My external drive won't mount. Disk Utility says it can't repair disk and to backup the disk and reformat, but how can I do that if it won't mount?
My external drive won't mount. Disk Utility says it can't repair disk and to backup the disk and reformat, but how can I do that if it won't mount?
See mount section in 1st linked article.
Disk Unmount Using Terminal
Disk Utility – Force Mount Disk
Similar Messages
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Disk Utility says I need to repair disk
My computer is running a little sluggish so I went into the Disk Utility and selected verify disk. I got the message below. I inserted the OS X disk but the repair disk option wasn't available. I bought the computer with Panther and got Tiger later, unfortunately I don't have the Tiger disk. How do I fix this problem?
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
Checking volume information.
Macintosh HD
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repairIf you are running Tiger, you need the Tiger install disc you purchased in order to run Disk First Aid repair.
And withhout your Tiger install disc, you cannot perform an Archive & Install retaining Tiger, etc. so bad move not keeping this in a safe place.
Your only other option is running fsck.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214 -
How can I repair 10.6.8 when the disk my computer came with is 10.5.4?
Ran Verify Disk and received the following message:
"This disk needs to be repaired. Start up your computer with another disk (such as your Mac OS X installation disc), and then use Disk Utility to repair this disk."
I attempted to do this but while booting the computer would stop at a blank white screen and do nothing. Then I realized that my iMac is running 10.6.8, but the installation disk that came with it when I purchased it is 10.5.4. What can I do to repair my disk?How did you upgrade to Snow Leopard? You must have purchased the retail Snow Leopard DVD. That is your installation disc. I would not do repairs using a Leopard copy of Disk Utility.
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I have a MacBook that needs its internal hard drive's Macintosh HD partition repaired, as the boot screen freezes on startup. I am running a separate, working mac OS from an external hard drive in order to run disk utility and repair the MacBook's internal OS. The issue is, it has dismounted the internal Macintosh HD partition, and won't remount. And in addition to that, the Verify Disk option returns with, "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK." I've run Verify Disk and Repair Disk a few times, all with that same result. And the internal OS still won't boot.
I have attempted to make a disk image of the internal Macintosh HD partition and save it to my external hard drive so I can wipe the internal hard drive clean and restore the image, but I receive errors when trying to create the disk image, and when trying to erase the hard drive (I know, I should try to erase the hard drive when I haven't made an image. When I tried to erase the hard drive, the image wasn't done and I thought it was. I got an error for erase, and I got an error for making the disk image) I have tried making a disk image multiple times and haven't been able to create one.
There is also a boot camp partition on the internal hard drive which is of no importance as to whether it stays or is erased.Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
Do the following:
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install the Combo Updater for the version you prefer from support.apple.com/downloads/. -
Disk Utility says everything's fine, but Install disk doesn't find my internal drive as a possible destination. When I startup with Command + S, I get a looping "cannot mount errno = 19" message.
Problem started when I used Tech Tool Pro 6 to "de-fragment volume". Had to cancel that process before it finished because I ran out of time. Thereafter, when I startup my machine normally, I get the gray Apple logo at first, but it changes to a prohibited symbol (circle with a slash thru it) and hangs.
When I startup holding the Option key, I can see my internal drive, but I get the same results as above.
When I startup using the MacBook OSX Install DVD, it does not find my internal drive as possible destination.
When I startup using the MacBook OSX Install DVD and then run Disk Utility, it finds my drive, allows me to "repair" and says everything is fine.
When I startup with Command + S, I get a looping error message "errno = 19" and cannot stop it to do anything else.
When I startup from Disk Warrior v4.4, it does not find my internal drive to do any repairs.
When I startup from Tech Tool Pro 6 and run the "computer check" diagnostics, everything passes but the Volume Structure, which fails at "Volume Extents (B-tree)." When I use TTP's "Tools" option to run "volume repair" it will show my internal drive and allow me to click the GO button, but nothing happens and nothing changes.
I have a Time Machine backup on an external USB drive, but for as long as the internal drive doesn't mount, I can't use the backup to restore.It's a false report and should be ignored.
I would not rely on TT as I've already said earlier even before Grant posted similar advice.
I really think the Rigid Disk Block may be corrupted. This holds the partition map and could prevent a volume from being unmounted. Unfortunately, there is no way to fix that without repartitioning the drive which will remove everything. So, before going down this road I hope you have backups or can make a backup.
Drive Partition and Format
1. Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X.
5. Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1. -
Hi my hard drive is failing and I'm overseas in Thailand. I bought a Buffalo 1TB to back up my mac 13inch HD version 10.6.8, only problem is it wont back up. Disk Utility says ex HD is fine. I need to backup before I take it for repairs. What can I do? Thanks advice appreciated. NL
I think we both had our wires crossed a little.
Then just go ahead and clone your internal drive to your Buffalo. You are not going to use Time Machine, and you do not have to partition it. So ignore all that stuff I posted. Let me start from scratch.
First check that your Buffalo drive is partitioned GUID and formatted Mac OS Extended, Journaled. So open Disk Utility, select the topmost entry for the Buffalo drive. You should see something like this:
I have selected the entry of my CalDigit drive. Note that the Partition Map Scheme is GUID. Now, select the volume (mine is "System Backup."
Here you see it is a Format type of Mac OS Extended, Journaled. If that's what you see then you are good to go.
With Disk Utility still open:
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to
the Destination entry field.
5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
the Source entry field.
6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the Buffalo drive. Source means the internal startup drive. -
Several months ago I bought a 64GB PNY USB memory stick to transpord data quickly.
It seemed to work fine. I could format it as a Mac partition and use it. I hardly ever need
it so I just put it away.
Today I wanted to use it to put a file on and take it to the Kinko's/FedEx to print, and I
find I cannot mount it on any of my computers, iMac, MacMini or MacBookPro.
In Disk Utility virtually everything is greyed out.
Disk Utility says: "This partition can't be modified" "This disk is not writeable and cannot be partitioned"
If I try to mount it, it says "This disk cannot be mounted"
There is no physical read-only switch or setting on the disk that I can see and it is very small.
I has a Mac OS installed on it, so I wonder if that is a problem? I should be able to write over that
or reformat it I would think.Thanks for these replies.
I've got regular time machine backups and just backed up some of my data by copying some key folders to an external drive. I'm bit paranoid about backup integrity and would ideally like to do another full backup to a different drive using a system other than time machine, in the event that something goes wrong with the time machine backup. Any recommendations on good and affordable backup software to do a backup of my TM backup?
One other question: I seem to encounter problems like this pretty frequently. I'd say once a year or so, my drive fails completely or gets near enough to failing that I have to wipe and restore. (I've never had a TM backup fail to work, though the last go around there were some hiccups which has led to my backup paranoia.) I've had this happen on multiple computers, so I'm becoming pretty convinced that the problem lies somewhere in my data. Is it possible (even likely) that there's something in my data causing this recurring problem? If so, is there anything I might be able to do to try and pinpoint and address this problem? I'd love to go one year without having to wipe/restore my machine!
For a while I thought I just had bad luck. But I think this is like the 4th or 5th time this has happened in the past 4 years and every time, I'm restoring from a backup, so I come back with the same data. It's the one constant since I've had 3 different machines over this same time period. -
iMac won't start up, disk utility tried to repair disk it shows "keys out of order" error message in red and advises me to back up files, reformat disk and restore backed up files. I have no idea how to back up and restore etc... Help! Please!
Get an external drive of sufficient capacity to hold everything on your internal drive.
Partition and format the external drive.
Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Clone your internal drive to the external drive.
Clone Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue
button.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it
to the Destination entry field.
5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
the Source entry field.
6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Boot from the external drive.
Boot Using OPTION key:
1. Restart the computer.
2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the
"OPTION" key.
3. Release the key when the boot manager appears.
4. Select the external disk icon from which you want to boot.
5. Click on the arrow button below the icon.
Reformat the internal drive and install OS X.
Install or Reinstall Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
because it is three times faster than wireless.
Open Startup Disk preferences and set the internal drive as the startup volume, then click on the Restart button.
Restore your data from your external drive backup. -
have a mac book pro that crashed. ran disk utility to repair. comp booted and ran for short time. then crashed. ran repair again. disk utility said it could not repair disk and needed to format and start again.
comp said it could not unmount disk and now when comp trys to boot all i get is a question mark on the screen. helpErase and Install
1. Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU after formatting completes and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard.
5. After restart into Snow Leopard download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1. -
USB Hard Drive that Disk Utility says it can't unmount
I have a 93.2 Gb Hard Drive (from an old G4 PowerBook) inside an enclosure with USB connection. While trying to recover data from it using Data Rescue (on a G4 PowerBook), Data Rescue II hung. After restart, the USB Hard Drive can not be read at all. Disk Utility says it can't repair it or erase it because it can't "Unmount" the disk. What can I do with the USB Hard Drive?
try this: open system preferences/spotlight/privacy and drag that external into spotlight privacy then try Disk Utility.
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I think I goofed when running disk utility, and unmounted at the end and restarted. Now I can't get the disk to mount. What am I missing?
Which disk won't mount? What version of OS X? Your post is impossible to answer with no useful information.
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I have transferred my itunes library to an external drive. I then attached the external disk to a new computer. I can now access all songs from the new computer. But I can't access playlists. I can still access all songs and playlists on the old computer
If you right mouse and select Get info it will show you the Apple ID used to purchase these songs.
Usually the name of an apple id is based on the email. So knowing that you may have forgotten the Apple ID password.
You can request a new password here http://www.apple.com/support/appleid/ -
Disk Utility says: "Unable to read FAT (Input/output error)"
I have a Western Digital Passport external hard drive factory formatted as FAT32. It worked as advertised for over half a year before it suddenly stopped working and refuses to mount on the desktop (it is visible in /dev). No odd sounds and the disk or other problems, a different USB cable makes no difference.
The disk shows up as an empty disk in Windows 7 even though it is supposed to contain a small iTunes library. I have tried to repair the disk in Disk Utility in OS X 10.6.4. This is the latest attempt to repair the disk, copied from the log:
2010-08-10 15:58:44 +0200: ** /dev/disk2s1 (NO WRITE)
2010-08-10 15:58:44 +0200: ** Phase 1 - Preparing FAT
2010-08-10 15:58:44 +0200: ** Phase 2 - Checking Directories
2010-08-10 15:58:44 +0200: Unable to read FAT (Input/output error)
Does anyone have any recommendation on repair/recovery applications? I own a copy of DIskWarrior already but DW is a HFS-olny repair app…Hi Niklas,
have a look at TestDisk http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
Regards
Stefan -
Xserve RAID: Server Monitor says degraded, disk utility says mirror FAILED.
Xserve Quad Intel 4x2GH
4096 GB RAM
OS X Server 10.4.11
Xserve RAID 7TB 14x 500 GB ADM via dual fiber channel, Mirrored, 3.5 TB array.
Flashing yellow indicator light on Xserve this morning. Investigated and found that RAID Admin says everything is OK, all 14 drives normal.
RAID Admin log says :"4000 1 Wed Apr 08 09:37:59 EDT 2009 Disk 2 Failed To Respond. Retrying. RETRY COUNT:0 LBA:0x1C700"
Under the RAID tab, Disk utility says: "Mirrored RAID Set: Degraded" and "Disc2s3: FAILED"
All LED's are solid green across the front of the ADMs.
Since all my drives are reporting OK, could this be a problem with the Fiber Channel interfaces?
Should I just backup (again), shut down and rebuild the mirror using Disk Utility?Hi Kappy<
I am trying to migrate user data from a RAID - 1 slice from my old PowerMac G4 running OS X 10.4.11 to my new MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5.4 by reading a mirror RAID slice from my old Mac that is mounted in an external drive enclosure and connected by FireWire.
The problem is that the new Mac cannot read the old Mac disk, it never shows up on the desktop, or comes up as available when trying to use Migration Assistant. Then, if I go into Disk Utility, the external RAID slice shows up briefly with a locked yellow padlock beside it, then I suddenly get the window shade of death, and have to hold down the power button to reset/restart my MacBook.
Why can my new computer not read my old computers disk, and how can I change permissions, or make the old drive readable by the new mac.
Regrettably I am away from the original Desktop, and cannot load the old drive back into it, connect the two machines and migrate that way. My only option for reaching my necessary data is to retrieve it off the drive I have with me.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. -
I want to upgrade my 2007 Mac desktop to 10.5 Leopard. I am currently running on 10.4.11. When I put the leopard disk into the drive all it does is make a weird noise and then spits the disk right back out. It doesn't do this with any other discs, only this software. Is it still possible to update this computer?
Yes. Try Amazon.
Before you do upgrade to Snow Leopard, make sure your Mac meets the requirements.
Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard - Technical Specifications
Make sure the disc you tried using doesn't have any fingerprints or smudges on it. The optical drive can't read the disk otherwise.
If your Mac won't read the disc, might be a good idea to rule out any problems with the startup disk BEFORE trying to upgrade the system.
Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks
Message was edited by: Carolyn
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