Can't unmount external drive for Repair Disk on disk Utility. Any ideas?
What does it mean when Disk Utility says that a remote disk can not be "unmounted"?
I am trying to repair a 500GB external firewire drive. The other one I have connected works fine when I click repair disk.
Thank you
Verify and Repair volume “500 GB”
The disk “500 GB” could not be unmounted
Open Disk Utility, select the drive in the left side list then click on the Unmount icon in the toolbar. See if that does anything. If the drive is in use then it cannot be ejected until whatever has the lock on the drive is finished with it.
If nothing is using the drive and it simply refuses to eject then open Activity Monitor, select All Processes from the Processes drop down menu. Click on the processes column to display in alphabetical order. Look for an entry such as "disk.......", select it if it's there then click on the Force Quit icon in the toolbar.
Another alternative is to shut down the computer, disconnect the drive, then restart.
Similar Messages
-
started to run recovery disc assistant on a backup hard drve-stopped when it said it would erase all data-but now can't inialize the external drive nor repair it with disc utility. what to do?
Activity Monitor – Monitor Performance Problems
Performance Guide
Why is my computer slow
Why your Mac runs slower than it should
Slow Mac After Mavericks
Things you can do to resolve slowdowns see post by Kappy
Try running this program and then copy and paste the output in a reply. The program was created by Etresoft, a frequent contributor. Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read.
Etrecheck – System Information -
Cannot unmount External drive for backup....help
I am trying to use a new My Passport external drive to backup. I installed the mac os info however it says I must "erase" contents to use. When I hit erase it says the drive "couldn't unmount". Also tried to backup to the drive and it said "disk is not in Mac Os Extended (journaled) format. Any ideas, I am not real familiar with this process.
Hi KJM4,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities. Based on what you stated, it sounds like you need to format the HD. I would recommend that you read this article, it may be able to help the issue.
Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, Compressor 4: Format drives as Mac OS Extended - Apple Support
Formatting a disk using the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format
Important: If you have any files you want to save, be sure to back them up to another drive before you erase the drive they are on. Reformatting a drive will permanently erase all of the data on it.
From the Finder, click the Go menu and choose Utilities.
Open Disk Utility.
Select the disk or partition and click Erase.
Choose a format from the Format pop-up menu. Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Type a name for the disk.
If you want to prevent the erased files from being recovered, click Security Options, select the option you want, and click OK.
Click Erase.
Cheers,
Mario -
Can't see external drive for movie import
Hi gang,
I have all of my iMovie projects on an external hard drive plugged directly by Firewire 2 into my MacPro. When I run iMovie 9.09, I get a beautiful sorted list of all of my projects by year. When I run iMovie 10.0.5., I can't even see the external drive that contains my movies. On the left column of the new iMovie, I have the choices of iPhoto Library, All Events, All Projects, and an iMovie Library that is empty.
How can I see my external drive with all of my long years of iMovie work on it in the new version of iMovie?
Cheers!Just to respond to the comment above.
Disk formatting and disk access security are two different thing.
An Airport disk can be formatted as HFS+ and both Macs and PCs will be able to access it.
Regarding "Security" which you setup on the Airport Extreme there are two option:
a) "Secure Disks: With accounts": Here each user on your network will only be able to see and access the folders and files they uploaded to the Airport disk themselves. The disk (as hardware) is shared but data is not shared.
b) "With a disk password": Here all users on your network will be able to see and access all folders and files on the Airport disk.
I hope this makes things a little more clear.
Karsten -
Can't find Application Support for Address Book in Lion. Any ideas where to go?
I need to re-establish my Address Book after iCloud doubled all of the entries in it. But I can't find Application Support for Address Book in Lion.
Can someone help?Go menu -> Go to folder.
Enter ~/Library
And select Go.
Your contents will now be visible.
WARNING: messing around with these contents without at least twice backups may make your data inaccessible or worse if you don't know what you are doing. -
Just installed Lion haven't received an external email for over 2 hours, anyone got any ideas
Anybody having email issues after upgrading to Lion. Haven't received an external email for over 2 hours which is really unusual.
Go to >system prefs>mail calander & contacts then just click accept on use the inbox.
-
Can't format external drive for Mac
I got an external Seagate Freeagent 750GB drive to use with my new Mini. It came formatted as a windows FAT volume. Since I don't have a FW400 to FW 800 cable yet, I have it connected via USB. When I try to reformat as a Mac drive (with any of the 4 case-sensitive / journaled options), I get an error, but I can then reformat as FAT. Does anyone know how I can format this drive as mac and what the problem is?
It may have something to do with the partition scheme. There are at least three different schemes. One is used for windows formats (so you can use FAT32 or NTFS format), one is used for Intel Mac (probably GUID, not sure), and one is used for PowerPC Mac (probably the Apple Partition Map, again not sure). I don't know whether it is smart enough to choose the appropriate scheme for you when you have selected a format for your partition. Try to select the right scheme for Intel Mac first, and then decide on the format on each (if you have more than one partition on that disk) partitions.
I think you have to make sure the format is compatible with the scheme, especially when you have multiple partitions on one disk. You can't format one partition to FAT32 and another to HFS+, although it will try to do something, but it will end up with error. -
I am using an external drive for back up. Yesterday the backup failed and I received a message that the external drive( a passport drive) needed a 'disk repair", when I ran disk repair nothing happened it seemed to freeze. Suggestions? should i simply erase the external drive and start over-my computer is fine.
Get a different drive for backup.
In the meantime, once you are backed up some drive safe, then you can attempt to repair the backup drive using the repair the directory link. -
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 -
I've used an external drive for time machine which has important files on it. After trying to back up my computer, it suddenly needed to be "repaired" by utilities. Now it's not being "seen" at all! How do I recover my important files off the drive?
If the external drive can be seen at all in Disk Utility, follow the instructions for repair here.
-
Disk Utility - Restore can not unmount target drive
Just got a brand new MacBook Pro with Lion. As usual there are "issues"..
I wanted to move my old TimeMachine backup (250 GB) to a larger Firewire drive (500 GB) and found a lot of instructions on that.. Problem is they don't work on Lion. (Both are Iomega drives with Firewire)
The instructions suggest that using Disk Utility to "restore" the new drive from the old will work but I always get the Error "Can not unmount target drive..." and I can see that the source drive is unmounted but not the target. I did all of the "First Aid" stuff to both drives.. (and the target drive was turned into a MacOS partition and verified..)
I then tried the exact same process on my old MacBook Pro (Leopard) and everything worked as expected..
Was there another way to do this in Lion.. or is this broken..???
Thanks for any feedback..
John..Is the new drive prepped?
Drive Preparation
1. If you are preparing an external or a non-startup drive, then 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. 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. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition 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.
In Disk Utility you clone as follows:
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the new backup drive. Source means the old backup drive.
If you still have a problem then boot into the Recovery HD:
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.
Choose Disk Utility from the main menu then click on the Continue button. -
I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?
In the Mac side of things, backups usually come in two flavors: clones or incrementals.
A bootable clone is a bit-for-bit copy of all essential files in the startup volume. If using the Lions, clones can be made using CarbonCopyCloner or just plain old Disk Utility. These backups represent the safest protection of your info, but take the longest to do. Recovery is an inverse process: you copy the clone back into the internal drive.
Incremental backups start with a complete backup of the startup volume and only copy whatever changed from the previous run. OS X includes the fully integrated Time Machine backup utility to do this. It is extremely easy to do and takes the least amount of time. Recovery is another matter altogether since you have to start with a freshly installed instance of the OS and have to apply all intervening backups to bring the result to the latest saved version.
As for where the backup takes place, the recommended media is an external dedicated drive or drives connected via the fastest interface available on your Mac: Thunderbolt, USB3, Firewire, or USB2. Network-based backups, wired or wireless, are attractive but may not offer the same performance and hence take longer. Also important to note that the entire drive need not be completely dedicated to a single backup. The Mac's EFI firmware infrastructure allows for an unlimited number of partitions on a hard drive and each can be used for either type of backups.
Holler if you need specifics on how to do each. This was just an executive summary. -
I've been using a 320GB external drive for time machine for the last several years. The backups always worked fine and when necessary I was able to look at & restore older data from the time capsule. Recently, I keep getting the message that a backup cannot be completed and an older backup will be deleted. Usually this wasn't an issue because I still had several months of information on disk. Now a one-time backup takes up 315GB and therefore I only have a backup of the previous day. I don't understand this because I thought that the backup only saves information that has changed and doesn't copy everything everytime. What do I need to do to get my backups to a reasonable size so that I can keep at least 1 month data stored on it.? Please don't tell me I need a larger drive ... that would be too easy.
Get a larger drive for your TM backups.
The recommended size is 3 times what you are backup. So if 315 GB is a backup then you need a 1 TB drive.
Allan -
How can I force Time Machine to make a complete backup of my Hard Drive. I just installed a new external drive for Backup since my previous one failed. Now when I back up, Time Machine only backs up my data folder and the Users folder.
When I start a backup. Time Machine says "Oldest Backup: None; Latest Backup: None", so it seems like it should do a complete backup, but it only does a partial.Hi I'd like to jump in here. Your app showed me this:
Time Machine:
Skip System Files: NO
Mobile backups: OFF
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 749.3 GB Disk used: 453.81 GB
Destinations:
Plastic Wrapper [Local] (Last used)
Total size: 999.86 GB
Total number of backups: 64
Oldest backup: 2013-07-24 23:25:11 +0000
Last backup: 2013-11-17 01:40:47 +0000
Size of backup disk: Too small
Backup size 999.86 GB < (Disk used 453.81 GB X 3)
Time Machine details may not be accurate.
All volumes being backed up may not be listed.
/sbin excluded from backup!
/usr excluded from backup!
/System excluded from backup!
/bin excluded from backup!
/private excluded from backup!
/Library excluded from backup!
/Applications excluded from backup!
Aside from the size of my backup drive, which I will increase at some point, I'd really like to have time machine backing up all system folders, especially Applications. How to I reset this hidden exclusions?
Thanks,
Darcy -
Can I use my late 2006 mac mini as an external drive for my late 2012 mac mini?
I have a (late 2006) Mac mini that I would like to use as an external drive for my (late 2012) Mac mini. Is this possible and can anyone suggest what cables would be needed. I am aware that the ports are very different i.e firewire and thunderbolt. Thanks in advance!
- You can boo the old Mac in Targe Disk Mode and connect the two via FireWire (FW) You will need a FW 400 to FW 800 cable or a FW 800 or FW 400 cable and appropriate adopters
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode - Apple Support
- Use the old Mac normally and setup Disk Sharing and access the old Mac via the network. The old Mac's disk will show up under Devices on the new Mac. One you set up the old Mac yo do not need mouse or keyboard or monitor. You can also setup Screen sharing and actually use the old Mac from the new Mac.
- Remove the HD from the old Mac and place it in an external USB enclosure of dock and connect it to the new Mac
Maybe you are looking for
-
How do I export a PDF that contains both English and Thai to Microsoft Word?
My PDF file has both English and Thai language content. When I export it to Microsoft Word, the Thai words are missing. I am using Acrobat XI Pro and Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.
-
Text messages are not being delivered from iPhone 4s
Why aren't my messages being delivered from my iPhone 4S?
-
Minimize and Maximize are missing
I now have 2 users who have been using Acrobat version 7.1 for at least a year each and for some reason the minimize and maximize buttons have disappeared. They are visible on the main program window but they are not visible on the file window. I h
-
What will the next mac osx be named
several sorces said it will be bobcat
-
I have runned memtest86, and I get 16 errors on test#5 when running ddr-333 (167 mhz) on normal speed. Is the ram bad ? Or is the mainboard bad ? .. It's Apacer PC-2700 CAS 2,5 memory.