0 on LGA 1156 motherboards that aren't using a DSDT and don't enable Rate Matching Hub in BIOS. GenericUSBXHCI-v1.2.8d9.pkg

Drivers > Network > Intel > AppleIntelE1000e v3.1.0a
Enables Intel 825xx ethernet controllers. hnak's port of the e1000.sourceforge.net Intel Wired Ethernet for Linux driver. Installs AppleIntelE1000e.kext in /System/Library/Extensions. AppleIntelE1000e-v3.1.0a.pkg

Bootloaders > Chimera v4.0.1
MacMan's branch of Chameleon 2.2. Chimera-v4.0.1.pkg

Customize > Boot Options > Basic Boot Options
Installs /Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist with the minimum required options, EthernetBuiltIn=Yes, GraphicsEnabler=No, IGPEnabler=Yes, Legacy Logo=Yes and Timeout=2 Base-Boot-plist.pkg

Customize > Boot Options > Generate CPU States
Adds GenerateCStates=Yes and GeneratePStates=Yes to /Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist. GenerateStates-ChameleonÖ

Customize > Boot Options > Hibernate Mode -
Desktop Configures the system for Desktop power management hibernate mode and deletes
/var/vm/sleepimage to reclaim disk space.ZDesktop-PM

Customize > Boot Options > Kext Dev Mode
Adds kext-dev-mode=1 to Kernel Flags in /Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist. kext-dev-mode=1

Customize > Boot Options > Use KernelCache Adds UseKernelCache=Yes to /Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist. Not needed when using EasyBeast or UserDSDT. UseKernelCache-Chameleon

Customize > System Definitions > Mac Pro > Mac Pro 3,1
This smbios.plist identifies your computer as an MacPro3,1. Installed in /Extra.]MacPro3,1.pkg

Customize > Themes > tonymacx86 Black
(Default tonymacx86 theme by Adamsmasher. tonymacx86-black.pkg NSMutableArray NSArray NSKeyedArchiver Troot

I do not know if you have any experience running OS X on Apple built machines.
In my experience with an older Mac Mini and and a 2013 version MBP, in all versions of OS X since Snow Leopard and including Yosemite on the MBP, there are periodic issues with failure to recognize USB 3 thumb or hard drives and consistent failure to index those drives. Newer drives less frequently have problems than older drives.
There are many posts about this on the Apple forums.
The indexing problem is so consistent I use a freeware program rather than Finder to search external drives.
My suspicion is that Apple may not adhere to standards for USB, particularly 3, in their drivers because if you didn't buy the hardware from them it does not exist in the Appleverse (that is the Apple business model and it obviously works for them). OTOH certain drive manufacturers may not implement USB correctly.
Ergo I do not have a solution for you other than to recognize that particular drive just may not work the way it should and in my experience this is a not uncommon issue in Apple built machines as well although the behavior you describe is unusual.

That's unfortunate.

What freeware program do you use to access drives?

Additionally, I've started to get the attached panics intermittently when the drive, and iPhone is attached at boot.

Join forces:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/general-help/160500-usb-3-0-freeze-yosemite.html