Firewire drive seen by disk utility won't mount, verify or repair

I have a WD Terabyte drive that I have used for over a year with no problems. A couple of days ago my roommate went to use it and disconnected the drive from my computer without ejecting it first. He used it with his PC and disconnected it without "safely removing" it from his computer and now it will not mount to my desktop of been seen by PC. Disk Utility sees the device but I get an error when I try to repair the disk or verify the disk. It gives me an "error on exit" message. I really need the 700GB of info on that drive. Don't know what to do next.

Hi-
Welcome to Discussions!
You will need your roommate to fork over money to buy Disk Warrior, as it may be the only hope of resurrecting the hard drive.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1901?viewlocale=en_US
If the directory of the drive cannot be repaired with Disk Warrior, you will need another drive of at least 1.5TB in size, and DATA Rescue II.
Also, tell your roommate not to touch your stuff.

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Hi Dominic,
If this is still not mounting, it may be worth trying a PRAM reset...
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
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2.5TB Drive Seen By Disk Utility As Only 301GB

I just bought an internal 3.5 inch Western Digital Cavair Green 2.5TB SATA drive which I am attaching to my Macbook Pro using a drive docking station. This is the largest size hard disk drive I've ever tried to work with but for some reason Disk Utility will not let me create any combination of partitions totaling more than 301GB all together. Is there some special trick to formatting larger hard drives that I've not yet heard of?
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Kappy - I am investigating the dock limitations with the manufacturer now, there may indeed be a 2TB limit but it's still strange that the drive size is being reported both by Disk Utility and Finder as 301GB - what an odd number! The documentation that came with the drive did say to enable 1.5Gb/s speed to jumper pins 5-6
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Disk Utility Won't Mount SparseBundle

I am experimenting with SuperDuper clones and Time Machine, both of which have created .SparseBundle images of system drives.
If I boot from Leopard Install Disc and run Disk Utility (which I would have to do if the system drive failed completely), , I can't restore from the sparsebundle -- it has to be mounted first. But if I go File>Open Disk Image, the Sparsebundle is grey and I can't do anything with it.
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Use the option, restore from a TM image. AFAIK, that's how you do it w/TM. I've not used SD! in years, so you should ask at ShirtPocket. BTW, I highly doubt they're recommending images over bootable backups, which you can test without restoring, but I've been wrong before.

Disk utility won't MOUNT .iso images to disk?

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Don't use Disk Utility for this. Use DiskImageMounter, which will launch automatically when you double click the .iso file. If it doesn't, right click the .iso, select Open With, and choose DiskImageMounter.

Disk Utility won't let me select "Repair" button - help!

I'm trying to upgrade from 10.3.9 to 10.4. When I run Installation, it fails and gives me a message that I need to repair my hard drive. So I restarted from the DVD, selected Disk Utility, clicked on my hard drive and was able to click on Verify. When it got done, it said the disk needed repairs. But the Repair button is grayed out. Any suggestions on either the trouble with the install or why I can't select Repair?
Thanks.

Usually, being able to select the internal HD and click on Verify but not Repair indicates one is actually booted up from the internal HD rather than the optical drive. Which drive is shown at the top of the Disk Utility list on the left?
What 10.4 version (e.g., 10.4.8) is shown on your retail black label Tiger 10.4 Install disc?
You can also try repairing the drive using the file system check fsck utility in single user mode, as described in Using Disk Utility and fsck.
When making disk repairs, repeat the repair until the utility reports no problems found or until it reports being unable to make further repairs. It's possible for one disk directory problem to mask another.

DIsk Utility: Won't properly verify boot disk?

Has anyone else noticed this, or is there something wrong with my Mavericks install?
If I try to verify "Macintosh HD" in Disk Utility, i.e. my boot disk, the verfiy doesn't perform the last 2 steps and doesn't confirm that the disk is OK.
For a normal disk, it says this:
Verifying volume “Data”
Checking file system
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking catalog hierarchy.
Checking extended attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
The volume Data appears to be OK.
But for my boot disk, all I get is:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking file system
Performing live verification.
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking catalog hierarchy.
Checking extended attributes file.
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Yes, it's a known issue and bug reports have been filed. If you check the log you'll see that the Verify actually completed.
You can file feedback here. The more who file the more chance it will get done.

DISK UTILITY PROBLEMS : unable to verify or repair disk and/or permissions

hi all...first time poster.
i have been reading past posts for 3 hours and i am still unable to resolve these issues i am having.
it all started with a failed attempt to install an update (QB2006_R4Updater.dmg) that i downloaded for a new version of Quickbooks Pro 2006 that i just purchased. the install continuously got hung up on "Searching Macintosh HD" looking for the application.
i called quickbooks tech support and after about an hour of troubleshooting and 4-5 failed attempts to boot in safe mode...the rep told me it seemed to be a system problem.
regarding safe mode:
when i try to boot up in safe mode...immediately after hearing the start up tone i press and hold shift until the gray apple appears then release it. the system continues to boot for about 30-45 seconds and then shuts down.
regarding disk utility:
i have tried to verify and repair the disk permissions to no avail...i also booted from the osX 10.4.6 installer disk (i am currently running osX 10.4.7) and tried to verify and repair the disk but on every occassion it gets hung up a little less than half way through - no error message - it will just keep going until i need to reboot the system. i cant even force quite disk utility.
i have also tried removing the itunes.pkg file as well as moving itunes to the desktop followed by running disk utility...but the same results.
some other info about this system...
as well as running all of tigers bundled software...i have installed cs2, microsoft office x, suitcase fusion, windows media player and quickbooks pro 2006.
not really sure what i need to or should do...just want to get the system so i can continue to keep up with software updates and use the utilities to keep everything working properly.
thank you in advance for any help you might be able to give me.
17" iMac PowerPC G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

From what you've described there are several possibilities, none very encouraging:
1. You have a motherboard problem
2. You have bad RAM
3. Your hard drive is failing or damaged
Given what you've described I would recommend trying this:
Boot into single-user mode by restarting the computer and after the chime press and hold down COMMAND-S keys until the computer starts up to a black screen with white type. When startup has completed you should see a prompt. At the prompt enter the following commands pressing return after each:
prompt> /sbin/fsck -fy
If you do not get a return message "Filesystem OK" then repeat the above command until the "Filesystem OK" message appears. If you repeat the command more than seven times without success, then the drive cannot be repaired. To restart OS X enter:
prompt> reboot
Download the utility TinkerTool System and use it to clear out all user and system caches, font caches, and log files.
If none of this works, then you will have to reformat the hard drive as follows:
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2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
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Quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed to install OS X. You can upgrade to the most recent version by downloading and installing the Combo Updater for the desired version level.

S.m.a.r.t. status failing, HD won't mount, verify, or repair. Can't make disk image. Any other options?

My iMac won't boot up. It gets to the grey screen with the progress bar. Gets about a third through the progress bar, then shuts off.
I boot up with the recovery disk. The S.M.A.R.T. status is "failing." Disk Utility shows the following message:
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I have tried:
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• Making a disk image from disk utility. I got a message "input/output error"
• Using my MacBookPro laptop to boot up the iMac in target disk mode. The iMac wouldn't mount.
I backed up up a few months ago, so I'm not totally out of luck. But there's a few recent projects I'd like to salvage.
This is a 21.5" iMac with 3.33 ghz, 2x2 gb, 1000gb running the latest Yosemite OS
Any further things I should try before carting the iMac to Tekserve? Thanks everybody.

I'm afraid from your description it sounds as if the disk is seriously damaged in some way. I don't think there is anything more you can do, short of taking it to a specialist recovery service which would be extremely expensive.
Your service engineer will take the disk out and replace it with a new one; ask to keep the original disk. You could try putting it in an enclosure (more expense) and seeing whether anything will access it, but I have to say that given what you've already done it's extremely unlikely you will have any sucess.

Disk Utility error msg: Filesystem verify or repair failed!!!

Ok so after erasing my partitioned HD I wanted to use the rest of my HD on my start up HD, So I pulled the expander in the partition window to resize the volume of the HD. Then I clicked apply to resize the HD and ended up with a Partition Failed message that stated
Partition failed with the error:
Filesystem verify or repair failed.
What do I do from here to get my current HD at full capacity?
The current size is 19.9 GB and it should be at 60 GB.

Ok, so I had a partitioned hard drive, and I wanted to expand the start up drive and delete the unnecessary partition. So in disk utility I clicked on partition and deleted the partition I didn't want.
Then I used the expander thing in the bottom corner of the start up hard drive box and clicked apply to enlarge it, but filesystem verify or repair failed message appeared.

My Firewire drive isnt mounting - can be seen in the disk utility but not mounting.

I have an older MicroNet 500GB Harddrive that has always been picky about what cables it uses. I used it not that long ago to download a mass amout of files to transfer from one computer to another and it mounted no problem. My iMac is newer bought it last year and has the 800 FW port and the Mirconet has a 400 FW and 2 800 FW ports.
I have tried multiple cables 800 to 800, 400 to 800, etc. I can see the drive in my Disk Utility and have run the first aid protocols to no avail. It refuses to mount to my computers...
Any one have any advice before I spend $200-300 to extract the data at Best Buy.
Thanks so much for any advice.

Was the external hard drive connected to a Mac or PC, when you transferred the large amount of files to it? I'm wondering if it has a corrupted directory, and needs a third-party product like DiskWarrior (which is better than Disk First Aid) to straighten it out. It's possible that the FireWire bridge board in the external case is bad (which could explain its hypersensitivity to cables used). I wouldn't pay $200-$300 for data retrieval, before exhausting less expensive options, assuming that the drive's warranty has expired. Examine the case to see how it's held together - often the cover sleeve is secured to the rear plate with small screws that can be removed. Sometimes, one screw is covered with warranty-void tape, which can be peeled back/off. If it's a plastic case, you may run into problems. Some plastic cases have hidden snap latches, that require a special tool to release without breaking them. If you can remove the case's cover, you can access the bare drive. Remove its mounting screws (either on the side or bottom of the drive) and disconnect the data and power cables. With the drive removed, you can use an adapter like this one, which will adapt the IDE or SATA interface of the drive (whichever it has) for connection to a USB 2 port on your computer. This is a generic piece of hardware - you don't need to buy one marketed for use with Macs. If the drive doesn't have a mechanical and/or electronic problem, it should mount on the desktop.

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320GB Western Digital MyBook Premium model number: WD3200D032-000
500 GB Western Digital MyBook Premium model number: WD5000E032
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The blue circle lights come on so power is getting to it.
Tried 2 USB cables, one I know for sure is working - Nothing.
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No they haven't worked on this computer before. I using them on my old MacBook Pro (a computer which is no longer working) which ran Snow Leopard.
The 500GB drive "stopped working" with that old MBP too
But the 320GB drive was always working with old MBP if I remember correctly.
Cheers

Disk Utility won't partition ext. drive

Hi everyone,
I would like to split my external MyBook Pro drive in two so I can keep Time machine B/ups separate, but Disk utility keeps informing me that there is not enough space! I only want approx 80gb of the remaining 105gb. Where am I going wrong. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Are you willing to erase the contents on the external hard drive? Disk utility won't subdivide existing space, you have to do the entire drive at once. However, there are utilities (I believe they are purchase/commercial only) that will sub partition an existing disk partition.

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Boot the Recvoery USB, use Disk Utility to select the internal drive makers namea and size on the left.
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see
http://osxdaily.com/2011/08/08/lion-recovery-disk-assistant-tool-makes-external- lion-boot-recovery-drives/

How can I force mount a dvd that isn't even seen by Disk Utility? I can see it on the Mac when using my Windows 7 partition via Boot Camp, but not in Lion, which is how I would rather be running.

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Well if there is a EFI block, then running a program in OS X isn't going to do a lick of good.
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Firewire drive seen by disk utility won't mount, verify or repair

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