iCamSource won't let me eject Time Machine when Started

[themacjedi]

If the iCamSource in my Menu bar is Started I can not eject my external Time Machine drive. If I stop the iCamSource then I can eject the drive, then I start iCamSource again. I would think this is a bug.

[Jay]

iCamSource shouldn't have anything to do with ejecting disks, unless the iCamSource app is on the disk.  If the iCamSource app is on the Time Machine drive, move it to a folder on the computer's hard drive, such as the Applications folder.

[themacjedi]

It's not on the Time Machine drive. Yet, when I attempt to eject the Time Machine Drive it tells me I can't because it's in use. Only stopping the iCamSource will allow the drive to be ejected. Then I restart iCamSource.

I've noticed that it does not happen every time. However it has happened 3 times and stopping iCamSource let me eject it.

If I can figure out what's different about when it does and when it doesn't happen I will post it here.

[scott721]

I am having the same problem with iCamSource not allowing the ejection of external drives while running.  These drives are not running Time Machine, nor are they being utilized in any other way.  When I attempt to eject them a dialog box appears stating that the drives are in use (and asking if I want to "force eject" them). 

The only change in my system since the problem began occurring is the addition of iCamSource so in an attempt to troubleshoot it I quit the application and was able to eject the drives immediately afterwards. 

With iCamSource not running the drives are easily ejected as normal; with it running the drives cannot be ejected.  This problem is replicable and predictable - it is clearly related to iCamSource. 

Do you have any suggestions or a potential solution?

Thanks. 

[Jay]

What directory is the iCamSource application installed in?

[scott721]

MainHardDrive/Applications/iCamSource

For clarification - I have discovered this morning that I don't need to quit the application in order to eject the disks but rather have to either "Stop" it using the menulet or quit it.  Either one works but if neither is done the disks can't be ejected.

Thanks for your help.

[Jay]

Do you have "Record Motion Events" enabled?  If so, what directory are the motion events being saved to?

Try disabling "Record Motion Events", then quit and re-launch iCamSource.  Does that have any effect on the problem?

[scott721]

Apologies for the delayed response but I didn't get any notification that a reply had been posted. 

To your question - recording has never been enabled for iCamSource on any of my machines so this cannot be the problem.

[jzmn27]

I discovered that my iSight camera shares the same USB bus as the USB port on the right side of my Macbook Pro.  If the camera that is connected to iCamSource is using the same USB bus as the port you have Time Machine connected to, it may get the eject message from Time Machine crossed up with the still in use message from iCamSource.  Just a thought.

[Jay]

I think we've been able to replicate the problem you're seeing.  We don't have a fix yet, but I'd like you to do a test to see if your computer is acting the way our test computer is. 

Please stop iCamSource and then set the Audio source to "No Audio", then start iCamSource again.  Are you able to eject the drive? 

The problem on our test computer appears to be related to the USB audio, and it may be a USB bus issue as jzmn27 suggested.  I'd like to know if your problem is behaving the same way so I know that we're working on the same problem.

[Icamuser]

I find that the USB gets confused even by just not using the same port for devices. Juggling the handheld GPS, iPhone, camera, drives, printer, mouse, Palm, scanner, GPS receiver for PC mapping, two Ham radios for programming, etc. makes the USB unhappy.  It behaves like a series of ports and not a bus. 

[scott721]

The proposed solution of turning off the audio (first stopping the iCam applet, then turning off audio and then clicking "Start") appears to work.  I am now able to eject an external USB drive without stopping or quitting iCam. 

For the record, though, this is a completely "stock" iMac 24" Core 2 Duo - there are no audio inputs attached but there is an audio output (speakers) plugged into the speaker/headphone jack (_not_ into a USB port).

While this appears to be a viable solution for now it would be preferable to have the audio available and still be able to eject an external disk (which, by the way, does not have iCam running on it).

Thanks for your assistance.