External HDD randomly dismounting

I have a WD HDD in a Macally enclosure. There have been no problems with the setup until recently, when the HDD randomly dismounts. I've read other posts that say it might be happening during a TM back up along with an error saying it was removed incorrectly. I haven't had any of those errors, nor anything funky in the TM widget log.
TM Widget log of most recent backup...
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|new event db|
No pre-backup thinning needed: 198.9 MB requested (including padding), 304.98 GB available
Copied 4785 files (72.0 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 156.9 MB requested (including padding), 304.90 GB available
Copied 437 files (29.0 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Starting post-backup thinning
Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb/Tyler Garrett’s iMac (2)/2009-09-08-212814: 304.94 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb/Tyler Garrett’s iMac (2)/2009-10-06-230430: 304.94 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb/Tyler Garrett’s iMac (2)/2009-10-06-220429: 304.94 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb/Tyler Garrett’s iMac (2)/2009-10-06-210435: 304.98 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb/Tyler Garrett’s iMac (2)/2009-10-06-200438: 305.07 GB now available
Post-back up thinning complete: 5 expired backups removed
Backup completed successfully.
I'm trying Repair Disk right now. We'll see how that turns out. In the interim, any other suggestions?

Hi swobo04
I don't see how Time Machine would be causing your problem, the
+"Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD+
+Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|new event db"+
message would be more the product of your improperly ejecting/dismounting drive.
Most likely you have a faulty connection with the cable, a problem with the enclosure or a failing hard drive that you need to solve.
Disk Utility may help if the HD's file structure is damaged or corrupt, but probably will not detect an intermittent hardware problem with the enclosure or drive.
Dennis

Similar Messages

Raid Volumes Randomly Dismounting

Okay first a warning .. this is going to be a long post!
Overview: When my raid is connected through my Fibre Channel Switch it randomly dismounts.
Specifics:
Xserve G5 (10.4.7) with the LSI Dual-Channel 2GB Fibre Channel PCI-X HBA & Fibre Channel Utility 2.0
Xserve RAID - Each side with its own Raid 5 , hot spare - no masking & latest firmware
Exabyte Magnum 224 FC
Qlogic Sanbox 5200 Series (12 port) - Latest Firmware (configured with two zones (port not WWN) ; Zone 1: Port 1 HBA, Both Xraid | Zone 2: Port 0 HBA, Exabyte
Background : This used to ALL work! Recently we began to experience drastic slow downs when writing to the raid and common sense not working free space, which was the problem, was the last thing I checked. Before that though I tried swapping cables, replacing the raid controller, redoing zoning, straight connect - Obviously none of this was the issue. *note here: at this point I am using an identical Fibre Channel Card in my Xserve from my G4 - a careless maneuver broke the Apple installed card whilst it was laying on a table.*
When I got things working (made room on the volume) I happened to be in a configuration the circumvented the switch.. raid directly into the host and things , as said, worked fine. The next night I took the systems down to put everything on the switch again to allow a back-up to be ran. Now is when the current behavior begins. Randomly and without recognizable patterns both raid volumes would dismount from the host. Checking Raid Admin shows the volumes as being in order and all lights are green.
This time I fear my switch has gone and after time spent with Qlogic (and zilliions of different configurations) a new switch is sent out in the mean time back to a straight connection and things are working fine. New switch arrives, is configured, and immediately problem persists. Qlogic/Apple suggest the midplane on the raid is bad (even though it works straight through). I happen to have a brand new in box XRAID (with current firmware) so I set that up put in the drives from the old raid and the problem persists again when plugged into the switch. Direct to host things work fine.
So I read some documentation on Apple and Fibre channel and made a few changes to HBA ports and Switch Port Settings and came to the following scenario... Volumes stayed mounted through an entire work day, but after a brief time into a backup the volumes unmounted.
Here is some more specific info about my exact setup as it last failed...
ZONE 1 (zoned by port not WWN)
Switch Ports 0, 1, 2
HBA Port 1 into Switch Port 0
Raid into Switch Ports 1, 2
All ports are identifying themselves to switch as switch topology
HBA port configured as Topology: Point-to-Point, Speed: 2Gb/s
SW Port 0 configed as State: Online, Speed: auto, Type: Detect, I/O Stream Guard: Enable, Device Scan: Disable
SW Port 1, 2 configed as State: Online, Speed: auto, Type: Detect, I/O Stream Guard: Auto, Device Scan: Enable
ZONE 2 (zoned by port not WWN)
Switch Ports 8, 9
HBA Port 0 into Switch Port 9
Exabyte into Switch Port 8
Port 8 identifying as Loop topology, 9 as switch
HBA port configured as Topology: Auto, Speed: Auto
SW Port 8 configed as State: Online, Speed: auto, Type: Detect, I/O Stream Guard: Auto, Device Scan: Enable
SW Port 9 configed as State: Online, Speed: auto, Type: Detect, I/O Stream Guard: Enable, Device Scan: Disable
I realize that some of these settings, particularly those on the HBA are different between ports, but we have tried virtually every combination (I think)
Around the time of the backup job system.log on the host has these entries:
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 5 (External Bus Reset) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: External Bus Reset for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 7 (Link Status Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Link is down for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 8 (Loop State Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Loop Initialization Packet for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 9 (Logout) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 7 (Link Status Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Link is active for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 6 (Rescan) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 5 (External Bus Reset) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: External Bus Reset for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 7 (Link Status Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Link is down for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 8 (Loop State Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Loop Initialization Packet for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 9 (Logout) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 7 (Link Status Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Link is active for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 6 (Rescan) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 5 (External Bus Reset) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: External Bus Reset for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 7 (Link Status Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Link is down for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 8 (Loop State Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Loop Initialization Packet for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 9 (Logout) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 7 (Link Status Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Link is active for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 6 (Rescan) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 5 (External Bus Reset) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: External Bus Reset for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 7 (Link Status Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Link is down for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 8 (Loop State Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Loop Initialization Packet for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 9 (Logout) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 7 (Link Status Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Link is active for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:41 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 6 (Rescan) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:42 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 5 (External Bus Reset) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:42 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: External Bus Reset for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:42 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 7 (Link Status Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:42 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Link is down for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:42 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 8 (Loop State Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:42 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Loop Initialization Packet for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:42 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 9 (Logout) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:42 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 7 (Link Status Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:42 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Link is active for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:42 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 6 (Rescan) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: I/O error.
Mar 7 17:55:42 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 5 (External Bus Reset) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:42 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: External Bus Reset for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:42 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 7 (Link Status Change) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:55:42 files kernel[0]: FusionFC: Link is down for SCSI Domain = 3.
Mar 7 17:55:50 files kernel[0]: s3: I/O error.
=======
Then followed by a ton of various I/O errors
=======
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: I/O error.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: I/O error.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: I/O error.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: FusionMPT: Notification = 6 (Rescan) for SCSI Domain = 3
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: I/O error.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: I/O error.
=======
Finally by media not present errors which end the log
=======
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: media is not present.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: media is not present.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: media is not present.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: media is not present.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: media is not present.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: media is not present.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: media is not present.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: media is not present.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: media is not present.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk5s3: media is not present.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: jnl: dojnlio: strategy err 0x6
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: jnl: end_transaction: only wrote 0 of 8192 bytes to the journal!
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: jnl: close: journal 0x4c21bb4, is invalid. aborting outstanding transactions
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: media is not present.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: media is not present.
Mar 7 17:56:42 files kernel[0]: disk4s3: media is not present.
Mar 7 17:56:45 files kernel[0]: jnl: close: journal 0x4c21c98, is invalid. aborting outstanding transactions
And that folks is it.. I'm up for any and all suggestions, questions, comments etc.. I'm absolutely desperate here!
Please, please does anyone have any ideas what's going on here.
Thanks,
James Nierodzik

Hi Roger, thanks for the reply.
Throughout the battles I did try cables that were not in the scenario to no avail so I don't think it's a cablling issue though I suppose it still could be.
Well into the backup was last night's failure point.. days previous, when through the switch, it had failed at periodic points throughout the day. I could not tie those periods to greater than normal I/O demand though.
As for cooling the components are kept in a well circulated room that is kept 24x7 at 62 degrees with an alarm on the cooling unit so I am about as certain as can be that cooling is not a factor.

External HDD renames itself to ALL CAPS/adds "1" to name

Hey all. I'd like to consider myself an expert, but every expert runs into a new problem that they've never seen before. Ha.
Anyways, my cat renamed one of my external HDDs while I was at work to nothing (space bar I guess). So I see the issue when I get back home and rename it back. I try to name it back to "My Book" but after I do it renames itself to "MY BOOK." Upon further investigation it is actually naming itself to "My Book 1" but only showing the end user "MY BOOK."
Normally this wouldn't be an issue I could just name it something else and move on. But I have BackBlaze and it's already backed up at least 700GB of about 1000ishGB. If it's not named exactly back to "My Book" I will have to start my online backup all over again, and it's been backing up for MONTHS now, and it's not even done.
I checked permissions, I tried verify/repair, nothing. I was thinking some program had the hdd "in-use." but there really isn't. And I've relaunched Finder and rebooted the machine.
Thanks for any insight, I really appreciate it. I hope this was the best forum to post this topic in. Lettme know if I need to repost it. Thanks.

Enthwar wrote:
Hey all. I'd like to consider myself an expert, but every expert runs into a new problem that they've never seen before. Ha.
Anyways, my cat renamed one of my external HDDs while I was at work to nothing (space bar I guess). So I see the issue when I get back home and rename it back. I try to name it back to "My Book" but after I do it renames itself to "MY BOOK." Upon further investigation it is actually naming itself to "My Book 1" but only showing the end user "MY BOOK."
Normally this wouldn't be an issue I could just name it something else and move on. But I have BackBlaze and it's already backed up at least 700GB of about 1000ishGB. If it's not named exactly back to "My Book" I will have to start my online backup all over again, and it's been backing up for MONTHS now, and it's not even done.
I checked permissions, I tried verify/repair, nothing. I was thinking some program had the hdd "in-use." but there really isn't. And I've relaunched Finder and rebooted the machine.
Welcome to Apple's discussion groups. I'd say this is as good a section for your post as any.
This thread may explain your problem:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10813505
If so, dismount your external drive, then use the Finder menu item Go -> Go to Folder to visit "/Volumes" (without the quotes). Delete anything you see there with a name resembling your external drive.

ITunes on an external HDD and Airport Extreme BS

Ok, sorry to be boring, but I can't get this to work as I think it should.
I want to have a central iTunes library based on the USB-connected 1TB HDD, so that I can train all my Macs to reach for the files from the same place. So that I can access the same tunes and movies from my "MBP", "Intelimac" and "Intelimac2". I have copied the iTunes library from Intelimac 2 over onto the HDD, and in iTunes preferences told it to look for the files on my Airport-connected HDD - and it does. Mostly. I have 600 movie files on that HDD, but when I start up iTunes on the Intelimac and the MBP, there are only the 56 or so original movie files showing up in the Movies list. When I click on a random movie in that list, and ctrl click it, then "Show In Finder", it does indeed point to the correct folder way over there on the External HDD. So why doesn't the list in iTunes show ALL 600 movies available in that same folder?
Similarly, there are discrepancies between what shows up in iTunes lists, and what it SHOULD be showing, baring in mind there are hundreds of other media files available to be displayed and therefore played. It's as though iTunes is ignoring many of the tracks/playlists/movies in the same folder that it is indeed recognising and offering up to play...
What am I doing wrong?
Cheers for any help.
Chris
Message was edited by: ChrisRR

Just had the same problem. I found the answer in other message threads. A solution would be to click on the option button immediately when you launch iTunes. A message box will pop up instructing you to select a library. This should allow you to choose the music library from the external drive. See the url below.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
It worked for me. Good luck!

Sync Problems With Ipod and External HDD

Ive just got a new 4G ipod after returing it because of HDD problems and when i try to sync with itunes, it manages to sync a random number of songs (ill get to that later) often about a 100 and the says "Ipod could not be written or read from". The thing is that i use an Lacie 80Gb External USB 2.0 Powered Harddrive as my Music library. Also it seems not to be USB timeout because ive tried to power both the External HDD and Ipod with an external powered USB 2.0 Hub. Ive found out that the number of songs that syncs each time depends on the songs, because it seems that some songs cannot just be copied (ive tried to copy them through finder and it dosent work either, but moving and/or deleting them works) and they arent in anyway different(what i know of) to the songs that manages to be synced to the ipod. None of the songs have any kind of DRM restrictions.
Ibook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7) Use An External USB 2.0 powered HDD as main media storage

Ive had it on my Ibook before and then moved it to the HDD because of Space Shortage, and then just added as ive aquired more music. Idon't Really Remeber but i think it worked before without any hiccups. oh well otherwise i can just delete those files because theyre only single files here and there. but its quite irritating because they don't seem to have any kind of corruption.

HP HD3200 2tb external hdd reformatting itself

I bought the HP HD3200 2tb external hdd just about a year ago and it has worked famously until very recently. Starting about a week ago the drive would randomly stop being read by my computer and after going into disk management the space on the drive has somehow transformed into unallocated. The only option I have at that point is to reformat the drive and start over. On top of that if I reformat the drive I then have to run a test disk to adjust the aprtition table otherwise it becomes formatted but simply does not show up in the browser. This has happened 3 times now and I would like to find a permanent solution before I lose something I can't replace. Any thoughts on why this has started to happen or how i might fix it would be greatly appreciated.

Take the drive to a Windows PC and install Data Rescue ($100) and let it work on reading the 1's and 0's of the files themselves, outputing the recovered files to another large external hard drive (formatted exFaT on the PC, not on the Mac and not NTFS!)
This is going to take hours to complete, so buy the software upfront and get it over with.
Once it's finished you can hook up the drive to the Mac and it will read it, no NTFS reading/writing software required.
If the PC your using is a Windows XP machine and there is no exFAT, then install the free exFAT for XP from Microsoft first.
Take a second to learn about drives and formatting, it's not wise to use NTFS software as you see now the problem.
Drives, partitions, formatting w/Mac's + PC's

Problem with External HDD and Disk Utility

I'm having issues with my external hdd, I keep all of my media on it, and randomly it is no longer readable, and doesn't show up on the desktop, it only gives me the options to initialize, ignore or eject, when I try to initialize it and run first aid, all of the options are greyed-out and I cannot click on them. The only option in Disk Utility that I can do is erase. Is there anyway to fix the hdd so I can continue to read and write to the device, I really don't want to lose over 600 gigs of photo's, videos and music.

Since it sounds like the disk is on the way out, I would suggest that you back it up preferably twice.
Once you have your data backed up then and only then you can start troubleshooting the problem.
What model Mac do you have?
How is the disk connect to your Mac?
Does the disk have another type of connector?
|___________________
Allan

[Solved]Can't mount external hdd at boot!

Hi!
I'm trying to mount my new external hdd (Lacie USB2) at boot, but without success.
To avoid random device name (sdx, sdy), I would like to use UUID in my fstab file.
I've read this wiki.
I think my configuration is ok, but there's an error at boot saying "Device with UUID xxxxxxxx doesn't exist, can't mount it", or something like that.
Here are some commands:
[eko@nodrom ~]$ fdisk -l
Disque /dev/sdb: 500.1 Go, 500107862016 octets
255 têtes, 63 secteurs/piste, 60801 cylindres
Unités = cylindres de 16065 * 512 = 8225280 octets
Périphérique Amorce Début Fin Blocs Id Système
/dev/sdb1 * 1 60801 488384001 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
[eko@nodrom ~]$ /bin/ls -lF /dev/disk/by-uuid/
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 jui 26 13:06 1da8b247-2a03-4a00-817c-d4da8df63488 -> ../../sda2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 jui 26 13:06 485e9b10-fce5-4cbd-b23a-81f232d23bc5 -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 jui 26 13:06 6853-5BA9 -> ../../sdb1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 jui 26 13:06 8aa3ce4c-5e2a-48c8-b3c3-38d02b4c0e68 -> ../../sda3
And my fstab file:
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0
/dev/dvd /mnt/dvd udf ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0
/dev/sda1 / ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/sda2 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sda3 home ext3 defaults 0 1
#Disque dur externe
UUID=6853-5BA9 /media/hdd vfat rw,user,auto,exec,gid=100,uid=1000,umask=002,iocharset=utf8,codepage=850,shortname=mixed 0 0
Could someone help me?
Thanks in advance!
Last edited by vomix (2007-08-09 17:56:28)

Hi,
Thanks for your reply.
But even with /dev/disk/by-uuid/6853-5BA9 in my fstab file, it fails to automount it.
It says "Special device with UUID=6853-5BA9 does not exist".
The weird thing is that I can mount it manually without problems.
(In fact, that's not true, I've the same problem than steven. May it be a kernel-related problem?)
Or maybe there's a fault in the rest of my fstab line? (iocharset, guid, etc?)
In the case of a kernel related bug, how could I downgrade it?
I've tried with "pacman -U kernel26-2.6.21.6-1.pkg.tar.gz" in /var/cache/pacman/pkg but it broke my xorg server at reboot.

Backup multiple Macs to external HDD

I have an iMac (OS X 10.8.2) with a new Seagate BackupPlus external HDD attached by thunderbolt. The external HDD has 5 partitions (all Mac OS X Extended Journaled format). 4 partitions are dedicated back ups for 4 Macs (the iMac connected via thunderbolt to the external HDD, plus 3 MacBookAirs (MBA's)). The 5th partition is just for storing random data (I realize TM won't back up the data on the same drive as the TM backups, but that's ok).
Following the steps FAQ #22 on the great pondini site http://pondini.org/TM/22.html I was able to set up Time Machine to back up my iMac (with the external HDD physically attached) AND I was able to setup TM on my MacBookAir (also running OS X 10.8.2) to wirelessly back up to the external HDD attached to the iMac.
I am now trying to do the same for wife and kids MBA's (i.e., get them to have TM back up wirelessly to the external HDD that is attached to the iMac on the same network). However, while I can get TM to backup my MBA, I can't get their to work, even though I followed the same steps on their "source" MBA's as I did on mine. The other MBAs can see the external HDD (attached to the iMac) and even remotely read/write to it (which I did as a test). TM on their MBA sees and lets me select the appropriate partition on the external HDD, but when I try to do a backup, after a few seconds TM stops running. It may be worth noting I also have TM backing the MBAs (including wife and kids MBAs) wirelessly to a TimeCapsule too... and that works flawlessly (I am trying to get my MBAs backed up on both my TimeCapsule and an external HDD connected to the iMac, so I have two backups).
The error log from TimeMachine Buddy on my wife's MBA shows:
Starting manual backup
Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://melaniebernitz@Bradley%E2%80%99s%20iMac._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Mel%20MBA% 20External%20Backup
NAConnectToServerSync failed with error: 80 for url: afp://melaniebernitz@Bradley%E2%80%99s%20iMac._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Mel%20MBA% 20External%20Backup
Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://[email protected]/Mel%20MBA%20External%20Backup
NAConnectToServerSync failed with error: 80 for url: afp://[email protected]/Mel%20MBA%20External%20Backup
Backup failed with error: 19
To try and fix, I have:
-- rebooted both machines.
-- ran "Verify Disk" on external HDD partition (verify disk finds no issues)
-- checked file sharing on iMac (again, the MBA's can read and write to the external HDD connected to the iMac with no problems so it has read/write/share "access" to the external HDD)
-- did full reset of Time Machine preference on my MBA per pondini.org/TM/A4.html
-- on the MBA's that won't back up wirelessly to the external drive, I can still "see" and select the external HDD (connected to the iMac) in Time Machine
-- tried running TM from different users on each MBA (including adminstrators, of course)
-- have shut off and re-turned on Time Machine
In case it helps diagnose the issue, here's the TimeMachine Buddy log for the my MBA (for which TM successfully completes the wireless backup to the external HDD on the iMac).
Starting manual backup
Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://bradley%20katcher@Bradley%E2%80%99s%20iMac._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Brad%20M BA%20External%20Backup
Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/Brad MBA External Backup using URL: afp://bradley%20katcher@Bradley%E2%80%99s%20iMac._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Brad%20M BA%20External%20Backup
Resizing backup disk image from 924.24 GB to 923.9 GB
Disk image /Volumes/Brad MBA External Backup/Brad MacBook Air.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
Using file event preflight for Macintosh HD
Will copy (1.4 MB) from Macintosh HD
Found 63 files (1.4 MB) needing backup
626.4 MB required (including padding), 779.13 GB available
Copied 973 files (1.5 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Using file event preflight for Macintosh HD
Will copy (Zero KB) from Macintosh HD
Found 11 files (Zero KB) needing backup
624.8 MB required (including padding), 779.13 GB available
Copied 248 files (82 bytes) from volume Macintosh HD.
Created new backup: 2013-02-09-013813
Starting post-backup thinning
No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Backup completed successfully.
Ejected Time Machine disk image: /Volumes/Brad MBA External Backup/Brad MacBook Air.sparsebundle
Ejected Time Machine network volume.
So, to make a long story short, even though the external HDD partitions are mounted and can be read by all MBA's....
-- My MBA has no problem backing up (via TM) to the external HDD physically attached to my iMac
-- Other MBA's can wirelessy back up (via TM) to TimeCapsule on my network, but NOT to the external HDD on the iMac (even though they can remotely see/share files on it).
All in all, I'm at a loss as to why it works for one MBA but not others (since I followed same steps to set up the MBA's for TM).
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

Bkat wrote:
The external HDD has 5 partitions (all Mac OS X Extended Journaled format).
What Partition Map Scheme does it have? (click the top line for the drive in Disk Utility's sidebar -- it will be shown at the lower-right). It should be GUID, but should work if it's APM (Apple Partition Map). If it's MBR (Master Boot Record), a Windows setup and often the way externals come from the factory, that may be the problem. I've never been sure of the details, but there's a message somewhere that says "not all partitions may be accessible" to Time Machine with MBR.
-- tried running TM from different users on each MBA (including adminstrators, of course)
It doesn't matter what user does the setup, or even does a Back Up Now, since the actual backup runs with "root" privileges (permission to everything). It sounds like you have the right Sharing setup on the iMac, but be sure each of those Macs is connecting as the right user on the iMac.
I've not done this myself with multiple Macs (I don't have enough hardware); only one Mac backing-up to a shared drive on another.
Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://melaniebernitz@Bradley%E2%80%99s%20iMac._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Mel%20MBA% 20External%20Backup
Looks like you've got some special characters in some names. I realize two Macs seem to back up ok, but oddly enough, sometimes such characters in names are a problem -- they'll work fine sometimes, but not always. See #C9 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
(I am trying to get my MBAs backed up on both my TimeCapsule and an external HDD connected to the iMac, so I have two backups).
You might want to reconsider using Time Machine for both sets of backups. It's prudent to want two separate backups in case one piece of hardware fails. But what if there's a problem with Time Machine itself, on one (or more) of your Macs? TM is pretty reliable, but no app is perfect. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #27 for details, and the green box there for some alternatives (some of those may not work over a network. CarbonCopyCloner and ChronoSync do -- I use CCC locally, in addition to TM, but not over a network).
Message was edited by: Pondini

Mavericks not "seeing" files on external hdd

This has to be the single weirdest thing I've ever experienced on any Mac I've owned.
I have an external hdd that contains all my pictures sorted by year, followed by a folder for the raw images extracted from my iPhone using Image Capture. This is done on my iMac and I've been doing it this way for years.
Today, I freed up some much needed space on my iPhone using the above method. When I deleted the images from my Camera Roll on my iPhone, I went into the external hdd and saw that the files I just literally transfered were gone! I checked the trash, other folders and even the desktop and they were gone...simply disapperared. Clicking into a random year showed no subfolders, consequently: no files.
Frantic, I unplugged the external hdd and plugged it into my Macbook Air (not running Mavericks just yet). The files from the aforementioned random year were actually all there, as well as some root folders containing iPhone pictures I backed up a few weeks ago. It even had the photos i transfered off my wife's phone prior to working on my own. But the folder that shows my photos were still not there.
I am currently running a diagnostic software for data recovery. There is no iCloud backup as of last night (most recent was two days ago). Not a photostream person so that's not turned on. I was able to get many of the photos from the Google Plus iPhone app.
My question is: what gives? How does Mavericks show an empty folder but my Macbook Air shows files? I just used this external hdd on my iMac the other day and those files were there. There is no hidden files option or anything...no preferences have been changed on the computer. Why is this happening and can I get my "deleted" data back? For the life of me I cannot understand some features in Mavericks...but this one erks me.

Interesting that no files show when plugged into the USB port, drive looks empty with the exception of the space remaining. Folder structures show when plugged into firewire 400. The drive has an external power supply.

Sudden lack of external HDD usability?

Did Apple change something with OS 10.5.1? I went from having three functional external HDDs (two USB JBOD external enclosures, each with 2x250GB inside) and a FW400 80GB that's been kicking around since '03 or '04 to NO functional externals. My thumb drive still works, but given that all three kicked the bucket simultaneously and right after an OS update, I'm leaning away from hardware failure.
USB: Not even recognized by the computer.
FW: Shows up as Unknown Device in System Profiler; never mounts, has two FW400 ports on the back and so I can use one to connect it to the Mac and another to chain a second device. Chaining the iPod I own causes iPod to mount and sync normally.

too much to respond to...chainingyou should not do but you do...try the following see if it helps
1. Shut-down your Mac, and unplug the power cord
2. Turn the power off on your external FireWire devices
3. Unplug the FireWire devices from the Mac
4. Wait for 5 min.
5. Plug the power cord to your Mac only
6. For PPC Macs: Restart the Mac while holding the Option-Apple-O-F, and keep holding until you get the ">" prompt, then release the keys
7. At the ">" prompt type:
      reset-nvram and hit the Return key
      set-defaults and hit the Return key
      reset-all and hit the Return key
the last command will restart your mac
8. Shut down your Mac
9. Connect all your FireWire devices to the Mac and turn them on
10. Restart your Mac.
All your FireWire devices should reapear, if not repeat the procedure
How to avoid the issue :
The only really proven way to avoid burning up a FireWire port is to connect all devices and to turn them on PRIOR turning on the Mac. Likely, one must unplug them and turn them off AFTER the Mac has been turned off. If you need to connect another device, then you're on for a shutdown of your machine...  It's a tad annoying but it guarantees that the FW ports won't be damaged.  Be careful when using self powered devices such as webcams, iPods, hard drives or hubs, as they can destroy the port pretty easily. Another thing is to avoid daisy-chaining hard drives.
When the FW port doesn't respond anymore :
In this case, peripherals won't be mounted upon plugging, and won't be displayed in Apple's System Profiler. The self powered devices will still be fed by the port, but won't respond either.  It happens that the PHY just hangs after a surge or a random problem. Once hung, the port will not respond any longer, it is possible to reset the component by going through the following steps :
1° boot the PPC mac in Open Firmware by holding [ Apple key - Option - O - F ] after the startup chime.  2° you'll get to a command prompt. the keyboard mapping will be QWERTY, so pay attention when you type the following :  RESET-NVRAM (enter)  RESET-ALL (enter)  3° Now the mac should restart itself and the port should function properly again.  If it still doesn't work, then it means that the PHY is damaged.
http://www.hardmac.com/articles/16/
From Kappy post:
922 is only used in dual drive cases to provide a "build-in firmware RAID support"
912 or 912+ is FW800, the "+" means USB2
911 is FW400
924 adds eSATA support along with FW400/800
MacSales, OWC Tech Support library is where I would go first, as they do tend to have or links to, firmware updates for Oxford.
From Wiebetech:
I just upgraded my Mac OS, and now I'm having trouble with my FireWire device. What can I do?
A: With nearly every OS update Apple releases, some external drives are not recognized after the update. The typical symptom is that the device will not mount but the volume is visible and grayed out in Disk Utility. This means that the device is working properly, but the OS does not recognize the volume as mountable. Sometimes the drive does not show up at all.
The first thing to do is to see if repairing Permissions with Apple's Disk Utility First Aid feature solves the problem. If not, try repairing the disk with First Aid. Another possible solution is to zap the PRAM. This is done with a keyboard command while rebooting. Restart your computer and hold down the Command, Option, P and R keys. Consult the Apple web site for details.
If this does not work, then try pushing the PMMU reset button on the logic board. Consult the Apple web site for locations of the button for your Mac. If the drive still does not show up, shut down, disconnect all peripheral devices, and boot from the Mac OS Installation CD. The later the OS version, the better. Do not reinstall the OS, but when the Installer is loaded up and ready to begin, go to the File menu and use the Disk Utility program. Connect the drive that is having problems, then start the Disk Utility application. If you see the external drive and it is not grayed out, you know the drive is okay. Run Disk First Aid on it anyway. Then run it on your internal boot drive while you are at it. When done, unmount the external drive and UNPLUG it! Then restart the Mac.
When the Mac has restarted and is running on the internal boot drive, reconnect the external drive.

Artek External HDD screwing with me.

I have a 120 GB external hdd(Artek) that I could use with my mum's old macbook pro and my windows desktop but not with my new Macbook Pro. When i plug it in, the icons in the desktop dissappear, Finder repeatedly restarts, and the applications I use sudddenly minimize and come back at random times. My USB is ok so what the **?
When I unplug it is fine.
Jeezez nothing but problems on the new mac.

Maybe it's the drive or the drive enclosure's bridge card. I have several USB and Firewire drives that all seem to work with all my computers including the new MBP.
You might try re-partitioning and reformatting the drive to see if that takes care of things.

Installing Windows Vista on external HDD

I know there's going to be problems and most people would be happy just to say 'it can't be done', but I really need to install Windows Vista on an external HDD using FireWire 800.
I have read some brief info on the Internet that some people have achieved this for Windows XP using an external USB 2 mass storage device 'HDD' (and even for large capacity flash drives).
Personally, I only intend to use a hand full of programs for Vista on a regular basis and prefer not to install what maybe a more stable and reliable XP version of Windows due to having such a dull looking interface that makes you want to jump off the nearest cliff (the interface and look is that depressing.. Really!). Anyway, I have the new MacBook Pro 17" 'unibody' and an external buss powered (on 800) G-Tech G-Drive mini with Firewire 800/400 & USB 2. I have already formatted the external G-Drive mini and installed Mac OS-X 10.5 on it and it works flawlessly via Firewire 800 once you've chosen it as the 'start-up disk' within System Settings (great for testing and not worrying about things too much if there's problems, having kept the MacBook Pro's own internal HDD intact and clean). I plan on partitioning the external G-Drive's 250GB capacity equally and thus have the mentioned Mac OS-X on one partion and hopefully eventually Windows Vista on the other equal partion.
This arrangement (if possible) I feel compelled to do because even though I can very easily install Windows Vista onto my MacBook Pro's internal HDD using Bootcamp with minimal hassel, I really don't want to infect my MacBook Pro's internal drive with Windows and all the troubles that Windows can bring. I feel I must keep my MacBook's internal drive clean and trouble free from any possible Windows viruses and spyware, besides I need the maximum capacity of the internal drive. If this all worked, then I would dismount the internal drive within disk utility once booted up in Windows, thus keeping it isolated from any Windows prone attacks or problems.
Only thing now is I have to find a way if there is one, Boot Camp won't partition the external FireWire 800 drive to ready it for Windows and Windows Vista may not have adequate drivers to enable it's boot from FireWire 800, although I could resort to the slower USB 2 interface that the drive also has on-board.
Anyone with any solutions? Would using Drive Genius to partition the external drive (on the fly) and readying the intended Windows Vista partition to a FAT 32 structure, help start the process?

Thoughts? ... I have plenty!
For now, I've had no choice but to install Vista on my MacBook Pro's internal drive using BootCamp, it will only be for the short term until I can find a way to do this on the external drive... it's also another worry to know that I may have problems with the 'boot table' after a few months, as you previously mentioned.
So setting up Windows Vista, updating, tweaking settings and getting it all working so that it functions properly to a half decent state is such a lengthy laborious tediously frustrating task with windows and taking huge amounts of time that it reminded me of just how much I have recently grown to hate windows and it now amazes me to think that until a year and a half ago I wouldn't move/budge from windows because of all the PC programs I had, but now I'm overwhelmingly relieved I made the jump and wonder why I put myself uneccessarily through so much pain and tourment.. well, even now windows isn't giving up without a fight as it continues to leave it's legacy because although I've now got it reasonably functioning under 'BootCamp' having installed Vista on my Mac's internal drive (for now), windows now bombards me with a routine of error messages upon boot-up stating:-
"Warning: Unrecognized partition table for drive 80. Please rebuild it using a Microsoft-compatible FDISK tool(err=4). Current C/H/S=266305/255/63 (hd0,2) Filesystem type is ntfs, partition type 0x7 chainloader /bootmgr"
it then repeats that error message several times during a few black screens (not the infamous blue screen) and on one occasion the error message refers to "(hidden sectors=0x1ee648800)" and there's plenty more double dutch info before it finally load Vista.. (I've only had Vista installed on BootCamp for a couple of day's now - since this reply) I'm considering trying my luck with installing Vista 64bit edition, having read that it is compatible on the Mac Pro and MacBook Pro's.
Meanwhile... with regard to using an external hard drive for a possible bootable Windows Vista over Firewire 800, I may have to consider the two 'close' alternative methods for doing this.. the first being the alleged workaround-fix shared on the internet for doing this using the USB 2 conection method, unfortunately this requires some time spent on editing some of the startup/installation sequence files which have to be extracted from the Windows installation '.iso' disk image using winiso, then edited and then inserted back into the '.iso' Windows install disk to burn onto a new DVD, trouble is this takes time which I don't have and it may only be a workaround solution for the very dull and bland looking windows XP version only which I don't want... Therefore I might have to go along with the more expensive option of having to invest in a slightly (actually a lot) more costly version of small portable external bus powered hard drive, the G-Tech G-Raid mini2 which has the inclusion of the eSATA interface making it a quad interface, therefore possibly enabling windows to boot from this as windows requires SATA connection for boot-ability. The only drawback for me personally with this second method is a). that I've already purchased the G-Drive mini1, b). the G-Raid mini2 is very costly, c). the mini2 is double the size being double the thickness and therefore not as tiny as the mini1 which you can squeeze into your MacBook Pro case's pocket, d). the mini2 will have a heavier battery drain having its two disks spinning instead of one like the mini1, and e). you have to have two cables connected between MacBook and mobile hard drive instead of one, one cable drawing the power from the Firewire 800 bus and the second cable transferring the data between the eSATA connection (if it works).
Alternatively.. Apple may save the day and at some point release a driver for BootCamp to enable Windows Vista 'Firewire 800 boot-ability support'. That would be very good! (but doubt that would ever happen with Apple's strange outlook on Firewire of late)
Or, G-Tech may put an eSATA connection interface/port on an updated version of the tiny, less power draining and more budget conscious G-Drive mini1 in the near future! (but that may be unlikely as well)
So, I'm not sure what to do at this moment.

OSX freezes while external HDD starts up.

I have a WD My Book Studio connected to my Mac via firewire 800.
Over time the HDD goes into a sleep mode.
When using OSX, the HDD randomly starts up.
I have had it start up when simply using the brush tool in Photoshop to surfing the net.
For the duration of the boot OSX freezes up, it can take anything from 5-15 seconds.
It isn't to much of a problem, however if there is a way to prevent this from happening. It would be good to know.

I have disabled the "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" in System Preferences -> Energy Saver.
It however did not affect the external HDD.
As for un-mounting the drive and remounting it. I know that works, however it is haste. I'm not sure if there is a solution for this. Do Seagate HDDs have the same problem ?
Also out of interest, what HHDs do LaCie use, do they make their own drives?

Finder crashes anytime I try to transfer files onto external HDD

I recently had to have the HDD cable inside my MBP replaced because it was not working properly. After it was installed I was able to do a clean install of OS X 10.6 and after fully updating to 10.6.8 I installed ML 10.8.2 everything was working perfectly then all of a sudden I am no longer able to transfer files from my desktop onto any external HDD. I thought there might be something wrong with the external HDD but I can copy items off of it onto the desktop with no problem and was even able to place things on it before finder started randomly freezing. The freeze starts off with the spinning beach ball, and everything else seems to be working until i switch to a different application then they all start freezing.
Is there any way to solve this without having to completley do a clean install all over again?

The next time you have the problem, note the exact times when it starts and ends: hour, minute, second.
If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.
Scroll back in the log to the time you noted above. Select any messages timestamped during that interval. Copy them (command-C) to the Clipboard. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. In most cases, a few dozen lines are more than enough.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

External HDD randomly dismounting

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