External HD doesn't mount

Hi!
I have a replacement Ultramax HDD terabyte external drive that doesn't mount when I plug it in or when I start/restart. I've followed Dale Weisshaar's suggestions for a related post, including repairing disc permissions, updating to most recent sw (10.5.4) and resetting FW ports by disconnecting and powering down.
The external unit is spinning and has power, but does not appear in Disc Utility.
In the interval since the power cord and controller on the original teradrive crashed, I've gone 35 days without backup of medically important data. Can someone offer thoughts, please?
Thanks for the help.

Just to let everybody know that P-RAM reset resolved this problem.

Similar Messages

External HD doesn't mount after 10.5.6 update!

I'm sorry to say that all was OK until.. I updated OS to 10.5.6 two days ago.. and my external 1T Seagate Freeagent Desktop for Mac stopped mounting on Firewire.
It will mount on USB, it will mount on FW when Mac is restarted, but will not when you boot up after your system was shut down.
I tried to reformat, repair the disk, repair permissions and nothing worked.
Somebody posted that you should disconnect your Firewire stuff before OS update? Is this correct?
Can anyone please suggest anything as I don't want to end up having this HD hooked with USB...
Alternatively how can I revert to the OS before the update? Is restoring from Time Machine the only solution?
Also, the following messages show up after repairing permissions:
"System/Library/Filesystems/AppleShare/afpLoad" has been modified and will not be repaired
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/setregion" has been modified and will not be repaired
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Install.framework/
Versions/A/Resources/runner" has been modified and will not be repaired
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/Printers/IOMs/LPRIOM.plugin/
Contents/MacOS/LPRIOMHelper" has been modified and will not be repaired
Should I worry about any of them?

Just to let everybody know that P-RAM reset resolved this problem.

External disk doesn't mount

I have a La Cie external 200 Gb disk which the system profiler recognises, and which Disk Utility recognises as a DEVICE only. It does not show the disk name ie the directory below the device icon. I can't drag the device icon to the repair box on the right and the verify/repair boxes are all greyed out. I have tried Drive Genius and at one point tried Norton Utilities 6 (which is what probably made it vanish!). Any pointers would be welcome!!
Castlerigg
Imac PPC Mac OS X (10.4.8) La Cie 200 GB 1394 firewire drive

"Methinks you're perpetuating a myth"
I'm too long in the tooth to either listen to or perpetuate myths of any kind! Not a myth unfortunately, a weakness in Leopard that was pointed out to me some time ago (when Harry Potter was a boy) by a sage far wiser and way older than you or I - and he was right, and more importantly brought to an end some hours of frustration with Leopard.
So there!
Thank you for your suggestions, which have made me think. It can't be the cable because it works with all the Tiger Macs. It might be the slot but if it is, I have two faulty slots which would be rare on a pretty new machine.

USB External HD doesn't mount anymore

Hi,
MBP, Leopard 10.5.7, USB HD Imation Appolo.
The USB drive is partitioned into 3: an image of Leopard installation (10 GB), a FAT 32 partition for PC use (10 GB) and Time Machine (200 GB).
Since yesterday, the only partition that mounts on OS X is the PC one... I don't get it...
Thanks

Does the HDD and volumes appear in Disk utility?

External Hard Drive Doesn't Mount on Desktop through FireWire 400

I have an external hard drive that mounts on the desktop when connecting to my iMac via USB, but it fails to appear on the desktop when connecting via FireWire 400. It was glitchy in Tiger as well, and had problems since installing Leopard. I was able to get it to work once, after using Leopard Cache Cleaner (a 3rd party program), disconnecting the hard drive, and unplugging the iMac. I moved my computer this week, and had to unplug it and when I powered it back up, the hard drive doesn't appear on the desktop again through FireWire 400 (still works fine with USB). It also doesn't appear in Disk Utility through FireWire.
What good are FireWire if they fail to recognize a hard drive so often?!

upgrade to latest system, that computer will accept, then try again

Thunderbolt external SSD won't mount

I'm using the Elgato Thunderbolt SSD as an external hard disk with my 2013 MBP. Since I'm also using a Thunderbolt display, I usually daisy-chain the disk to the display.
Recently I disconnected the Thunderbolt display from my computer without unmounting the external SSD. Since this also disconnected the disk, I got the usual ticking-off ("You should eject a disk before disconnecting it").
However... since then, the external disk won't mount. It doesn't show up on the desktop or in Disk Utility, though it DOES show up ("Thunderbolt SSD") in System Information.
Because the SSD gets warm when it's in use, I think it's still working. I just can't access it.
Can anyone help?

Is the Apple Thunderbolt Display at the END of the daisy-chain? That's where it should be - all other TB devices should be connected first, with the Display at the end of the chain.
As to why you're having a problem getting the TB SSD to work, I'm stumped. It seems as if you've done everything that I would try to do to get everything working... and I'm assuming that you have powered down and unplugged the Display and all other devices for 15 minutes or so?
Just make sure that the Display is at the end of the TB chain - that's really the only advice that I can offer.
Clinton

External Hard Drive not mounting on bootup

I have a USB2.0 Hard Drive formatted with ntfs, which holds my music. I have an fstab entry for it using ntfs-3g and I can mount it fine after booting up. But the drive doesn't automatically mount like it should. It looks like the system is mounting the fstab entries before it is finished detecting my external drive. Anything I can do to fix this?

fwojciec wrote:I let my external ntfs drive be mounted by hal - I have no entry for it in /etc/fstab. In order to have it mounted with read/write privileges I had to create a hal policy like this wiki page describes: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HAL … ntfs-3g.29
I'm not sure if this solution is what you're looking for though...
I actually tried using hal to do it and it didn't work right for some reason.

External hard drive not mounting - what's happening?

All of a sudden one of my external firewire drives is not mounting, but that's not all....
it's not showing up in disk utility, not showing up in system profiler, not showing up on desktop, not showing up in finder, not showing up in Disk Warrior, and not showing up in TechTool.
When I turn on the power, it seems to spin up but doesn't mount. No usual noises either.
Could it be a faulty controller board on the enclosure?
Any suggestions?
Really hope to figure this out, cause it has my entire itunes collection (500gb) on it.
Thanks in advance.

gr8fl4295 wrote:
All of a sudden one of my external firewire drives is not mounting, but that's not all....
it's not showing up in disk utility, not showing up in system profiler, not showing up on desktop, not showing up in finder, not showing up in Disk Warrior, and not showing up in TechTool.
When I turn on the power, it seems to spin up but doesn't mount. No usual noises either.
Could it be a faulty controller board on the enclosure?
Any suggestions?
Really hope to figure this out, cause it has my entire itunes collection (500gb) on it.
Thanks in advance.
First, try another FW drive or device in your computer to be sure that FW is working.
If you have more than one FW port, try the drive in it.
Change FW cable.
Try the external HD on another Mac (do not use a PC!!!)
If none of above works, it's most likely the logic card in the enclosure, and not the external HD. I believe your data are OK.

External HD won't mount -Mercury Elite

Hi - I have a unibody 15" MBPro. It has only one Firewire800 port on it and I'm inquiring at this forum to hear about anyone else having problems with that port not working with a particular device.
Over the years I have collected 7 external drives - various makes and sizes. I never have more than 2 connected at a time. Mostly connected with FW400 to 800 hybrid cables and many without power supplies, relying upon the power from the computer's port. Every one of these works without a hitch every time.
The device in question is a "Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini" portable drive. I've seen this name touted often on this forum. This is the first of this particular brand/style/name I've purchased. The problem I'm having is that it doesn't mount or stay mounted in any reliable way. Often it doesn't mount at all, no matter what type of rebooting, power recycling, chaining, or power sources I use.
I bought one new from a favorite retailer who has been extremely accommodating. I returned it 2 times for "repair" and eventually received a replacement- which has the exact same issue. The drive will light up but not show up anywhere on the computer. I don't even know IF or HOW this new drive is formatted.
So - I've been "around the block" with the retailer about the product and I thought, in fairness, I should check on the MBPro. Is it possible that the port or OS is lacking in support of this particular model drive??
Has anyone had a similar experience. Can anyone offer a solution?
TIA your input.
JL

In reply to arnie: Good tips!
I'll just add - booting holding "AppleOption+OF" boots into open firmware. I've never booted into this mode (on purpose...) but it seems to be (correct me if I'm wrong) a unix interface to OS X. Just make sure to type the commands EXACTLY. Unix is much pickier than OS X.
I've heard problems like this before - usually with those little bus-powered HDDs and Powerbooks. It's something to do with the amount of power the Powerbook puts out, although it should be the standard 500 mA that the USB 2 specs require. This can happen with firewire, however. If there's a power cord, use it.
You might try plugging the drive into a self-powered USB 2 Hub - one with a cord that plugs into an AC wall socket, then connect it to the Powerbook. If the Powerbook recognizes the drive, then it probably needs extra power.
Good luck
-Dan
15" 1.67 Powerbook G4 (Jan 2005), 400 mhz AGP Sawtooth G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 4G Clickwheel and 5G Vid iPods
Message was edited by: Daniel W, stupid grammer!

Maxtor External Drive Won't Mount!

Here is my problem.
We got a Maxtor One Touch III 1 TB external drive. I loaded about 850 GB of media onto it, passed it off to my partner to continue to edit our video project. Everything was running fine on my macbook pro 2.2 core duo. He edited for a day on his macbook 1.83 core duo. Said everything was fine.
That night he shut the machine down without unmounting the drive. He said the drive kept blinking so he shut it off. In the morning he tried to connect the drive to a g4 tower running 10.3.9. (I never realized he was so tech-vapid). He said the drive wouldn't mount. Then he moved it back to his macbook. Still wouldn't mount. Now it won't mount on my macbook or any machine. He then wonderfully told me he once had the same problem with a G-Drive 500 GB external. Wouldn't mount after switching it to his g4 and back. G-Tech told him the drive was dead so he sent it back. Maxtor told us this drive is dead, but I just think it sounds fishy.
It is still spinning, but there is no light on. Have tried every different kind of connection and updated drivers, same result. A friend said if it got unintentionally unmounted it might take the OS hours to fix it up because it's a RAID 0, suggested leaving it connected for a few hours and see what happens, but that happened once with my G-RAID and it didn't need time to fix itself. I am stupid for buying a maxtor it seems, but it doesn't change my dilemma.
Someone help.

Check the /Volumes/ folder for a broken alias to the disk. The folder is invisible so you need to use the "Go" menu to open it.

External HDD won't mount at boot. [Solved]

Edit:
I've noticed that this is an issue regarding my NTFS partition being on an external drive. Please check post #8 by me to get further details.
Hello guys, I'm having some problems getting my external NTFS HDD to mount automatically at boot. I have installed HAL and NTFS-3G, but I'm still getting problems. Mounting once the computer has finished booting is no problem using the simple mount command (sudo mount /media/pebble). I see no reason why this should be having problems mounting at boot with my fstab entry, but no errors occur when mounting manually.
Fstab entry:
/dev/sdc1 /media/pebble ntfs-3g fmask=022 1 0
rc.conf:
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
# LOCALIZATION
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime"
# USEDIRECTISA: use direct I/O requests instead of /dev/rtc for hwclock
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages
LOCALE="en_US.utf8"
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"
USEDIRECTISA="no"
TIMEZONE="America/Vancouver"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"
# HARDWARE
# MOD_AUTOLOAD: Allow autoloading of modules at boot and when needed
# MOD_BLACKLIST: Prevent udev from loading these modules
# MODULES: Modules to load at boot-up. Prefix with a ! to blacklist.
# NOTE: Use of 'MOD_BLACKLIST' is deprecated. Please use ! in the MODULES array.
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
#MOD_BLACKLIST=() #deprecated
MODULES=(fuse)
# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"
# NETWORKING
# HOSTNAME: Hostname of machine. Should also be put in /etc/hosts
HOSTNAME="r3-desktop-arch"
# Use 'ifconfig -a' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available interfaces.
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES
# - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it
# - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it
# DHCP: Set your interface to "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
# Wireless: See network profiles below
#Static IP example
#eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
#eth0="dhcp"
eth0="eth0 192.168.0.23 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
INTERFACES=(eth0)
# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
# - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(gateway)
# Enable these network profiles at boot-up. These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
# - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
# - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network.d
# This now requires the netcfg package
#NETWORKS=(main)
# DAEMONS
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
# - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
# - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network netfs crond dbus hal alsa)
Do I need to load HAL earlier? What am I doing wrong?
Last edited by ryeguy146 (2009-11-05 10:04:32)

I just noticed something, I don't think that this is an issue with the partition being NTFS, but rather with it being on an external hard drive (/dev/sdc). I say this because I just rebooted and noticed another NTFS partition that I have in my fstab is mounting (/dev/sda5). It's an internal HDD, and I didn't notice that it mounted up because I rarely use it. But there it is.
I suppose that I should define /dev/sdc. It is a Western Digital External HDD running off of a USB 2.0 cable. I don't know why this makes a difference, but it apparently does. Both entries in the fstab are identical for their respective devices and mount points.
Now that we have that figured out, I think that I'll change the title of the thread. So any ideas on how to solve this one?

External Drives Won't Mount with Mavericks

My external drives will not mount with Mavericks. They did for a while but I noticed that they stopped doing so a week ago or so. I have a drobo raid, hitiachi drive in an external case and a WD Passport. The drobo goes to sleep, the Hitachi external spins and the WD flashes like its being read.
None of the drives were mounted when I loaded Mavericks and, as far as I know, they've not been erased. They did mount for a few weeks but doesn't look they have since the beginning of November.
I have a brand new 2013 MBP 15" Retina with 750 GB SSHD, 16 GB ram and a 2.7 GHz i7. The drives are all connected via one FW800 through a Thunderbolt dongle.

I eventually gave up. I will probably get another card at some point but it probably won't be a SIIG card. Even though they are recommended by digidesign I just doesn't seem to want to work with my G5. Maybe it's some kind of weird software conflict blocking the functionality of the card? Don't know. Two cards in a row were non functional. Something is gummin up the works and the PCI slots work with the other cards I have. The only thing I did not try is plugging in the optional power connection to the FW800 card, which is supposed to be optional. I called SIIG and they had no idea what the problem was and they also said that the power plug would not make a difference for the problem I was having. Anyway, I'm gonna keep monitoring posts to this cause I'd love to hear the answer.. but I'm throwing in the towel. Good luck to the rest of you still trying to solve the riddle.

Fire wire external disk fails to mount

Hello,
I've been trying to work out how to access my LaCie external disk on my macosx 10.4.6.
At first it worked well on both servers. After a while, the mounted icon simply disappeared. Try as I may, neither server mounts my external LaCie or any USB device for that matter.
I reinstalled OSX on one of them and when i connect it now it is correctly mounted, including usb device.
But on the other identical server on which i did not reinstall OSX it still doesn't mount.
Nevertheless, in the system information panel, fire wire, there is a line stating "la cie external drive" blah blah, but without specifiyng size and the disk is not accessible, no icon on the desktop and so on.
I tried shutting off for 20 min, with every cable unpluged, I tried updating but still it does not mount.
if any of you had this problem and would like to share with me the solution it would be really great !
thanks in advance

These are the most common reasons for one computer to work with an external drive while another does not (assuming the cable is the same), all of which are covered in my FAQ mentioned earlier, which perhaps I should outline like this:
1. The PRAM needs zapping. Note, if a machine is 3 or more years old, PRAM zapping should only be attempted after verifying that the clock battery is fully charged at 3.6 V.
2. The firewire ports need resetting.
3. Dust in the firewire ports.
4. Installed firmware on the Firewire bridge of the hard drive is not fully compatible with the operating system. Check the manufacturer's support line (in this case e-mail firewire AT lacie.com) for updated firmware.
5. The operating system's Firewire drivers are not properly installed. This may happen if you used system specific disks for another Mac to install the operating system, or the directory is damaged, or the preferences for the firewire are not working.
I would test in that order.

External drive will not mount

I have a 500Gb external USB / firewire HD, and it has stopped mounting.
Disk utility can see the disk, and can see nothing wrong with it if I try to repair. However, if I try to mount the disk from disk utility, it fails to mount the disk - although it gives no error message. The disk just doesn't mount. The disk drive spins, but then it stops and everything is as it was.
I have tried various free scripts and utilities from version tracker - all give similar results.
I have tried mounting the drive from the terminal using the following command
mount_hfs /dev/disk1s3 /Volumes/Jack
but it gives the result 'mount_hfs: Invalid argument'. I made sure /Volumes/Jack existed, and I tried mount_hfs with the -or argument. All no good.
I tried booting my old G3 iBook (OSX 10.3.9), and connecting the drive to that machine. Same result in the disk utility of that machine.
Any ideas? Or do I just go back to the vendor and demand a replacement (drive is about 6 months old)? I'd rather recover the data - the drive is a backup of all my DV tapes... so I have the data, but copying on to the drive again takes about 18 hours of running my video camera and iMovie
Thanks for any advice anyone can give.
Tony

Tony:
Tech Tool Pro will run a hardware check on the drive. However, it must see the drive and be able to mount it.
Also, if you have not already done so, you can try different cables in different ports. If none of these work, and roam's suggestion does not help, especially if the drive powers up, it is likely a failed firewire bridge. If that is the case you can remove the HDD and put it in a firewire enclosure like one of these. Wherever you get it you want to be sure to get one with the more reliable Oxford 911+ chipset.
Please do post back with update, and/or further questions or comments.
Cheers.
cornelius

Connecting two large FAT32 drives - one doesn't mount

I have two WD 2TB HDDs formatted as FAT32. One is in a 4-bay external box connected via eSATA, the other in a WD case connected via USB. My computer is a Powermac Dual G5 2.0GHz running 10.4.11
Connecting either box individually leads to no problems, i.e. volume mounts and is available for use. So I have confidence in the formatting, drives and cables.
However when I try to connect both at the same time, only one loads correctly (the eSATA one as it loads quicker). The USB drive can be seen by Disk Utility but the volume is greyed out and using the Mount button does nothing - though on some occassions it asks for administrator name and password (entering these does nothing).
If I startup with only the USB connected then it loads ok but if I then connect the eSATA I have the same issue but with the eSATA drive volume greyed out.
Can OSX mount multiple FAT32 drives?
Cheers
Nick

USB External drive is a 2TB Western Digital 3.5" Elements with external power supply.
eSATA box is a 4-bay ICYBOX unit with 2TB Western Digital drive. ICYBOX has its external own power supply.
As both drives are externally powered rather than bus powered I wouldn't think it is a power problem.
TheICYBOX also has USB connection and the same occurs via that, so I don'tthink it is eSATA. I've also put the drive into another eSATA case withsame issue, so I don' think it is the ICYBOX.
Finally,I've tried with another external 1TB Western Digital 2.5" Elementsdrive; same issue, drive in eSATA box mounts, external drive doesn't.
From memory I've been able to simultaneously mountthe ICYBOX and a 320GB Western Digital 2.5" Elements drive, but I'llcheck that again (hence my thought about ht eproblem being due to largeFAT32 drives)
Cheers
Nick

External HD doesn't mount

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