Cross Post:: Disk Utility Application - Errors with USB Drive

I have a 4200 2.5" 100GB Hard Drive in a "portable" configuration that I've used for some time. I had not plugged it into my MBP until today and it seemed to read the drive, but that's about it. I went to Disk Utility to do what I used to call in the PC world a "format" or "fdisk" to get all the stuff off of it and get it setup as a Backup drive for my MBP. Essentially, the drive is now kaput! Actually, what happens is, when I attempt any task in the Disk Utility app, it simply freezes up and no matter how long I wait (I've waited thirty minutes) nothing happens and I'm forced to "force end" to the app. Any ideas on this?
I am able to take the drive to my XP machine and reformat / repartion the drive, but it will not allow files to be copied over to it in the mac using the NTFS. This also seems odd to me. Any ideas on this one?
Thanks,
Bob

I posted a reply to that.
Explanation:
I posted originally in the other forum because it is a USB drive issue. I cross posted because it is an Application issue. I probably should have just posted in one or the other!
Thanks Jim,
Bob

Similar Messages

Disk Utility 13 problem with USB drives

There appears to be a problem with Disk Utility 13 (part of OS X 10.9). At least, so far as I can tell, everything traces back to this app, or possibly OS X 10.9 itself.
I recently upgraded my MacBook Air to OS X 10.9 (reformatted hard drive, installed system from scratch, updated with all the latest Apple updates). I pre-checked all my third party software to make sure it was 10.9 compatible before installing it after the system cleanup, so everything I’m running supposedly has been approved as safe for 10.9. But I’m seeing a problem formatting USB drives that I do not encounter when running under 10.8.
I have a Seagate STAA500101 (“FreeAgent GoFlex”) drive connected via Seagate’s USB3 adapter that I’ve used for some time as a Time Machine backup. Post-overhaul, I decided to erase the backup and start fresh. When I attempt to format it (single GUID partition) with Disk Utility, I see the following messages go by:
Formatting disk1s2 as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with name Untitled 1
Could not mount disk1s2 with name (null) after erase
Then there’s a pause, and the format appears to conclude fine. But if I run a “Verify Disk” immediately, I get this:
Verifying partition map for “Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Media”
Checking prerequisites
Checking the partition list
Checking for an EFI system partition
Checking the EFI system partition’s size
Checking the EFI system partition’s file system
Checking all HFS data partition loader spaces
Volume on disk1s2 has 0 bytes of trailing loader space and it needs 134217728 bytes
Problems were found with the partition map which might prevent booting
Error: Partition map needs repair because a data partition needs loader space.
As the drive has just been formatted, that seemed odd. I took it over to another Mac still running 10.8.5 and formatted it there — it worked just fine. Verified just fine. Took the drive back to my MacBook Air and tried to verify the disk — same failure.
I wanted to rule out bad media, so I took a Lexar 16GB USB flash drive and tried to format it with Disk Utility 13 — got the same problem.
The only success I’ve had formatting USB drives under 10.9 is to boot up into OS X Recovery. Disk Utility there formatted my Seagate drive without an error. But once I booted back into normal 10.9 operating mode, the drive once again fails to verify; it makes me leery about using it as a Time Machine backup.
I suppose it’s possible there could be some background component like Sophos causing problems when formatting drives, but if I format a drive via OS X Recovery or another Mac under 10.8, that wouldn’t explain why the drives fail to verify.
Anyone got any other observations on this issue?

Problem resolved. I'm posting this note for anyone else who might run into this situation and come across this discussion.
It actually did turn out to be Sophos -- Cloud, that is. I'd been using Sophos' free Mac antivirus software on a variety of systems but forgot that I was now testing out Sophos Cloud on my own MacBook, which is their new endpoint solution, and supposed to be compatible with OS X 10.9 (although the Mac version is listed as "beta") Sophos Cloud includes a new feature called Device Control which allows you to create a company-wide policy to control access to hardware such as USB drives, optical drives, etc. But apparently it's still pretty buggy. I had my Device Control configured with the default setting of "monitor but do not block" but it was most definitely gumming up the system. With Sophos Cloud installed, here's what happens if I try to run "Verify Disk" on any attached drive. Note on the left side how "disk2s2" shows as a sub-volume for each hard drive.
So if I uninstall Sophos Cloud, reboot and rescan, here's what I get:
Works fine. Note that the "disk2s2" subvolumes are also gone. This is the way Disk Utility also appears on a 10.8 or 10.9 system, even if you have the standard free Sophos for Mac software installed. It's only Sophos Cloud that's not playing nice. It also appears to have stopped me from being able to play DVDs from an attached Apple USB SuperDrive -- that problem was likewise solved by removing Sophos Cloud.

How to recover after performing an 'Erase' and then 'Partition' within Disk Utility of an External USB drive?

Hi - I accidently ran an 'Erase' and then 'Partition' within Disk Utility of an External USB drive (meant to run it against another drive that was plugged in). Does anyone have any suggestions on if it is possible to recover from this? It has all my family photos on it and my backup is a few months old :-(
I tried running Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery but it found what looks like basic mac folder structure (probably from the first erase). I think what messed me up was that I rain the repartition which formats the drive a 2nd time! Any help is truly appreciated!
thank you,
-Steve

Hello RalphR_MI,
Take a look at this page, which lists several articles. Please let me know if any of these help you restore your backup.
Also, take a look at this article, as well as this one.
I hope this helps. I'm not sure of a few things, so I'm sorry for sending you so much, but I'm confident it will give you something new to try.
Please let me know if this helps. Good luck!
↙-----------How do I give Kudos?| How do I mark a post as Solved? ----------------↓

Disk Utility burn error with dmg file

I'm using a Pioneer DVR 106D to burn a dmg file on to a blank DVD. I've done it many times before with the disk utility.
But now I'm getting this message when I try to burn the dmg or make a new image off the old DVD master:
"Device drained its buffer without burn underrun protection"
Can anyone please tell me how I can fix this problem?
Thanks
OS 10.3.9

I have encountered the same problem. I have a Mac Book Pro from 2007, and it has gone through 3 DVD writers so far, all of which have ruined DVD+R DL disks. I have occasionally been able to burn one, but usually during verify, I get this error message:
Communication to the disk drive failed: 0x8002022
And disk utility fails with a "Invalid B-tree node size" error
Oddly, when I try to burn a disk near capacity (6.5Gb or more) it is more likely to fail than if I burn a smaller disk.
I've been using Memorex DVD+R DL disks, but I have used other brands in the past but they have failed, too. Out of about 50 disks so far, I have had success with about 5.

Disk Utility Not Formatting External USB Drive

Hello,
I recently upgraded to Leopard.  Around this same time, my company purchased two, 1 Terabyte USB External drives for my coworker and I in the graphics/web development department.  They arrived this morning and we were very excited.
My problem is that I cannot get Disk Utility to erase/format the new, external USB TB drive for use with my MBP.  Disk Utility fails almost immediately with the following message:
"*Disk Erase Failed*
Disk Erase failed with the error:
File system formatter failed."
The options I'm choosing for the Erase are:
Volume Format: MAC OS EXTENDED  (i've even tried the 'journaled' version too)
Name: TB
As soon as I hit 'Erase' I get the error message I listed above.  The volume never mounts on my desktop and does not exist.  I can see the drive itself in the System Profiler, so my Mac sees it, it just can't format it!  I've also made sure all my permissions were repaired, so I'm just a little confused as to why this simple task keeps failing?
Is there some additional, esoteric step that I'm missing?
My coworker was able to get his disk to work because he did NOT have Time Machine turned on yet.  When he connected his new TB drive, Time Machine asked him to format/initialize the disk and he of course said "ok."  I had Time Machine set to use my OLD external USB drive and it's been working great. As of this writing, my coworker is a happy camper. I, however, am not.  I'm not blaming Time Machine, just noting the differences between my coworker's experience and my own. Since the volume is not currently mounted on my machine, I can't format my disk the same way as my coworker has done using Time Machine, since Time Machine doesn't see the volume.
My fear is that the manufacturer (whom I've also contacted and am awaiting their response) will throw this back to a software problem....and the folks on the forum here will point their fingers and say 'hardware problem.'  Ah, the eternal struggle.....who to blame?
Any help or additional troubleshooting tips are greatly appreciated.

This is the best, and only, way to format an external hard drive, which is courtesy of Kappy.
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X 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 Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
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. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
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 Options 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 will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.

Internal Hard Drive Died - Now replaced - Disk Utility Internal Error

When using the original system disk to install OSX the new hard drive isn't recognised even though I have formatted it for an intel based mac (GUID Partition, Extended Journaled etc) using my imac . When launching Disk Utility from the system disk and trying to erase/partion the drive, I get the following error message "Disk Utility Internal Error - Disk Utility has lost its connection with the Disk Management Tool...". When connected to my imac using a converter it appears on my desktop. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The macbook in question is a 2006 (white). PLEASE HELP.....

Hi - Thanks for your reply. I have tried that but it still doesn't work. I have had a look around online for the past couple of hours and I found a post that said that newer hard drives can't be recognised by an original 10.4 osx system disk. I would need to find a copy of 10.5 to install OSX on a new hard drive. I dont know if that's true because I dont have a copy of 10.5. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Disk Utility internal error message

I am receiving an error message every time I try to repair permissions on my MB running OS X 10.4:
error:
Disk Utility Internal Error
Disk Utility has lost its connection with the Disk Management Tool and cannot continue. Please quit and re launch Disk Utility.
Tried that several times to no avail. After quittting Disk Utility, system becomes very sluggish and Finder stops responding.
I then booted from the installation CD and ran a Hard Disk integrity check. It checked Ok. Then I tried a permission repair and got the exact same error message quoted above.
Any help?

There was a problem with this a couple of years ago involving iTunes Library Receipt files. See [Mac OS X 10.3: Repair Disk Permissions 'Disk Utility has lost its connection with the Disk Management Tool.|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303132].
It seems unlikely that would surface now, but the suggested fix is worth trying. The article also mentions looking at Console log. Console is in Applications/Utilities.
Also, see this recent thread in the Panther forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1585878

Disk Utility application won't launch

After repairing some errors which appeared on my main drive and which I have now repaired Disk Utility.app no longer launches and I can no longer mount disk images. Can anybody suggest a fix? Everything else in the system seems OK. Running on 10.4.10

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Look for the com. Apple Disk Utility plist file and delete it from the Library/Preference folders. If that doesn't work one of the cache cleaning applications may have corrupted your cache or the Disk Utility application needs to be reloaded. You can extract that file with http://www.charlessoft.com/ 's Pacifist from the installer disk for 10.4 and apply the relevant 10.4.10 combo update:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx10410comboupdateppc.html
If it is the G4 533 that is having trouble. If you have an Intel Mac which is having problems, use this update:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx10410comboupdatev11intel.html

Airport Extreme n: error with USB HDD; Update 5.1 crashes

Ok, seems to be a few bugs for me:
I have no Macs as yet, so operating with an old IBM T30 WinXP laptop until WWDC in June when (hopefully) Steve will announce a new MBP
1) Cannot connect to my 300Gb Maxstor external HDD, keep getting the 'disk needs repair' error with the Airport Utility. It's previously formatted to NTFS, cannot format to FAT32 as the volume is too big according to Windows....
2) I can't update the Utility to 5.1 so can't update the Firmware either. Have tried unsuccessfully to update to 5.1 but when I do, it just crashes when I try to run it so I'm stuck with v5.0 for the meantime.
Any ideas or peeps getting the same from their Windows machines ?
Most important for me is to see the external HD, it's got all my media on it.
Cheers in advance

Hi!
I've found a good tutorial that can help you format harddrives to FAT32, for volumes under 2TB. You have to download a small application called fat32format.exe, and execute it in a command prompt in Win XP. But take a look at the tutorial:
http://www.crapcontrol.com/content.php?article.14
-Martin
PC Windows XP

Disk Utility: Burn error: 0x80020022 The device failed to respond...

I've been working on archiving a ton of video to DVD. I'm using Dual-Layer discs to minimize the amount of physical storage space needed for the finished project. I burned several discs in iDVD in July and regularly received errors. Then the drive suddenly stopped loading any type of media. Anything I inserted would spin briefly and then eject. Repaired permissions and followed steps outlined here and here. Took the Mac back to the store where I bought it (sadly, not an Apple Store - nearest one is 12 hrs away) where naturally it performed flawlessly for the store rep.
So I took it home and resumed burning, now saving as a disc image (ignoring iDVD's warning about the performance of DVDs burned this way) and using Disk Utility, since iDVD didn't seem to be reliable. Burned about 25 discs, error-free, in this fashion, then three days ago, got the error: "Unable to burn “Disc 19.img”. (The device failed to respond properly, unable to recover or retry.)"
Retried the same image, and it worked. Then burned two more in the same fashion with no errors. Today I got the same error again. Logs are identical for each failed burn, except for the time span between certain lines.
Price of DL media being what it is, I'd hate to keep ruining discs if there's something I can do to avoid it. I suppose it could be bad media, but it seems odd that I'd get two bum discs that close together after burning so many without issue. Checked the site and the forums, and there doesn't seem to be any answers. Does anyone have any ideas? (Other than "try a different brand of media." I've got a buttload of these discs and it's too late to return them now.) Even if it just helps determine where the issue lies. Warranty will be up soon, so if it's hardware related, I need to get it taken care of quick.
Media: Philips DVD+R DL 8x
*Drive info:*
HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS21N:
Firmware Revision: SA15
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds
DiscUtility.log:
2009-10-03 08:54:01 -0600: Burning Image “Disc 22.img”
2009-10-03 08:55:15 -0600: Image name: “Disc 22.img”
2009-10-03 08:55:15 -0600: Burn disc in: “HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS21N”
2009-10-03 08:55:15 -0600: Erase disc before burning: No
2009-10-03 08:55:15 -0600: Leave disc appendable: No
2009-10-03 08:55:15 -0600: Verify burned data after burning: Yes
2009-10-03 08:55:15 -0600: Eject disc after burning
2009-10-03 08:55:15 -0600:
2009-10-03 08:55:15 -0600: Preparing data for burn
2009-10-03 08:56:30 -0600: Opening session
2009-10-03 08:56:35 -0600: Opening track
2009-10-03 08:56:35 -0600: Writing track
2009-10-03 09:01:37 -0600: Finishing burn
2009-10-03 09:02:37 -0600: Closing session
2009-10-03 09:02:38 -0600: Finishing burn
2009-10-03 09:38:37 -0600: Burn failed
2009-10-03 09:38:37 -0600: The device failed to respond properly, unable to recover or retry.
2009-10-03 09:38:37 -0600: Additional information can be found in the ~/Library/Logs/DiscRecording.log log file.
2009-10-03 09:38:37 -0600: Unable to burn “Disc 22.img”. (The device failed to respond properly, unable to recover or retry.)
DiscRecording.log:
Disk Utility: Burn started, Sat Oct 3 08:55:15 2009
Disk Utility: Burning to DVD+R DL (CMC MAG D03) media with DAO strategy in HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS21N SA15 via ATAPI.
Disk Utility: Requested burn speed was 47x, actual burn speed is 4x.
Disk Utility: Burn failed, Sat Oct 3 09:37:15 2009
Disk Utility: Burn sense: 4/44/90 Hardware Error,
Disk Utility: Burn error: 0x80020022 The device failed to respond properly, unable to recover or retry.
Message was edited by: Weasel42

I have encountered the same problem. I have a Mac Book Pro from 2007, and it has gone through 3 DVD writers so far, all of which have ruined DVD+R DL disks. I have occasionally been able to burn one, but usually during verify, I get this error message:
Communication to the disk drive failed: 0x8002022
And disk utility fails with a "Invalid B-tree node size" error
Oddly, when I try to burn a disk near capacity (6.5Gb or more) it is more likely to fail than if I burn a smaller disk.
I've been using Memorex DVD+R DL disks, but I have used other brands in the past but they have failed, too. Out of about 50 disks so far, I have had success with about 5.

Disk Utility: Application Fails To Open / Must Force Quit

Hi-
My Disk Utility application opens but hangs on the "Gathering Disk Information" screen and I get the spinning wheel of doom. I let it spin for minutes/hours and it doesn't seem to matter. I have to Force Quit to get out of it.
I searced for a preference file to try trashing it and creating a new one but no luck in my search by name.
Any help would be great. Thanks!

It sounds like it's hanging on the disk check.
Boot up holding command-r keys into your Recovery Volume.
The screen should give you these choices...
Restore from TM backup
Reinstall Mac OS X
Get help online
Disk Utility
Run Disk Utility > Repair Disk, if you get errors run until no errors reported or reports "the disk cannot be fixed".

Can I use the Disk Utility Application to backup bootcamp windows 7?

Can I use the Disk Utility Application to backup Bootcamp that has Windows 7 on it? If I install a new blank drive, I would like to know that using Time Machine I can get the MAC OS back and using the Disk Image Utility I can restore Bootcamp with Windows 7.

NO.
You have to use Windows or a Windows utility.
There are programs that will clone an entire drive (sector) as well.
DU does not though. Paragon does support Boot Camp.

Disk Utility replaced FAT32 with just FAT

I was formatting a flash drive on my Mac as I have before to FAT32 so I can use it on my PC as well. Disk Utility for some reason no longer has FAT32 as an option. It was replaced with FAT, which *****. Anyone else have this issue or a fix?

I first noticed an issue when I formatted some SD cards and the camera could not recognize them. I had to use a different camera that did recognize them but needed to format them to fix them
Camera makers usually recommend using the camera to format the cards.
. I just tried using Disk Utility to format a USB thumbdrive as MS DOS Fat and DU now reports it as being "MS Dos (Fat 16)" and using the "Partition map scheme: GUID Partition Table".
Select the thumb-drive in Disk Utility's left column (select the drive, all the way at the left, not the volume indented below it), click the "Partition" tab, set "Volume Scheme" to "1 Partition", click the "Options" button, choose "Master Boot Record", click "OK", set "Format" to MS-DOS (FAT), set the volume "Nane", then click "Apply".

I am unable to burn any info-photo ect on to a disk. I have a 27" I mac mid 2010 version. I put in a disk, hit burn, it runs for about 3 mins and ejects the disk sayiny there was an error with the drive and will not restart.

am unable to burn any info-photo ect on to a disk. I have a 27" I mac mid 2010 version. I put in a disk, hit burn, it runs for about 3 mins and ejects the disk sayiny there was an error with the drive and will not restart.

The optical drive has probably failed. It's a fairly common thing with these slim SuperDrives. Does it read any discs you put into it? You can try resetting the SMC and pram but I'll be surprised if it helps.
To reset the SMC
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord.
Wait fifteen seconds.
Attach the computer's power cord.
Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on
Resetting PRAM and NVRAM
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.

I've tried to conduct a secure erase with disk utility. I highlight the drive but erase options are not available.

I tried to conduct a secure erase with disk utility. I highlight the drive but there's no place to click "erase."

If you have an SSD, then the best thing you can do it enable System Preferences -> Security -> FileVault, so that any deleted files are just an encrypted jumble of bits to anyone that does not have the encryption key.
And even if you do erase the SSD, it does not work the way you think, and retired SSD zones may have your data, and never see an erase.
This is way keeping the SSD encrypted means retired zones are just encrypted jumble of bits.
If you do NOT have an SSD, is it possible you are trying to erase your boot disk while you are actually using your boot disk? Disk Utility will not allow you to do that either.

Cross Post:: Disk Utility Application - Errors with USB Drive

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for