Cannot unmount external volume

I have an external Firewire La Cie HD containing 4 partitions, 2 of which are back ups.
When I switch on the La Cie. I see 4 icons on my desktop. I work with one of the partitions and when I am finished, I press CMD E to eject it (and normally all 4 disappear together), but sometimes only 3 of them unmount. The 4th (one of the b/u volumes) just stays there and I cannot eject it. I tried to close all the open processes by pressing CMD Tab and quitting everything visible except Finder. but I still cannot eject my b/u volume. I am obliged to shut down the Mac to expel the stubborn partition.
An side effect of this is that while that b/u volume is mounted, I cannot mount again the other partitions. To do that I would have to switch off La Cie and switch it on again, but switching off the external HD before ejecting a mounted volume is not recommanded.
Is there a way to force-eject this volume?
PPC Mac mini, OS 10.4.8

The inability to unmount a volume that's not the boot volume usually indicates that there's some kind of link between it an the boot volume (an open file, symbolic link, etc.).
Try these:
i) launch Terminal, enter this command, and see which files are busy on which volumes are busy:
lsof | grep Volumes
That should give a clue as to which application is running what. Ignore everything dealing with .Trashes and look explicitly for stuff on that recalcitrant volume.
ii) launch Disk Utility, select the internal drive, select unmount.

Similar Messages

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

Cannot unmount volume

I was doing a maintenance on my system yesterday. I used DiskWarrior to do a rebuild on all the volumes. All was okay, except for my Mac HD 5 volume. I got this message when I tried to run DW 3.0.2 on this volume:
Repairing disk for “Mac HD 5”
Repair attempted on 1 volume
0 HFS volumes repaired
1 volume could not be repaired
Repairing disk failed with error Could not unmount disk (-10000)
When I used Disk Utility, verify disk volume, it said all was OK. But when I tried to verify permissions, it stopped about 1/4 of the way through. And then gave me a message "lost connection to volume, cannot unmount". Or to that effect.
I then tried TechTool Pro 4.1.1. I did a disk check, and all was okay. But when I tried to do a Volume check, I got this message from TTP:
Volume Structures
Tuesday, July 25, 2006 9:48:01 AM Canada/Eastern
Unable to unmount volume
Volume: MAC HD 5
Mount Point: /dev/disk0s3
Format: HFS+ (Mac OS Extended)
Journaling: Enabled
Case-sensitive: No
Created: 02/17/06 09:13:14 PM
Modified: 07/25/06 09:27:36 AM
Capacity: 79.88 GB
Used: 78.72 GB
Available: 1.16 GB
Files: 170,733
Folders: 41,464
Writable: Yes
Ejectable: No
Removable: No
There are a variety of invisible files, settings, and parameters that the Macintosh file system uses to locate files, free disk space, and for other maintenance and management routines. Damage to these critical data structures can result in lost or damaged files and may even necessitate a complete reformat of the volume.
Completed
Unable to unmount volume
TTP didn't actually complete a volume check. I hit start volume check. And it would just indicate it was complete, without actually every doing a full check.
Hopefully, there is a way of fixing this, without have to reformat the volume.
Also, I cannot startup from this volume. Tried, just got the grey Apple screen.
Thanks in advance.
G4 AGP 1.2Ghz upgrade, 896MB ram, LaCie DVD RW Mac OS X (10.3.9) StarTech USB 2.0 card, 30GB, 80GB, 120GB HDs

Thanks dot. But I figured it out already. The problem was that the "automount volume folder" was deleted from the Mac HD 5 volume (have no idea how). These are invisible files, so I used Tinkertool to make them visible. That's how I realized that the automount file was missing. All the other volumes contained automount files for ALL the volumes (including for Mac HD 5). Except for Mac HD 5. This volume was missing it's own automount file. So I just copied the file over from one of the other volumes. And voila, Mac HD 5 is now bootable, and can be unmounted for volume maintenance.
Everything is working as it was.
G4 AGP 1.2Ghz upgrade, 896MB ram, LaCie DVD RW Mac OS X (10.3.9) StarTech USB 2.0 card, 30GB, 80GB, 120GB HDs

Unmountable Boot Volume, need help. trying to fix the problem via lan if posible?

any information i could recieve from Geek Squad would be appreciated. i have my computer purchased from best buy that i'm happy with, but my cousin's computer died with the unmountable boot volume error. i want to use my computer to fix his, or if possible fix his directly from the internet. any assisstance in this would be nice. thank you.

Hi AngeNeedsHelp!
I hope your cousin got the computer fixed. However,
this Unmountable Boot Volume error is not always fixed by simply reinstalling
the Operating System (OS). In fact, you may need to back up the drive using an
external USB Hard Drive Enclosure. Even
then the drive may not be readable if there are physical errors/damage, and
this is nearly impossible to do over the internet since they likely cannot boot
the computer? If there is important
information on the drive I would recommend taking it to a professional such as Geek
Squad® before attempting anything. Best
of luck!
Matthew|Community Advocate | Best Buy® Corporate
Visit our Channel on
Private Message

Satellite Pro L10 - Unmountable Boot Volume

My Satellite Pro L10 loops at the boot process. After the Windows XP splash screen, the following error messages comes up: .... Unmountable boot volume... Technical Information: Stop: 0x000000ED...
I know this is nothing exceptional and doing a full recovery would solve the problem. But I don't want to loose the data (which of course is not backed up). I tried a Windows XP disc, but it won't boot from the cd/dvd drive pressing F12 or <0> and changing the boot order....
Can anyone help please?

Hi
Hmm the error message unmountable boot volume appears mostly if the HDD cannot be recognized during the booting. Why? Well, possibly the HDD malfunctions or the master boot record is faulty!
If you dont want to recover the notebook you could try to boot from the XP CD (press C button immediately after notebook powering) and to start the repair console.
In the repair console you could use the command chkdsk /p and after this you could fix the master boot record using the command fixboot or/and fixmbr.
If it does not help, the new OS installation is you last resort.
Ps: if you want to backup the data you can try to remove the HDD and try to connect it via external USB HDD controller to another computer.

Disk Util cannot unmount ext HD to format or partition

Computer: MacBook Pro Retina 13" latest model. All updates have been applied.
I have a 1TB WD external harddrive. It has 2 partitions (1 FAT32, 1 Mac OS Extended). This drive was working properly until one day it stopped mounting.
Problem:
- Mac OS Extended partition: Will not mount. I can see it greyed out in Disk Utility. The entire drive will not unmount.
- FAT32: Mounts in OSX but will not unmount. I can access FAT32 partition via Parallels (Win7).
Bigger Problem: I'm cannot re-format or re-partition the drive. Disk Utility provides an error that the drive cannot unmount.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

I made a mistake in the original post. I CANNOT access the FAT32 via Parallels because it will not unmount from OSX.
This is how I fixed it....
Booted up my Windows laptop and used Computer Management to delete both volumes (partitions).
Re-partitioned as 1 partition (ex-fat) and formatted.
Booted up MacBook and used Disk Utility to re-format as Mac OS Extended.
This appears to work fine, and I am able to use it for Time Machine now.
My question now is: How could I have accomplished this in OSX? I know some people will say maybe the drive is going bad. For this question, let's assume it's ok.

Cannot dismount external HD

Whenever l need to plug my external LaCie HD, it doesn't want to dismount. I get a pop up saying:
"The disk "Back Up" is in use and cannot be ejected. Try quitting applications and try again."
Tried emailing LaCie but their tech support is a total waste of time. I've been maually powering off and am afraid that continually doing so will corrupt my data. Can anyone explain whats wrong? Cheers.

I don't see how it could be a problem with the LaCie, and I doubt it's a hardware issue period. Have you tried to eject from disk utility? Are you running any backup software that might have a process (not an app) running (or is that what you meant when you said activity monitor appears normal...no process running that could be accessing the disk?)
If you are certain that no app or process has a file open on the drive, you can force an unmount from the terminal with either diskutil or umount...see the man pages for both. From man diskutil (command would be diskutil unmountDisk force (device)):
unmountDisk [force] device
Unmount an entire disk (all volumes). Force will force-unmount the volumes (less kind to any open files; see also umount (8)).

Cannot unmount encrypted sparesbundle

Hi,
Upgraded from Snow Leopard to Lion and now each time I mount an encrypted sparesbundle and try to unmount it I get the following log:
02.08.2011 19:54:15,445 fseventsd: Events arrived for /Volumes/DEVONthink Vault after an unmount request! Re-initializing.
02.08.2011 19:54:15,445 fseventsd: creating a dls for /Volumes/DEVONthink Vault but it already has one...
02.08.2011 19:54:16,101 com.apple.launchd: (com.apple.loginwindow.secureerase) Failed to count the number of files in "/var/db/fv_secure_erase.jobs": No such file or directory
02.08.2011 19:54:16,101 com.apple.launchd: (com.apple.loginwindow.secureerase) Failed to count the number of files in "/var/db/fv_secure_erase.jobs": No such file or directory
02.08.2011 19:54:16,125 fseventsd: read_disk_log: problems with history file: /Volumes/DEVONthink Vault/.fseventsd/6365733784679597 (fd -1, errno 2 ; is_reg 0; uid 0/0 gid 0/0)
02.08.2011 19:54:16,125 fseventsd: scan_for_old_events_callback: mount point /Volumes/DEVONthink Vault appears to be gone!
02.08.2011 19:54:16,154 fseventsd: disk logger: failed to open output file /Volumes/DEVONthink Vault/.fseventsd/63657337848efac8 (No such file or directory). mount point /Volumes/DEVONthink Vault/.fseventsd
02.08.2011 19:54:16,154 fseventsd: disk logger: failed to open output file /Volumes/DEVONthink Vault/.fseventsd/63657337848efac8 (No such file or directory). mount point /Volumes/DEVONthink Vault/.fseventsd
02.08.2011 19:54:17,241 com.apple.launchd: (com.apple.loginwindow.secureerase) Failed to count the number of files in "/var/db/fv_secure_erase.jobs": No such file or directory
02.08.2011 19:54:17,241 com.apple.launchd: (com.apple.loginwindow.secureerase) Failed to count the number of files in "/var/db/fv_secure_erase.jobs": No such file or directory
02.08.2011 19:54:17,242 com.apple.launchd: (com.apple.loginwindow.secureerase) Failed to count the number of files in "/var/db/fv_secure_erase.jobs": No such file or directory
02.08.2011 19:54:17,242 com.apple.launchd: (com.apple.loginwindow.secureerase) Failed to count the number of files in "/var/db/fv_secure_erase.jobs": No such file or directory
The bottom line is that I cannot unmount the sparesbundle. Each time I try to unmount it, it does so and the system mounts the image again.
It even mounts itself on logon (even though it's not present in the login items).
The "/var/db/fv_secure_erase.jobs" file / directory indeed is not there.
Any ideas what might be wrong?

Unfortunately, I also have the same problem in Lion, at random.
Not having enough space on my MacBook Pro drive I have my iPhoto library in an encrypted sparsebundle on an external USB. After I have done work in iPhoto,
SOMETIMES, selecting the mounted sparseimage and the USB external drive containing and using Command-E to eject them together works fine and other times it leads to a stuck unmount.... Spotlight may also be part of the problem: Console shows:
1/9/12 12:54:30.443 AM fseventsd: Events arrived for /Volumes/SparseImage320 after an unmount request! Re-initializing.
1/9/12 12:54:30.443 AM fseventsd: creating a dls for /Volumes/SparseImage320 but it already has one...
1/9/12 12:54:30.588 AM fseventsd: Events arrived for /Volumes/USBDrive320 after an unmount request! Re-initializing.
1/9/12 12:54:30.588 AM fseventsd: creating a dls for /Volumes/USBDrive320 but it already has one...
1/9/12 12:54:30.865 AM _spotlight: audit warning: soft /var/audit
1/9/12 12:54:30.866 AM _spotlight: audit warning: closefile /var/audit/20120109050433.20120109055430
1/9/12 12:54:30.867 AM _spotlight: audit warning: allsoft
Imran

Problems Restoring Erasing Drive: Cannot Unmount Disk

I just intalled an SSD in my macbook pro, and would like to use my old hard drive as a storage disk. When i boot into the ssd (mountian lion) and try to erase the old disk it says it cannot unmount the disk. i have also tried booting off an external disk (also mountain lion) and i get the same problem. Any ideas would be greatly apprectiated.

Sometimes when DU can't unmount a drive or volume it's because something else like Spotlight or TimeMachne has it in use. Set your Spotlight to ignore the drive.
Also try using command r booting into Recovery for Disk Utlity there, it doesn't have Spotlight, TM or anything like that so it should unmount the drive.
If your still having problems and you don't care about the data on the drive, then you can try buring a disk of Parted Magic ISO and see if you can option key or c key boot off of it and go hog wild messing up the drive's data and boot flags.
Once that's done use Recvoery to Secure Erase (middle selection) and that will take care of it, then format GUID OS X extended journaled, GUID or MBR + exFAT or whatever.

HT1526 I'm trying to delete files from the trash and an .InProgress file in Time Machine that cannot be moved to the trash. I cannot unmount the TM disk either. If I use the chflags -R nouchg command, I get a "Resource busy" message. Any suggestions?

I've got one or maybe two problems. Time Machine routinely crashes and there is a file in the TM folder that is an .InProgress file at the end of successful backups. Can't delete it, even using various sudo commands in Terminal. These come back with a "Resource busy" message.
Similarly, there is a Microsoft Office alias in my trash that will not delete, again including various delete or Terminal commands. Also "Resource busy"
I can't reformat the TM volume since it cannot unmount and it also cannot unmount the whole disk, which contains some other backup files I'd rather keep.
Any suggestions?
Mike

I'm not sure I can be very helpful since I was doing a lot of things and ultimately the problems went away. But one thing that definitely seemed to help was to shut down, restart, do something, shut down again and repeat. So with a clean start, try to move the file to the trash. If that works, shut down restart and look to see if it is still in the trash. Empty the trash. Shut down if it appears to empty and then restart. It seemed sometimes that the computer was doing what I wanted then something was overriding this and restoring. The shutdowns immedately after I could do something but before it engaged an override operation seemed to keep this from happening.
Sorry to not have more to offer but...

HP Pavillion DV9700 - Vista 64bit - "Unmountable Boot Volume"

Hi there,
The problem I have with my DV9700 is it will no longer boot. It was working great, but the other night, I had to do a hard re-boot, and then it failed to start with a blue screen with "Unmountable Boot Volume". This is with the original Vista 64 bit Home Premium version. I chose the option "Self Recovery" but it just finishes up sitting there continually scanning for something?
The hard drive is the original factory installed setup. My question is, how do I get my machine back up and running please? I have a Windows Vista Backup that would run each week to an external 2TB USB drive, but I am guessing that this will not recreate an exact image of my computers state? I would also need to have Vista running to use the backup? Some years ago (2010), I created a complete backup to about 20 DVD's, but I am not sure how to use them as they are for recovery I think?
It looks like I need to buy a new hard drive but how do I go about using the backups I have to install to a new drive? Also, what is the largest hard drive I can use? Should I buy a SSD drive? I wanted at least a 1TB primary drive. Fry's Electronics has a Hybrid drive where the disk cache is solid state making it more affordable. I was thiking of getting one of these?
I would like to use my old original drive as a secondary drive if it is even possible to access its files. I have ordered a SATA caddy so I can mount it into the unused drive bay of the DV9700.
Anyway, I would truly appreciate any help please?
Thanks a million!!!

Hi mtrappett,
Thank you for your inquiry, I will do my best to assist you.
I grasp that after restarting the notebook you got the error" unmountable Boot Volume" and a blue screen. Here is a link to a document on Troubleshooting Error Messages on a Blue Screen that may Occur During Startup or Boot. For your convenience I am also providing the HP Pavilion dv9500, dv9600, and dv9700 Entertainment PCs Maintenance and Service Guide. Please note page 23, item 23 for a list of recommended hard drives. I hope you find these useful.
Sparkles1
I work on behalf of HP
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Can I synchronize my iDevice with Aperture database on external volume?

Hi everyone,
I'm a photography enthusiast and I would always take photos.
Recently, my built-in harddisk was full and I transferred my photos to an USB-connected 2.5" external harddisk. That's not the problem - I can browse and edit the photo freely whenever I plug in my external harddisk.
But when I tried to synchronize my iPad with a database on the external volume, the problem comes. iTunes told that it cannot find the aperture database (in local drive) and I have no idea to match it with my current database.
Who can give me a solution? Thanks!
ALC
(Sorry for my poor English as I'm not an English native speaker)

Hi Ap Lei Chau,
Your English is fine.
Though I do not have a iPad, I do have an iPhone. With my iPhone plugged in, open iTunes, under Devices click my phone, then Photos tab mine reads Aperture. Clicking that drop down I have a option to choose Folder. From there I can walk the path to an Aperture library.
It is my hope it appears the same in an iPad.
Cordially,
RicD

Cannot Unmount Internal HD

Hi Guys,
I had a problem booting my computer up a while ago (it would just sit at the white apple screen with the loading wheel) so I removed the internal HDD and backed it up to my desktop computer using a USB adapter hub. I then completely erased the drive. I followed multiple forums on how to create a bootable USB flash drive with Lion, so I did so. I then booted up my computer while holding the Option key, and selected the flash drive (which had the OSX Lion Installer App on it from the mounted installESD.dmg file).
I'm now stuck yet again trying to reinstall Lion on my hard drive. I am in disk utility, and I cannot unmount my internal drive, which means I cannot reinstall lion to it. When I run the reinstaller it tells me that there was an error, and I need to reboot the app, which does nothing.
What i would really love to do is completely erase my internal hard drive (even though I thought it was already) and install Lion onto it from the bootable USB flash drive.
I have an '09 MacBook Pro. I've gone to SmallDog twice with my laptop and they told me that they cannot do anything or that I should do it myself to save money.
And help would be greatly appriciated. Thank you!!
-Julien

There should be a simple explanation. Many background programs on your Mac, including Spotlight, access files on all formatted volumes connected to the computer; most of these programs are designed to allow an in-use volume to be unmounted without causing issue, but one notorious counterexample is the iTunesHelper background process. iTunesHelper coordinates iTunes' interactions with the rest of your computer, and may be using files on your iMac's hard disk, preventing you from unmounting the volume.
If iTunesHelper is running in the background, it's probably causing your issue, so you can just kill it (quit) from Activity Monitor. Search Spotlight for it, or open your /Applications/Utilities folder - you should see Activity Monitor near the top of the list. In the list of processes you see, find and select iTunesHelper and click the "Quit Process" button up top.
Now try running Drive Genius's Defrag again. It should be able to unmount your internal drive and run the repair normally. Just remember to leave your iMac alone while it's defragging! You don't want to accidentally interrupt the process.

I cannot earase my hard drive it says drive cannot unmounted?

i cannot earase my hard drive it says drive cannot unmounted? how can i erase it ? please help

Restart the Mac and start in Lion Recovery Mode by pressing Command-R before the startup chime.
Select Disk Utility.
Select the Macintosh HD volume
Click erase, wait till it finishes destroying all your stuff.
Weep cause your Mac won't boot no more.

Time Machine Excluding External Volumes?

The following threads discuss backing up external volumes using Time Machine.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5316613?start=30&tstart=0
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16591548#16591548
https://discussions.apple.com/message/6785149?searchText=Time%20Machine%20Exclud ing%20External%20Volumes#6785149
So apparently TM can backup external volumes but I have not been able to do so.
I've been experimenting with TM to backup external drives. It will not backup my external drive, even when I remove it from the exclusion list. It automatically re-added it to the exclusion list even though I explicitly removed it from that list.
My test:
- I plugged in a 1 GB thumb drive and formatted it as Mac OS Extended (journaled).
- I put some new files on it with unique filenames for a test.
- I told TM to run backups (several ones in sequence).
- I opened the thumb-drive volume then entered TM. TM showed only the current state with no backups.
I opened Preferences > Time Machine > Options… It listed the thumb drive as excluded. So I removed the exclusion.
I unmounted the thumb drive, mounted it again and repeated the experiment. Same result. It appeared in the exclusion list again.
What gives? How do I tell TM to backup external volumes (or not to exclude doing so)?

Yep. Read that before posting.
Also found https://discussions.apple.com/message/20711519#20711519
where Linc Davis says
External drives are automatically added to the Time Machine exclusion list. To back them up, remove them from the list. Volumes on the backup drive itself are automatically excluded, and you can't change that.
There is no reason why you shouldn't back up multiple volumes in Time Machine.
I did remove it from the exclusions list but TM added it back. What now?

Cannot unmount external volume

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for