Disk utility/external hard drive failure

I have a MacBook that I got about two years ago and a Western Digital portable external hard drive (WD Passport) that's almost as old. I keep almost all of my music files on my external hard drive and then play them through iTunes. About a month ago my external hard drive stopped working. I plug the hard drive into my computer and the blue light comes on. It even shines brighter for several seconds as (it appears) the hard drive attempts to mount. But every time I do this the blue light then becomes dimmer and the drive never mounts. When the hard drive is plugged in and I open up the Disk Utility application the drive shows up. When I try to manually mount the disk it tries and fails. When I click "Verify Disk" it tries and then an error message pops up saying "Phase 1-Read FAT, Unable to read FAT (Input/output error)". I've read that the PC disk utility application may be better at reading drives so, once I'm in a place where I have access to a PC, I'm going to give that a try. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

I am assuming that you're using the Passport in the same USB port that you always have. I ask this because some people complain about USB devices working on one port but not the other, as they claim that one port may put out more voltage then the other. If this is happening in your case it would kinda make since as when you plug in the Passport all that is required is the logic board power then it will start to spin up the disk which will pull down the power and that may be why you're getting a dimmed light on the Passport.
Just try the other USB port to verify, I know it sounds silly but it's worth a shot.

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Hard drive is missing. I can boot from the cd but when running the disk utility, no hard drive shows up.

Hard drive is missing. I can boot from the cd but when running the disk utility, no hard drive shows up.
This is a problem that suddenly appeared.

Please post a screenshot of Disk Utility that shows what you mean. Be careful not to include any private information.
Start a reply to this message. Click the camera icon in the toolbar of the editing window and select the image file to upload it. You can also include text in the reply.

I use only two channels, have plenty of memory in my hard disk, and external hard drive, no effects, and still having problems with Garage band. Giving messages as you have too many live channels

I'm frustrated, I am doing everything you recommend, I use only two channels, have plenty of memory in my hard disk, and external hard drive, no effects, and still having problems with Garage band. Giving messages as you ave too many live channels, the disk is slow prepare...can you help?

Quote from: Richard on 15-November-07, 20:33:05
tornado2003,
What you need to do is boot into Safe Mode. Then delete the VGA Drivers.
After that boot normally and install the latest nVidia ForceWare Drivers
Take Care,
Richard
i guess you missed that:
Quote from: tornado2003 on 15-November-07, 17:26:52
ive tryed booting xp in safe mode but it just freezes after it loads up a couple of needed files .
ive even formatted my hard drive and tryed installing a fresh xp on it but it just keeps locking up when it gets to the "starting windows setup" .(this is just after it loads all the drivers from the xp cd)

Time Machine backups corrupt or external hard drive failure?

My goal today was to upgrade my MacBook Pro's HD, and to restore my system from my latest Time Machine backup which resides on an external hard drive. I installed the new hard drive, formatted it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and selected Restore System From Backup from Utilities. The system restore was five minutes form finishing when I received an error that the system restore could not be completed, and that I should restart my machine and try again. I did as instructed, but once the system restore process began, the screen went gray, and I was told that the Snow Leopard install could not be completed.
Before beginning the process a third time, I ran Disk Utility from the Snow Leopard install disc and attempted to verify and repair the external (Time Machine) hard drive. The Time Machine hard drive could not be verified, nor could it be repaired. I popped in the old hard drive into my MacBook Pro, booted Snow Leopard, and ran Disk Utility, and tried again repairing the Time Machine hard drive. Here is the log of the error I received:
2010-12-29 21:14:30 -0800: Verify and Repair volume “Time Machine”
2010-12-29 21:14:30 -0800: Starting repair tool:
2010-12-29 21:14:31 -0800: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2010-12-29 21:14:31 -0800: Checking extents overflow file.
2010-12-29 21:14:31 -0800: Checking catalog file.
2010-12-29 21:20:22 -0800: Invalid node structure
2010-12-29 21:20:22 -0800: The volume Time Machine could not be verified completely.
2010-12-29 21:20:22 -0800: Volume repair complete.
2010-12-29 21:20:22 -0800: Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
2010-12-29 21:20:22 -0800: Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
2010-12-29 21:20:22 -0800:
2010-12-29 21:20:22 -0800: Disk Utility stopped repairing “Time Machine”: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
Do these errors indicate that my Time Machine backups located in the Backups.backupdb are corrupt, or is the external hard drive corrupt and failing?
The Time Machine backups are on a Maxtor OneTouch, and from what I've read, they're prone to an early demise. I've also recently noticed that my Time Machine backups started slowing. For example, I would plug in my external hard drive and if 1.3GB needed to be backed up, it would stall at 300 MB before jumping to 700 MB, stall again, then jump to 900 MB. That could be a sign of a failing hard drive, correct? If the external hard drive is failing, I can purchase a new eternal hard drive then copy the Backups.backupdb to the new hard drive, correct?
However, if Backups.backupdb is corrupt, then from what I understand, I would have to start fresh. I would prefer to not start fresh unless there's no other option, as I would be losing almost three years worth of Time Machine backups.
Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks!

ali_baba7 wrote:
2010-12-29 21:20:22 -0800: Invalid node structure
2010-12-29 21:20:22 -0800: Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
It's possible a heavy-duty 3rd-party utility such as +Disk Warrior+ can fix that. It's about $100, and there's no guarantee, but it's probably a good investment for the future.
Do these errors indicate that my Time Machine backups located in the Backups.backupdb are corrupt, or is the external hard drive corrupt and failing?
The structure of the file system is damaged.
That may have been caused by the disk beginning to fail, but there's no way to tell for sure until you erase and reformat the disk and try to use it.
I've also recently noticed that my Time Machine backups started slowing. For example, I would plug in my external hard drive and if 1.3GB needed to be backed up, it would stall at 300 MB before jumping to 700 MB, stall again, then jump to 900 MB. That could be a sign of a failing hard drive, correct?
It could, but it could also be whatever's wrong with the file structure.
If the external hard drive is failing, I can purchase a new eternal hard drive then copy the Backups.backupdb to the new hard drive, correct?
No. You can't copy corrupted backups. They're all linked together, like a database, so if anything's damaged, the whole set is suspect, and can't be copied.
There are a couple of options:
If the disk is physically ok, and the directory damage was recent, you might be able to restore from an earlier backup. But since you noticed problems some time ago, the damage may not be recent.
Or, you might be able to get up and running by just installing OSX from your SL Install disk (and the 10.6.5 "combo" update). You'll be missing whatever wasn't restored in that last 5 minutes or so. Things are restored in the same order they're listed by the Finder, so it will be the last things in the last user account. You should be able to figure out where it stopped, check or delete the very last file (likely incomplete) and selectively restore as many of the remaining things as you can, via the "Star Wars" display.
Just to make things more difficult, if the disk is failing, the more you use it, the more likely it is to get worse or fail completely.
So your safest bet may be to install OSX, then download and install the 10.6.5 "combo" update. Info and download available at: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1324 Be sure to do a +Repair Permissions+ via Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder) afterwards. Then recover what you can.

FCE Express is writing render files to startup disk not external hard drive

Hi
I'm using FCE Express HD 3.5.1, with a MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, with 2 GB memory.
I'm using a Lacie big disk extreme as my scratch disk, and FCE is set up to write all render files to this. However, I noticed that my startup disk was becoming full and realised that FCE is writing render files to the startup disk not the external hard drive.
I've quit, shut down, etc...
Any ideas what is going on?
Many thanks
Helen

Whenever FCE is behaving strangely, one thing to try is trashing the preferences. Here's how:
http://www.fcpbook.com/Misc1.html

OK to copy Win7 (Home Premium SP1) disk to external hard drive?

The MICROSOFT SOFTWARE LICENSE TERMS for Windows 7 Home Premium SP1
say:
10. BACKUP COPY.
a. Media.If you acquired the
software on a disc or other media, you may make one backup copy of the media. You may use it only to reinstall the software on the licensed computer.
That tells about backing up the installation media.
What about "backing up" the Windows disk itself, by copying a mirror image it to an (portable) external hard drive, similar to what's mentioned in
According to Malmition's November 12, 2012 Making a copy of Windows disk - Microsoft technical link request
post on this forum:
I work with an engineer that feels he constantly needs to restore his windows 7 drive to its original state.
He does this by have a copy of his c drive - it is not an image and he is not using any imaging software - just a flat copy of his c drive.
When we wants to start over he formats his drive, boot from a thumb drive, and copies the c drive back.
This is working fine for him.
I've watched him do the copy back and forth so I see he's not using anything to image like ghost, acronis, etc
I thought you couldn't just copy your windows drive?
I'd like to do something similar.
Is that allowed by the Win7 Home Premium SW license terms?
Thank you.
- Russell J (USA)

Sorry to say: Try to solve real problems.
Major drawback: You have not specified what license you have. Specification Win7 Home Premium is not enough.
1. Do not compare installation content on DVD and that of on hard disk. Installation disk contains packed files for your Windows. Sector by sector copy of HDD is NOT the same as what you can find on install DVD. From the point of law, the backup use (native,3rd
pty or by DD sector by sector) is legal, if you use it for restoration of Windows on HDD for the same computer, if you have ONE license.
2. No one could object the situation, when you are backing multiple times (full, incremental,... backup)
3. You cannot discuss c: drive only, because there is another partition that is important, namely hidden system partition. (Minimum of two partitions). License should cover the whole disk, not boot partition only.
4. There are special rules for OEM, multilicenses, ... I have created system image that I distributed on many computers, because of I used special licenses that allow for multiple use in lab environment (Campus License, MSDN Academic Alliance, Dreamspark)
Regards
Milos

External hard drive failure

My external hard drive that has been successfully holding my Time Machine backup failed - simply died and will not power up. The drive manufacturer is offering to fix the drive, but the first thing they will do is delete all data. I assume this means that all prior backups are gone forever? In other words, if I buy a new drive and start a new Time Machine backup, I cannot get a version of any file older than the current?
Has anyone had success replacing a failed power supply on a LaCie drive? This drive has all of my data and I am reluctant to put the drive into stranger's hands...

mulkmon wrote:
My external hard drive that has been successfully holding my Time Machine backup failed - simply died and will not power up. The drive manufacturer is offering to fix the drive, but the first thing they will do is delete all data. I assume this means that all prior backups are gone forever? In other words, if I buy a new drive and start a new Time Machine backup, I cannot get a version of any file older than the current?
that's right.
Has anyone had success replacing a failed power supply on a LaCie drive? This drive has all of my data
and I am reluctant to put the drive into stranger's hands...
replacing a power supply is a trivial operation but if the drive itself failed that will not help you.

External Hard Drive Failures after iMac internal drive replaced

I was one of those lucky ppl who had to have my internal 1TB Seagate HDD replaced due to the recall. It was replaced on Friday.
After the drive was replaced (with another Seagate, ***?), I cloned my previous system back to the new drive (restoring from Time Machine required me to re-download Lion, which required me to re-download to a newer version of Snow Leopard, and just, Oi, vey, I used my clone).
I then had to create another bootcamp partition, and after that, I restored my previous bootcamp from an image backup with Winclone.
The next morning, my Time Machine external backup drive (a Maxtor OneTouch) makes horrible fluttering and crunching noises and cannot be found via disk utility, certainly doesn't mount to the desktop. I figure it just coincidentally failed and attached a new drive (a different OneTouch) for backup.
While Time Machine is performing an initial backup to this new drive (will take 10 hrs), I try to move a few media files to another external media drive (LaCie 1TB). I receive a couple of error -36s on a few particular files, so I figure I should wait for the Time Machine to backup and then diagnose the media drive.
The next morning (after 10 hr backup is finished), I have a stop-sign error that a disk was unmounted improperly (the LaCie media drive). The drive cannot be seen in disk utility or on a completely different MBP running Snow Leopard. It's spinning up, but it can't be read.
Only thing I can think to do is reinstall 10.8.2 over top the cloned system, make sure that the recovery partition was recreated and working.
This can't be a coinicidence, right? At this point, I'm afraid to keep my external storage drives and clone attached to the iMac, but I'm afraid to not have TM drive attached. Anyone know where to start diagnosing the problem?
1. Could a new internal drive be the problem, hardware wise?
2. Could the lack of an initial recovery partition or the setting up of a bootcamp partition have these sorts of consequences?
3. Could the problem be from restoring a clone?

Well, it is a LaCie-packaged adapter, some version of that model. The hub is on the mac mini inspired line of LaCie HDs (http://www.lacie.com/company/news/news.htm?id=10269). I've had it for 6 yrs, and the hub is still going. Other drives have been running from the hub without issue for all that time (and still are). There is no hissing, and the display light indicates the hub is getting power.
You think it's time for a new hub?
The internal switchout is just a coincidence?
(Basically, I'm not a hardware expert. Does anyone know if an internal drive or internal sensor/connection problem can cause externals to fail or blowout a controller? I'm waiting on a drive dock to arrive—I'll know more whether these are HD failures or chip failures after that. Both drives showed normal-seeming power use via their display lights.)

Disk Utility and Hard Drive replacement on MacBook.

I am preparing to upgrade the hard drive on my MacBook and I was reading this document http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacBook13inch_HardDriveDIY.pdf and a the end after installing the hard drive and preparing to install Mac OS X the directions state the following: "Leave the Disk Utility application open, and restore the backed up files from the image you created before removing the hard drive.". I think that this would be a much quicker option then having to re install every application and copy over back up user data. My question is how do I create an image of the contents of the hard drive to use once I upgrade the drive?

I'd just clone (make a complete bootable backup) the internal to a backup external drive, swap out the internal, then clone back. That way you wouldn't have to do any installations.
To backup (clone) your main drive, you can use the donationware CarbonCopy Cloner @ http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html , or the shareware SuperDuper @ http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html , or the freeware IBackup @ http://www.grapefruit.ch/iBackup/index.html, or the Restore function of Disk Utility included in OS X.

External hard drive failure. please help

I am on tiger 10.4.10 and my external 500 gb buffalo hard drive is NOT mounting in os x. When I go to disk utility it tells me I have no files. I verify disk says its ok.
what can I do to get my files back?

Which computer? If the HD is FireWire, see http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=88338
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20041221081432908

Can't Start from Install disk or external Hard Drive

I've installed an operating system on a external WD 120Gb hard drive. I am unable to start up from the WD Hard Drive or the Snow Leopard install disk, either by selection them from the Startup disk or by pressing 'OPTION' at startup. Every time one of these is selected, the computer starts from the MacBook internal hard Drive.
I have installed the operating system on an Iomega 1 Tb external and it doesn't show up on the Startup disk or when I start using the option key.
I have reinstalled the operating system on both the MacBook Pro Hard drive and he 120Gb portable.
I have a 2Gb SimpleTech Dual Pro Drive, which I can see and start up by, using the Option key at system boot.
I have a 500Gb Iomega I am using for my TIme Machine.
I can't figure why I am unable to start up using the Software DVD.

Thanks for the tip. In the end I combined bits and pieces of what I had read on other peope's messages, what worked for me was putting the frozen computer to sleep with the power button and then waking it up with both the mouse and the C key held down at the same time. Individually nothing happened but with both the CD popped out.
Thanks again,
Jason

Disk Utility formats Hard Drives as Logical Volume Group

I just replaced a hard drive which had died in my Mac Pro which has OS X 10.9.5. To format the new 3TB hard drive I went to Disk Utility. I used "Erase" in its fastest form and the drive was formatted with the Type: Logical Volume Group.
I remember this was a problem a few years ago when I first put hard drives in this computer. I think it was considered a bug in the Disk Utility in OS X 10.8 that it would automatically format drives greater than 2 TB as Logical Volume Group. The solution for me was to restart the computer with my OS X 10.6 disk and use the Disk Utility in that to reformat the drive. I never really understood why Logical Volume Group was a problem but I just obeyed what the wise ones of the Internet had to say.
So, now I am wondering if I should reformat my new Hard Drive as GUID using my OS X 10.6 optical disk again? If it was a bug in the Disk Utility of OS X 10.8 then why is it not fixed in the Disk Utility of OS X 10.9? Is there an actual problem with having disks format formatted as Logical Volume Group? Is this now just Apple's way of doing things?
Thank you.

keg55 wrote:
You could do your reformat using your 10.6 DVD. That's a decision that's up to you.
Not every bug in a previous OS gets fixed in a new OS.
I don't believe CoreStorage (Logical Volume Group) causes any sort of issues. Whenever one encrypts their Macintosh HD, the format is converted to CoreStorage. Fusion Drives are using CoreStorage and now Yosemite converts portables (laptops) to CoreStorage during the install process. As far as Yosemite is concerned, Apple seems to have gone the route of CoreStorage for portables. Even during the Setup on a portable, FileVault is offered with the default of YES being checked. So, if a customer isn't paying attention and continues with the install, they could encrypt their drive without knowing to uncheck the default checkbox.
Thank you for your reply.
I have decided to reformat my new hard drive using my 10.6 disk. I like being able to split it up into more than one volume if need be.
I understand that not every bug in a previous OS gets fixed, but this strikes me as being really a very large bug, so I think it would be good if Apple addressed it.
It is useful to know about Yosemite's behaviour. When I upgrade to Yosemite I will be a bit more prepared. In fact my MacBook Pro has FileVault on with Mavericks so Yosemite won't change anything there.

Canceled making a new image in Disk Utility, lost hard drive space

Hi,
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Thanks

I restarted the computer, and it did not change. I ran all the terminal commands on that website, but nothing fishy came up. After i ran the disk usage command (sudo du -cxhd 1 /) it totalled up to 51 gigs of data. I have an 80 gig HD (79.68gigs) which should leave 29 gigs available. Finder says i have 24.17 gigs available, so I am missing some. maybe this is virtual memory being used? It seems like it happened after the image though. Thanks

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Best not, as files may be moved and therefore may upset the backup.

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Disk utility/external hard drive failure

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