Disk Error "Unable to Unmount Disk"

I am trying to make a Macbook Pro ready to sell. I have booted the system into Restore Mode by holding the Command R keys. Then I tried to erase the harddrive. It came back and said it failed with error - Unnable to Unmount DIsk. Does anyone know what to do?

• Try erasing just the Volume, Macintosh_HD or whatever you have renamed it, instead of the entire Physical Drive.
• Do you have a Time Machine Backup? After 10.7.4, there will be a Recovery_HD on it as well as the one on your MacBook Internal drive. That can be used as an alternate boot Drive, then you can erase the entire internal drive. But you need to put something back on it so the new User can do something -- otherwise they need to take it to the Apple Store to get some Mac OS X or other installed before they can do anything.

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Ludelete error "Unable to unmount file systems"

Trying to delete a BE from a Solaris 10 10/08 system:
# cat /etc/release
                      Solaris 10 10/08 s10s_u6wos_07b SPARC
           Copyright 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
                        Use is subject to license terms.
                            Assembled 27 October 2008
# lustatus
Boot Environment           Is       Active Active    Can    Copy
Name                       Complete Now    On Reboot Delete Status
sol10_1008_stage2          yes      yes    yes       no     -
sol10_1008_SAPC20090813    yes      no     no        yes    -
# ludelete -n sol10_1008_SAPC20090813
ERROR: Unable to unmount file systems for boot environment <sol10_1008_SAPC20090813>.
Unable to delete boot environment.
#There's a bunch of junk in /.alt/.tmp* and /a/:
# zfs list
NAME                                                                         USED AVAIL REFER MOUNTPOINT
rpool                                                                       65.5G 1.46G 23.5K /rpool
rpool/ROOT                                                                  45.5G 1.46G    18K /tmp/mnt
rpool/ROOT/sol10_1008_SAPC20090813                                          6.38G 1.46G 30.1G /.alt.tmp.b-LMc.mnt/
rpool/ROOT/sol10_1008_SAPC20090813/zoneds                                   6.37G 1.46G    18K /.alt.tmp.b-LMc.mnt//zoneds
rpool/ROOT/sol10_1008_SAPC20090813/zoneds/dmgrdv01-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813 19.5K 1.46G 19.5K /.alt.tmp.b-LMc.mnt//zoneds/dmgrdv01-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813
rpool/ROOT/sol10_1008_SAPC20090813/zoneds/dmgrpl01-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813 19.5K 1.46G 19.5K /.alt.tmp.b-LMc.mnt//zoneds/dmgrpl01-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813
rpool/ROOT/sol10_1008_SAPC20090813/zoneds/empdev01-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813 3.76G 1.46G 3.76G /a/zoneds/empdev01-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813
rpool/ROOT/sol10_1008_SAPC20090813/zoneds/tst01-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813     19.5K 1.46G 19.5K /.alt.tmp.b-LMc.mnt//zoneds/tst01-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813
rpool/ROOT/sol10_1008_SAPC20090813/zoneds/tst02-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813     19.5K 1.46G 19.5K /.alt.tmp.b-LMc.mnt//zoneds/tst02-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813
rpool/ROOT/sol10_1008_SAPC20090813/zoneds/tst03-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813     18.5K 1.46G 18.5K /.alt.tmp.b-LMc.mnt//zoneds/tst03-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813
rpool/ROOT/sol10_1008_SAPC20090813/zoneds/wasdv01-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813   19.5K 1.46G 19.5K /.alt.tmp.b-LMc.mnt//zoneds/wasdv01-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813
rpool/ROOT/sol10_1008_SAPC20090813/zoneds/waspl01-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813   1024M 1.46G 1024M /a/zoneds/waspl01-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813
rpool/ROOT/sol10_1008_SAPC20090813/zoneds/webdv01-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813   1.62G 1.46G 1.62G /a/zoneds/webdv01-sol10_1008_SAPC20090813
rpool/ROOT/sol10_1008_stage2                                                39.1G 1.46G 37.9G /
rpool/ROOT/sol10_1008_stage2@sol10_1008_SAPC20090813                        1.20G      - 30.1G -
rpool/dump                                                                  8.03G 1.46G 8.03G -
rpool/swap                                                                  8.00G 9.46G    16K -
rpool/zones                                                                 3.94G 1.46G    20K /rpool/zones
rpool/zones/eita                                                            3.94G 1.46G    18K /rpool/zones/eita
rpool/zones/eita/iamdv01                                                      18K 1.46G    18K /zones/eita/iamdv01
rpool/zones/eita/ldapdv01                                                   3.94G 1.46G 3.94G /zones/eita/ldapdv01
#"zoneds" does not exist, so I am guessing that is the problem. I'm wondering if it is safe for me to delete them.
Mark

Hmmm... I haven't run into this with ZFS.
For UFS, this should work:
luumount -f sol10_1008_SAPC20090813
Alternative to that, you could do a force delete of the BE (ludelete -f sol10_1008_SAPC20090813) and remove the ZFS entries manually.
I have also resorted to hand-editing the zone configuration files, but that's not exactly a recommended practice ;-)

Mac OS X v10.5: Disk Utility error "unable to unmount disk."

Hi,
I waited for the first update to 10.5 before buying it. When the update came out I installed 10.5 and then the update as recommended in the Software Update menu. Everything seemed to be running fine, so I purchased all of the Adobe updates to CS3 that I wanted. I didn't want to install the new system and the new updates until they had a chance to shake out the bugs. Installed new InDesign, PhotoShop, and Acrobat. The computer ran well for a short while, then seemed sluggish so I checked on Disk Utilities and the repair permissions seemed to stall about a third of the way through. Then, I chose the "verify disk" option and the disk failed! Oh My God....no, no, no!!!, I thought, but it failed.
So, I put the 10.5 system dvd back in the drive and ran Disk Utilities from there. Same thing happened with permissions that happened before. So, I stopped that and then ran "repair disk." It ran the program but said it could not complete the process because the disk would not unmount.
I've read here of all sorts of problems with Disk Utilities on 10.5. Is it possible that these problems are related to the Disk Utilities on 10.5.
I'm tempted to install 10.5 on the other, second internal drive I have. Any thoughts on that idea would be very much appreciated. Actually, any help on any of this would be very much appreciated.
Best regards,
Patrick

OK... I didn't understand that it could take that long to repair permmissions. It didn't seem to take that long with 10.4, but OK.
So, I ran disk permissions and after five minutes or so it finished and said the following:
Warning: SUID file "FrameworksInstall.framework/versions/A/Resources//Locum" has been modified and will not be repaired.
It lists nine different SUID files. I have no idea what those are.
What next?
Patrick
Message was edited by: Patrick Murphy

Please Help, After Kernel panic restart failed- apple swirl(6 hrs), SafeMode-failed, SUMode-sucess. Could not unmount disk to erase. Repair permissions-multiple fail errors:unable to set permissions on... unable to set owner and group...

Please Help, I deleted an account that was the same name as the administrator but was not the administrator. Also a samsung galaxy s phone was charging through the usb port.
I closed out a program and got a message that the temp file could not be stored/saved.
Then a Kernel panic message occurred and restart was necessary.
The restart resulted in the screen with the apple logo and a continous swirl for 6+hrs,
Attempted Safe Mode start up, unsuccessful,
Single User Mode-sucess.
Ran $ fsck_hfs -rfd /dev/disk0s2 Ran several times repairs made with one which remained. something about a node.
No change in start up attempts
Started with install CD matching current OS 10.6
Ran Disk Utility Repair Permissions resulting in multiple errors:
One line/error
Warning: SUID file /////Ardagent has been modified and will not be repaired
144 lines/errors of this type of series of lines
Group permissions differ on...should be drwxr-xr-x, they are -rw-r--r-- .
permissions differ on...should be drwxr-xr-x, they are -rw-r--r-- .
unable to set owner and group...error 22: Invalid Argument
unable to set permissions on...error 22: Invalid Argument
Ran Repair Disk, result:
Error: Could not unmount disk (in red)
Ran Verify Disk, result:
The volume HD appears to be ok (in green)
Next I attempted to erase the dist to start from scratch since I have data backed up on time machine.
Error message box
Volume Erase failed
Volume Erase failed with error:
Could not unmount disk
I am looking to solve without buying DiskWarrior unless only resort.

So it looks like solved it for now I will update later. What I did was after starting from the install cd for the 10.6 system I ran from terminal ran:
diskutil disablejournaling /dev/disk0s2
diskutil disableownership /dev/disk0s2
diskutil repairPermissions /dev/disk0s2
then i closed terminal and then when to disk utility and chose to repair disk with results all was fine. Then ran repair permissions and got similar results from terminal function next I erased disk and then chose to restore from time machine and it is now restoring! yea!

I have Os Lion on my mac book pro, im not a fan of this because i cant run many games, i have the disk for snow leopard my machine came with but i get a error saying "unable to unmount disc" when i try erase my hard drive i just want OS SL back any help?

I have Os Lion on my mac book pro, im not a fan of this because i cant run many games, i have the disk for snow leopard my machine came with but i get a error saying "unable to unmount disc" when i try erase my hard drive i just want OS SL back any help?
many thanks Carl.

You must boot from another drive in order to erase the system drive.
Try starting up with Snow Leopard DVD inserted and C depress. That should get you booted from the DVD. Then start Disk Utitlity from DVD and erase the disk then you should be able to install Snow Leopard.
Remember that everything will be removed from the disk when you erase it and install Snow Leopard so backup first.
Allan

Time Machine error: could not backup, Disk Utility Error: Couldn't unmount disk

I recently bought a WD for Mac 1TB external drive which has been set up as Time Machine. This was as a result of my internal hard drive failing and being replaced. Time machine has worked a treat for last 3 weeks, but today I get a message:
Time Machine could not complete the backup.
Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder.
So I go into disk utilities to verify the disk and I get this message:
Verifying volume “My Passport for Mac”
Checking file systemError: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
I click on the Repair Disk and get this message:
Verify and Repair volume “My Passport for Mac”
Volume repair complete.Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.Error: Couldn’t unmount disk.
last backup was at 3.53pm today.
Any ideas?

Why would I need to reboot the whole computer?
However, I did shut it down and restart it and the problem is fixed.

Question: Unable to unmount disk to reformat My Book for Aperture export

Hello,
I upgraded to Aperture 3.01. I had never exported an Aperture library to an external hard drive before. Aperture 3 would not recognize the My Book Essentials (1 TB) for export. I cannot unmount the disk when trying to reformat from MS-DOS (FAT) to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I went on the Western Digital website to download driver updates and that hasn't helped either.
Thanks,
Steve K

Same exact issue. Macbook Pro w/500SSD. Booting from the recovery partition, unable to modify partitions. No firmware password (if that mattered) etc. Had 2 partitions, now reformatting for single partition and error reads:
Partition failed
Partition failed with the error:
Couldn't unmount disk.
-pr

I'm trying to backup a my harddrive with disk utility but I'm getting an error Unable to create Backup.dmg" (input/output error). Is there any other way to save my data? I believe my hard drive is failing or corrupt file. I can't boot up. Grey screen

I'm trying to backup a my hard drive with disk utility but I'm getting an error Unable to create Backup.dmg" (input/output error). Is there any other way to save my data? I believe my hard drive is failing or corrupt file. I can't boot up. Grey screen and spinning wheel. I've tried everything https://discussions.apple.com/message/20580424#20580424
any help will be greatly appreciated.

Check here. Also have you done a TimeMachine back up?
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

When I try to use the internal hard drive as a scratch disk I get this error "unable to set scratch disk- the selected directory is on write protect or non-writable media. Any ideas on how to fix this. It only happens in fcp.

When I try to use the internal hard drive as a scratch disk I get this error "unable to set scratch disk- the selected directory is on write protect or non-writable media. Any ideas on how to fix this. It only happens in fcp.

By internal, I assume you're referring to your systems (boot) drive. Is it, by chance, a partitioned dive?
Also…although many people successfully use their systems drives as scratch disks, over time you'll have better results using a dedicated drive for your media.
Good luck.
Russ

911... Unable to unmount disk! My external drive is 499G, the available space is 73G and it's empty!

Hello dear support community,
It all started when few weeks ago I plugged my external drive and nothing from the data would open. Then I got mad and never used it again. Now few days ago, when I plugged it into my Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10 it just went crazy! The full capacity is 499G. I go to "get info" and the available capacity is 73 and the external drive is empty. I have movies and videos of the capacity of 425G. Where did all that information go? I am sure I did not delete any of its content. I even copied the disk on my desktop but I can't open it either. It tell me: "you don't have the permission to see its content" And Also why when I go to "disk utility" to erase or repair the external disk, it shows me "unable to unmount disk" I would like to know what I shall do please! The Files are empty and I want to be able to recover my data and use the disk like I used to. Oh by the way, when I clicked in verify, it told me: "disk needs to be repaired" and that didn't work either.
Thank you for kindly help!
Regards!

Restart. That should free whatever it's showing as an open file.

Disk Utility: "Repairing disk failed with error Could not unmount disk"

Disk Utility: “Repairing disk failed with error Could not unmount disk”
Hi. I’ve been experiencing some mildly squirrelly behaviour with my system (vide infra) so decided to repair the two internal hard drives on my computer. The primary hard drive is a 74.53 GB ST380013AS that came with the system; its S.M.A.R.T. Status is “verified” and Disk Utility repairs permissions just fine. However, the second internal drive (Maxtor 6L250S0, 233.76 GB, lower Bay, Journaled HFS+), despite being verified by S.M.A.R.T. status and apparently running OK, fails to unmount when I ask Disk Utility to repair it- I get the above error message in red. I have repaired this disk with DiskWarrior (v3.03) and all appears to run AOK. Can anyone tell me why I cannot get Disk Utility to run on this secondary (eg, non-startup) disk? I have tried many times and the error is reproducible. Thank you!
G5 1.6GHz PPC, 1 GB RAM, running OS 10.4.6

Thank you for these useful links!
For others who have this issue, I also found very helpful advice given to this question on the MacFixIt forums by MicroMat Tech3 at
http://www.macfixitforums.com/php/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=tiger&Number=76265 1
He said: "Use the lsof command to find the open files on a volume that does not unmount or eject. Open Terminal, located in /Applications/Utilities. Type: sudo lsof | grep Leave a space after the p in grep, then drag the icon of the problem volume to the Terminal window. The pathname for the volume is pasted in for you; press Return. Then enter your administrative password at the prompt, and press Return."
At this point, one now has a list of the open files/processes on the volume that will not unmount. You can use Activity Monitor to terminate these processes if you wish, and then the volume will unmount as it should.

Verify volume failed with error Could not unmount disk!!

Im having weird things with my fw lacie 200gb. I come across these weird white cubes which pop up in the search mode in finder. So i tried to repair permissions of the Lacie disc and i get this sign
Verify volume failed with error Could not unmount disk
What is this?
What are those white cubes in the finder?

Hi gizeh12!
Are you able to verify the volume of the disc (not permissions)? It could possibly be some bad/corrupt sectors on the drive. Is it a white box with a dashed line outline? Does the file size show the accurate value in "Get Info" when you click on the file?
Are those files somewhere else as well?

Error- "Unable to capture video..."

What is the solution to allow video capture in the preferred WMV mode. I know AVI mode works but compression sucks. Plus, my laptop was always able to capture vid in WMV until recently.
Now i get this error!!!!!!!!!!! Pls advice on this error:
"Unable to capture video. Pls check hard disk space and the following are set correctly: video/ audio compressor"
I know I am not the only one with this issue. yes, already tried uninstalling/reinstalling drivers and software fron the Creative website.
THanks a lot for solutions!

Addl info
1) When using Skype, Camera and Mic work fine.
2) When I get error - the camera view on my screen balcks out

SGEN: error: Unable to load one or more of the requested types. Retrieve the LoaderExceptions property for more information.

Hi,
I appollogize if this post is off topic. I have problem wiht publish WebApp MVC.
I have website (MVC) with one Web reference. Build and run in VS working. But when I tried to publish to disk I get error:
SGEN: error: Unable to load one or more of the requested types. Retrieve the LoaderExceptions property for more information.
I have VS2013 Profesional with all updates and Windows 8.1.
If I remove web reference then publishing working. Where can be a problem? Thanks.

@Marek Bober,
Thanks for sharing the solution back to here.
Best regards,
Barry
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Time Machine Error Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while ...

Hi,
I've looked all around the forums for the answer to this one and I'm still unable to get it. So I'm getting this error "Time Machine Error Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while linking files on the backup volume". This started happening after I turned off and on FileVault. I was having a problem with it and turning it on an off got rid of that problem, but created this one. I've noticed that when I shut down the computer and filevault accesses the TM hard drive, it can back up.....but then when I'm logged on, or I want it to back up I get the error. I've tried fixing the drive, removing the in progress file and resetting the PRAM (i think that's what it was called). I'm starting to run out of options and have no other drive to back all this info on to reformat it.
I really don't want to loose all my stuff.
Please help!
Daria

nautical_stars wrote:
Hi,
I've looked all around the forums for the answer to this one and I'm still unable to get it. So I'm getting this error "Time Machine Error Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while linking files on the backup volume". This started happening after I turned off and on FileVault.
Usually this message happens when you replace an external disk that was being backed-up by Time Machine with another one of the same name.
Since File Vault works by making a sparse image of your home folder, and it's treated as a volume just as a HD is, that's probably what's happening here: the new sparse image has the same name as the old one, but isn't the old one.
First, consider whether you really need File Vault. It doesn't work well with Time Machine: you can't see or restore individual items in your home folder, and it only gets backed-up when you log out.
If you have a lot of other things, say photos, videos, and/or music that don't need to be encrypted, perhaps there's an easier way to secure our sensitive data. You can create an encrypted disk image via Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder), then copy the sensitive documents into it. Then the rest of your home folder is backed-up normally, and individual items can be viewed and restored in the usual fashion.
But if you do continue using FileVault, you may have to use TM to delete all backups of it, via the instructions in item #12 of the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum. That should then allow the new version of your encrypted home folder to be backed-up by TM.

Disk Error "Unable to Unmount Disk"

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