Cannot mount external TM drive

This may be a general drive-related question.
TM was in a loop saying "waiting for index" or something similar. This went on for over two hours.
I thought a repair might solve the problem. Turned backups off in preferences.
Tried to eject the drive. Failed with "in use." Tried unmounting. Same result.
Did a restart. Got message that "a device" was not ejected properly. TM drive is no longer on desktop.
TM drive is connected via FireWire. Tried unplugging, then reconnecting the drive. Nothing. Tried power off, then power on. Nothing.
Suggestions please?
Thanks,
harv47

Pondini wrote:
harv47 wrote:
Well, I guess I can try those substitutions. But the power and FireWire cables that don't work now are the same ones that worked fine before.
You'd be surprised how often a new cable fixes that sort of problem.
That point about disabling virus checking of the backup drive is a good one.
Yes, and you might also want to exclude it from Spotlight indexing, at least temporarily, via +System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy.+ For some odd reason, Spotlight sometimes interferes with TM backups, especially the big initial one.
Virus checker now bypasses the TM volume, as does Spotlight.
Please define "temporarily". Should it be included again after the initial backup?
harv47

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Cannot mount external USB drive with FDisk_partition_scheme

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Yeah this definitely appears to be a problem specifically with this mac. It's been having all sorts of weird problems lately, and we figured that upgrading to Maverick might fix them (but instead we got new problems).
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mount: /dev/sdb is not a valid block device
or
mount: special device /dev/sdb1 does not exist
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Mount external hard drive on boot

I have a Mac mini run on SL, I want to set it up as a samba server with a external hard drive which formatted in NFS format.
I tried to write a plist in LaunchDaemons to call a script to mount the hard drive, but it does not work.
Here is my plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.kg.mount</string>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
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<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/System/Library/script/com.kg.mount</string>
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</dict>
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Thanks

The OS automatically mounts storage devices when they come online. If that doesn't happen, you need to fix the problem.
First back up the disk, if you haven't already done that.
Get rid of the script and the launchd item. Unload it first -- I assume you know how to do that.
Launch Disk Utility and select the "EX" volume, then run "Repair Disk." If any errors are reported, repeat until there are no more.
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Unplug the drive, then plug it in again. If it still doesn't mount, plug it into a different port (if it's USB.) If it still doesn't mount, try it on a different Mac.

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I seem to remember the "Permission denied" or "Device busy" coming up in some situations but not others when attempting to mount drives at this early stage in "single user" mode...
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After running the 'rc' script, try creating your mount point and and running 'mount_hfs' as usual...

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I have a Mac mini running OSX 10.5.8
I also have a 2TB external hard drive, FAT32 that I use on various Macs and Windows 7 PCs
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Have you been able to resolve the issue with your Drobo? I'm having the same issue with my Drobo (which I've had a for a year) and suddenly, it's not being seen as a Drive.
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I have an external hard drive with all my music on it, and I want MPD to play this music. Now I was wondering how best to mount my external, such that MPD can actually access the music.
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As iBertus mentioned, you can use the automount features of different desktops. XFCE includes the Thunar file manager which can also be used in other lightweight desktops.
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pmount /dev/sdb1 Stalafin]
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Cannot mount external but if I run disk verifty it mounts

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When I run Repair or Verify it will mount without finding any problems.
If I unmount I have the same situation again. Has anyone had this happen?
alan

This seems to be a bug. You may be able to work around it by booting from a Recovery system on another storage device.
If you have a "clone" backup on another drive — not a partition on the same drive — boot from it by holding down the option key at the startup chime and selecting its icon in the Startup Manager display. Launch Disk Utility and repair your primary startup volume — not the one you're booted from.
If you have a Time Machine backup on a locally-attached storage device — not a network device such as a Time Capsule — there should already be a Recovery system on that device. Boot from it and repair in the same way as above.
Otherwise, use Recovery Disk Assistant to create a Recovery system on a spare storage device, such as a USB flash drive, and boot from that device. All existing data on the Recovery device will be permanently erased.
Make sure you have a current backup before doing anything.

I cannot mount my hard drive volume!

Began a standard install of OS 9.2.2 and then my hard drive icon disappeared from the desktop. I opened drive setup from the utilities folder of the 9.2.2 cd and I cannot mount the volume no matter what. I can only start up from the cd holding down the c key and that's as far as I can go. Is this it for this powerbook? Trash time? HELP!

monkybiz,
If initialization failed, there is a problem with the HD. However, there is a process that may correct the problem or it will definitively tell you the HD is bad. HDs can fail at any time so it just may be coincidence the problem arose when trying to install software.
Since initializing the HD failed, apparently the computer can now see the HD. Boot to your MacOS 9.x CD and open the folder that says Utilities and launch Drive Setup. Highlight your HD's name in the window, then move up to the menu bar. Under Functions, select Initialization Options, then check the box for 'zero all data'. Also select MacOS Extended Format when that window appears. When the process has completed (it will take awhile), select 'Test Disk' under Functions (it will also take a while). If zeroing fails or Test Disk fails, try again to zero and then run Test Disk.
If successful, install software; if the above fails, your HD is hosed. By the way, once Drive Setup has been launched, Drive Setup Help is available from the menu bar.

Trouble mounting external hard drive

Hello,
I'm having a problem with my external hard drive (formatted hfs+). While the hd was connected to a computer running ubuntu, the computer crashed. Since then the drive is read-only on ubuntu and won't mount at all on mac os x 10.4.
I've tried repairing the the drive with disc utility, and get:
Invalid sibling link
Volume check failed.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
I've also tried running fsck_hfs in the terminal, with no luck. when I type:
fsck_hfs -fy /dev/rdisk1s2
I end up with:
** /dev/rdisk1s2
** Checking HFS Plus volume.
** Checking Extents Overflow file.
** Checking Catalog file.
Invalid sibling link
(4, 16531)
** Volume check failed.
I also tried -r but it didn't work either.
So before I back up and reformat the drive, does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks.

Appears you need a stronger utility than Disk Utility. Sounds like you have directory damage.
The following are a few forum favorites. You must use the versions that are compatible w/your OS system & keep the utilities updated to avoid damaging/harming/trashing your system.
DiskWarrior
Highly recommended for *directory damage* repairs.
TechTool Pro
Multi-functional utility.
Drive Genius Multi-functional utility.
You will need to make your own decision on which to purchase. Read up on them on their websites because each does something a little different.

Cannot Identify External Hard Drive

hi,
my imac has an usb 2.0 linked external hard drive. i used the diskutility to format the hdd and stored files on it.
but sometimes when i boot into mac, a pop-up message says that the "hardware cannot be identified"
so i have to unplug the hard drive and reboot, then in mac, plug the external hard drive.
so what went wrong?
thanks.

So a hint as to which external hard drive you have please. Have you contacted the manufacturer? Have you checked the usb cable? Have you checked the power source for the hard drive? Why are you posting a hardware problem in the "Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard > Using Mac OS X Leopard"
discussion forum area?

Cannot mount external TM drive

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