Can't mount one of the five partitions on an external hard drive

Question

I have a G5 running 10.5.8 with two external hard drive. One of them (carrying the brand IOGear and identified on my System Profiler as being manufactured by Prolific Technology Inc) has been operating just fine for almost as long as I’ve had the computer (early 2005). It is partitioned into 5 volumes that have been serving faithfully as storage for my many files. About a month ago, I realized I did not see the desktop icon for the volume for one of the partitions along with the others showing on my desktop. I checked it out in my Time Machine files and it’s there along with everything else and getting backed up regularly along with the rest. At the time, I restored that information into a folder on my desktop. I can now access information from it, but I cannot save to it. When I try (from Word), I get a message saying that Word can’t save or create the file… the disk may be full or write-protected… and to try one or more of (a) freeing more memory, (b) making sure the disk is not full (that volume, like the others on the partitioned disk, is far less than 1/4 full), write-protected, or damaged. I have run DiskUtility a couple of times on it and it says that volume and the others on the drive are all just fine. However, it identifies that partition as not being mounted (the other four are mounted and working fine), and when I try to mount it through Disk Utility, it says it can’t and that I should try repairing it… As I said, when I check it to see if it needs repairing, it says it’s okay so it doesn’t repair. Also, I am unable to do a “Get info” on it from the Finder because I have nothing to click on to then get the “Info” on… hope that line makes sense. Finally, my question (probably obviously) is “How do I get this partition mounted so I can use it again????” Any help will be very, very, very appreciated. (P.S. I’ve tried all the ‘stuff’ like turning the drive off, letting it rest, turning it back on, etc.)

Answer 1

>There is also a blue info icon in Disk Utility if you highlight that Partition.
Thanks for that info... I had overlooked it (forever, I guess... and that's many years)
I've now done the info on that Volume and on one of the others on the disk for comparison.
This is the one that's having the problem:
  Name : xxx (the problem one)
          Type :           Volume
          Disk Identifier :           disk1s5
          Mount Point :           Not mounted
          File System :           Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
          Connection Bus :           USB
          Writable :           Yes
          Universal Unique Identifier :           B...xxxxx...F
          Capacity :           40.7 GB (43,650,494,464 Bytes)
          Owners Enabled :           No
          Can Turn Owners Off :           Yes
          Can Be Formatted :           Yes
          Bootable :           Yes
          Supports Journaling :           Yes
          Journaled :           No
          Disk Number :           1
          Partition Number :           5
The one that's working fine:
Name : xxx (the okay one)
          Type :           Volume
          Disk Identifier :           disk1s3
          Mount Point :           /Volumes/Beading:Needlework
          File System :           Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
          Connection Bus :           USB
          Writable :           Yes
          Universal Unique Identifier :           1...xxx...7
          Capacity :           74.2 GB (79,651,254,272 Bytes)
          Free Space :           64.3 GB (69,019,447,296 Bytes)
          Used :           9.9 GB (10,631,806,976 Bytes)
          Number of Files :           17,211
          Number of Folders :           2,578
          Owners Enabled :           Yes
          Can Turn Owners Off :           Yes
          Can Repair Permissions :           No
          Can Be Verified :           Yes
          Can Be Repaired :           Yes
          Can Be Formatted :           Yes
          Bootable :           Yes
          Supports Journaling :           Yes
          Journaled :           Yes
          Disk Number :           1
          Partition Number :           3
As you can see, there's a lot more info on the working one. Also, my guess (within my not huge knowledge of this stuff) is that the difference in the "Owners Enabled" line might be very significant. I also have no idea why the differences in the Journaled part, unless it's just that the problem one isn't mounted.
I really appreciate the attention you and Texas Mac Man are giving me here. Thank you very, very much!