Hard Drive won't verify so can't Archive and Restore (10.4.6)

Hello
I've had problems updating from 10.4.5 to 10.4.6 - ever since the update neither iCal nor the Address book work. The data for the address book is still there as Mail can see it, but neither iCal nor Address book will open - they just bounce in the dock and crash.
Reading further down this forum I worked out that the best thing was probably to archive and restore back to 10.4.1 and re-update using the combo installer.
Unfortunately the 10.4.1 Installer DVD won't let me carry on as it crashes when it verifies the target disk.
The same thing happens when I use the disk utility and try to verify the disk - it won't even start scanning it - just crashes almost instantly. (Permissions verify OK and no problems).
I'd rather not do a format & install if I can help it as I would have to spend ages reloading all the software from CDs and DVDs...
I hope that all makes sense - thanks in advance for your help
T
Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hi Tom, Welcome to Apple Discussions.
Given the situation you're in I don't know that you have a good option but to erase and install. You can try repairing with DiskWarrior but it may or may not work.
My advice would be to get a firewire external hard drive and clone your system over to it. That way, instead of re-installing you can just use Migration Manager. You'll also have a complete backup solution which it sounds like you need.
-mj
[email protected]

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I have Adobe Acrobat 8 Standard and I had to reload it on my computer due to my hard drive crashing. Now I can only open and view PDF's and I cannot edit them as I could before such as using Tools Comment

I have Adobe Acrobat 8 Standard and I had to reload it on my computer due to my hard drive crashing. Now I can only open and view PDF’s and I cannot edit them as I could before such as using Tools>Comment&Markup or Tools>Advanced Editing>TouchUp Text Tool. All the functions are greyed out. Please advise.

What's your OS? Acrobat 8 is not compatible with any modern OS.
On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 4:16 PM, thomasc1234 <[email protected]>

My external Hard Drive won't transfer files to Mac HD and causes Finder to crash

My external Hard Drive (Western Digital 2TB hard drive in a ICYBOX 2-bay USB 2.0 HD Dock) won't transfer files to the Mac HD. The transfer box comes up but stays at the 'estimating time' stage and remains like that. No matter how big the file/group of files are (biggest I've tried was only 500-odd MB) it won't transfer and stays at the 'estimating time' stage. When I try and stop the transfer, the transfer box remains at the 'stopping' stage until I restart the iMac. I can access other programs during this 'stopping' stage, as long as it doesn't involve the External HD.
When I attempt to open files from the External HD in Photoshop CS4, both Photoshop and Finder stop responding and have I have to 'Force Quit'. However, upon force quitting finder, I loose all icons on the desktop until I restart the Mac via holding down the 'Power' button on the back.
Ive looked at a few forums already and done a couple things they suggested to similar topics.
- I excluded the Ext HD on the Spotlight>Privacy tab.
- I verified the Ext HD via System Utilities. Some errors came up but the Repair was successful and subsequent Verifications have returned as 'OK'.
- I tried the Mac Diagnostic tool as suggested by Apple, but when I press the 'D' key on start up nothing happens.
The annoying thing is that this problem came out of the blue, the Ext HD was working fine 3 days ago.
My system:
iMac 21.5inch, mid 2010
3.6GHz Intel Core i5
8GB 1333 MHz DDR3
OS X 10.9.5 (13F34)
The Ext HD:
Western Digital 2TB
Mac OS Extended (Journalised)
1.91TB available on the HD
Shares a 2 Bay ICYBOX dock with another 2TB WD HD
Connected to the iMac via USB 2.0 to a 4-port USB 2.0 hub
Any help suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Tom

WD EHDs have an extremely high failure rate so don't be shocked if it is failing. However what you can do first is reset the SMC and PRAM first on the computer, do the SMC reset 2-3 times, sometimes the first try does not work. If this does not work then using another computer move the files to another EHD, this time buy a high quality HD, something like one of these

Firewire hard drive won't mount - Filesystem verify or repair failed.

Hi all - over the last day my lacie hard drive won't mount - i have tried it on various computers with the same result
disk utility can see it but won't mount or repair it reporting the following error
Filesystem verify or repair failed.
any help would be appreciated
best
darren/uk

Try Disk Utility first. It's in your Applications/Utilities folder.
You'll want to select the disk in question, then +Repair Disk+ (not Permissions). This actually repairs the +File System+ that's on the disk.
If that works, you're ok, unless it begins happening frequently. Then you need to save up for a new one.
If DU can't fix it, then one of the others might. Disk Warrior is about $100, and many people here say it's the best. There are others for less money, but there's no guarantee that any of them will succeed.
You can also try just erasing it, and choose +Security Options,+ then +Zero Out Data.+ If that fails, or you have more problems with the drive, you need a new one.

I just installed OS X Yosemite and now my WD My Book Live external hard drive won't re-connect. My Safari keeps kicking out and giving me error message after error message and my computer is really slow. How do I resolve? Can I uninstall this ?

I just installed OS X Yosemite and now my WD My Book Live external hard drive won't re-connect. My Safari keeps kicking out and giving me error message after error message and my computer is really slow. How do I resolve? Can I uninstall this ? I had to re-connect my iMovie t

USB2.0 PCI cards that use the NEC chipset seem to give the least amount of problems for Mac users.
OWC have a few different ones for sale.
http://eshop.macsales.com/Search/Search.cfm?Ntk=Primary&Ns=P_Popularity%7c1&Ne=5 000&N=7057&Ntt=USB2**0**cards
Do you also connect the external USB drive to the AC power as well while you use it ?
Sometimes USB external drive problems are resolved simply by plugging them into the mains power and trying again.
Stewie
Message was edited by: stewiesno1

External Hard Drive Won't Mount- Need to recover files

Hello Everyone,
I am hoping that one of you fine mac experts may be able to assist ~
Problem: External Seagate FreeAgent Desktop USB external hard drive
won't mount on desktop=ie: no access to my important files.. Please Help!
Details:
External seagate freeagent 500 GB Desktop USB HD ( only 2 months old)
(using for document / file backup-not as a startup disc)
on my Mac G3 350 MZ Blue & White Tower /768 ram/ running OSX 10.1.5 & OS9.2~
~
Problem: Started using the external 500 GB HD 2 months ago -with no problems-until this morning. Tried to double click to open it to access files
and got the "beach ball of death" and needed to restart.
My trusty G3 started up fine, however, the external HD was now
not showing up on the desktop as normal. I troubleshooted -by restarting,
trying different a/c plugs/ different USB ports , ran disk utility..called
seagate -not much help . Seagate said to try the HD on another mac-which I did-
a G5 tower- same problem.
~
The External hard drive will show up in disk utility, but is grayed out.
and when click "mount" same two messages keep showing:
message 1: "a disk attempting to mount as unknown has failed verification or has failed to
mount.please use disk utility to check the disk"
~
message 2- when unplugging and repluggin the usb in-and upon
restart:" you have inserted a disk containg no volumes that mac osx
can read to use unreadable volumes,click initialize to continue with the disk inserted ,click continue"
~
( I really need access to these files- and do not want to re-initialize the HD!!)
I ran Disk Utility /first aid "verify & repair , the following info came up:
Repairing disk "main backup 2007 ".
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid key length ( <<<IN RED )
Repair completed. "
~~
Though it said the repair was completed, the "invalid key length" issue
still comes up when re-running disk utility...Hard drive would still not
mount on desktop-even after restarting .
~~~~~
If there is a mac genius out there that can help?- it would be greatly
appreciated. I have tried to call seagate several times in the last several hours-
1st time-they disconnected me after being on hold 10 minutes-2nd call
I was put on hold for 40 minutes ..Finally spoke to someone ( they are not mac users or mac experts!)and he said I would need to send it to Seagate's Data Recovery-... for a fee of course!
~~~
At this point, I am hoping to just get the files and photos off
the hard drive- I heard about Disk Warrior-should I use that and if so
what version?
Thank you very much!
L

Will zapping the PRAM be of any use in getting the external to mount on the desktop?
Your external Hard drive is already recognized. But it cannot be mounted on the desktop due to its directory damage. You can certainly Zap the PRAM, and it will not hurt anything, but I am skeptical that it will change the situation.
Do you think the Disk Warrior 4.0 cd will even work on my G3 350MHZ running Mac OS 10.1.5?
If you boot from the CD and run it from the CD, absolutely yes. If you attempt to INSTALL it from a download or a CD, probably not.
Have you ever used Disc Warrior and is using it complicated?
I own and use Disk Warrior. You select the drive to be rebuilt, it builds a proposed new directory from the information and file fragments available.
When complete, it will provide a list of problems encountered, tell you what files have been placed in the "Rescued Items" folder, and allow you too look at your drive using the proposed new directory. Your only decision is whether the new directory seems to be an improvement over the old \[in your case, hopelessly corrupted] directory. You then tell it whether to replace the old directory with the proposed new directory, or to abandon its work and leave your Hard Drive unchanged.
Is there a good chance that the ext HD will still have my files on it- or do you think from what I've described that they are gone ?
From what you have described, your files are very likely to still be there. Sometimes in a situation like this, a handful of files cannot be recovered.
My other thought was to take the external HD there and have them try to recover the files.
Make sure you completely understand the costs involved. File recovery using a service like DriveSavers can run into many hundreds of dollars. They are prepared to disassemble your drive in a clean room and replace controller boards and read/write heads to achieve success. Your drive has serious, but not fatal, Directory damage. The Hardware, and most of your files, are likely just fine.

Unmounted External Hard Drive, Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed

Earlier today, I disconnected the external hard drive while it was working.
Now, the External Hard Drive won't even show up on my computer. However, on the Disk Utility it does. I have tried to verify & repair the disk. Plus click the mount button nothing work.
Whenever, I ran the system verify or the repair. I got this error: Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed
Ok. So I have searched all over the internet and forums. Tried everything. Nothing works.
I even tried Disk Warrior. It would work for a while, then when it came to step 8. It would make my computer go black and hold down the power button to restart.
Any suggestions? Please let me know, I would like to recover the files if I can. Thanks.
P.S.Yes I have tried to restart multiple time. I have tried with my USB 2.0, firewire 400, & 800 too.. Nothing.Everyone except the USB shows up in the disk utility but doesn't mount.

I have had the exact same situation occur, but was able to follow these steps to successfully save everything!!
The Unix program "dd" will instruct a drive to stream out all of it's data from beginning to end without regard to file structure, therefore creating an exact block-for-block duplicate. By doing this, it will allow you to copy everything off without having to mount the drive. It also ignores any corruption or physically damaged blocks on the drive which would otherwise crash or freeze the Finder. It saves the data to a disk image file which you can then open and use without fear of imminent failure (the format of the disk image will be the same as the original drive). Now that the data is preserved, you can safely go through and recover your files. Keep in mind that if a file was damaged or corrupted on the drive, it will be unusable, but at least you'll be able to get to the good ones safely. In my case, using "dd", I had no problems and got every file off. If it doesn't work for you, at least it's impossible for just trying it to further damage your files. I can recommend a few other remedies if this doesn't work for you.
Note: The computer must be able to at least recognize the drive. That means either 1) It mounts 2) When you connect the drive the Finder asks if you want to erase or ignore, click ignore and you should be able to do this, or 3) Nothing happens in the Finder, but the volume in question does appear in Disk Utility. If you connect the drive and absolutely nothing happens and it never shows up in Disk Utility, it won't work.
Note: As always, it is suggested that you backup important data on your startup disk before proceeding with stuff like this. It is possible to wipe a drive by mistyping a terminal command, so double check before you hit enter.
_Now, on with the show!_
Prep: Restart your machine so that it goes straight to the login window. Enter your user name and password. As soon as you press enter after your password, immediately hold down the shift key until the Finder finishes loading (this prevents any background startup items from running that might interfere).
1. Attach the drive to the computer and make sure you have another drive with enough free space to hold the entire capacity of the bad drive, not just it's used space, but the WHOLE size of the bad drive (for exception, see very bottom of this post).
2. In Terminal, type:
+diskutil list+
Look for the drive you want to recover in the "name" column, then write down it's "identifier" (ex. disk1s2)
3. In Terminal, type:
+dd bs=512 if=/dev/disk#s# of=/my_directory/image.dmg conv=noerror,sync+
!! Replace "disk#s#" with the identifier you wrote down before !!
!! Replace "/my_directory/" with the path to where you want to save !!
!! Replace "image.dmg" with the name you want to give the disk image (must end with .dmg) !!
4. To confirm that something is happening, open Activity Monitor (in the Utilities folder) and click "Disk Activity". Once you determine an average transfer rate, divide the size of the drive by that and then divide by 60 to see how many minutes it will take to finish. *+! ! FOR LARGE DRIVES THIS WILL TAKE A VERY LONG TIME ! !+* To be safe, do not use your computer for anything until the process finishes, you can leave Activity Monitor open so you can see when it's finished.
If you're only really concerned about a certain files and you know their exact path on the bad drive, let me know and I can give you modified instructions to copy just those files, saving the time and space of doing the whole drive.

When I power up my Mac-Pro I only get a flashing file folder with a ? inside the folder. I suspect my hard drive is maxed to capacity can anyone help me as to what I should do?

When I power up my Mac-Pro I only get a flashing file folder with a ? inside the folder. I suspect my hard drive is maxed to capacity can anyone help me as to what I should do?

Whatever the problem is you no longer have a bootable system. You need to try reinstalling OS X.
Reinstall Snow Leopard without erasing the drive
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing the Drive
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

External Hard Drive Won't Mount

I've got a new 500GB Toshiba external hard drive, connected to my computer via a USB. The first time I connected it, it showed up just fine, but after ejecting it, and connecting it again, it doesn't show up in Finder. I've gone to Disk Utility, and it does *show up* there; however, I can't verify or repair it (the buttons are all greyed out.) What can I do?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I am having this exact same problem with a WD hard drive, it was improperly dismounted from a Mac and i'm pretty sure the data is ok, but the partition table is corrupted. I tried diskwarrior and some other utilities without any success, although testdisk (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk) was able to read the drive and could see the data, i do not have another drive to back it up to. In fact i have this exact same problem with 2 external hard drives, caused by the same thing, is anyone aware of this being a recurring bug in OSX 10.4.11? One would think that Macs being such user friendly machines they would not be so prone to causing major problems on a routine bad dismount... My windows XP machine recognized the drive, and started to mount it but hung partway through the mounting process. I will check back if i find a solution, and please if you could post any breakthroughs you might have it would be appreciated. Good luck!

External hard drive won't mount, even after disk repair.

My Toshiba external hard drive won't mount on my MacBook Pro 10.8.5. I can see it in my disk repair, and when I repair, "the partition map appears to be ok." But I can't access the icon to be able to open the hard drive contents on my desktop. Help!

Hello maccynicwhoalwayshasmacs,
Thanks for the question. After reviewing your post, it sounds like trouble with an external HD mounting. I would recommend that you read this article, it may be able to help you resolve or isolate the issue.
USB and FireWire Quick Assist
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Have a nice day,
Mario

New hard drive won't recognize my iPhone

My hard drive crashed and my replacement hard drive won't recognize my iPhone. I can see all my content, but can't move or replace it. I was able to access content on my iTouch just fine and luckily synched my contacts back into my laptop, but no dice on the phone. Any ideas? BTW, my phone is a jailbroken original iPhone and I am not particularly proficient with this kind of stuff.

Does it boot into Open Firmware with CMDOption+of ?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=42642
reset-nvram (press Enter)
set-defaults (press Enter)
reset-all (press Enter)
Have you done a PRAM reset...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

After installing snow leopard my external hard drive won't show up on screen or backup

Afer installing leopard my external hard drive won't show up on my desk top. It also won't backup my hard drive with time machine. I need help.

Try going to finder preferences, general, make sure show these items on desktop external disks is clicked. You can also go to sidebar (same pane) and click it there so it will show when you open your HD. Time Machine>system preferences>time machine>turn it off click select disk, make sure the correct disk is selected, the turn TM back on. Hope this helps.

External Hard drive won't edit?

I have been PC for 15 years and just moved to a MAC to do graphic design on for college and future. Just set this up 2 nights ago. I bought a brand new 20inch 2GB 2.66ghz, 320GB hard drive.
Now, I have just a plain ole'USB external hard drive with all of my music, picture,s and videos on it. Now there are some things on there that that have been added like album covers and stuff, tat I want to delete. It won't let me... It says that the folder cannot be modified.
Why?
Is the computer putting some sort of lock on the hard drive? Because when I plug that drive into my PC all of those extra album covers and stuff aren't there...
How do I fix this? Thanks for any help guys!

Hello and Welcome to Apple Discussions.
I suspect that your external drive is formatted to the NTFS file system. Whilst a Mac can read an NTFS drive it can't write to it. Macs can read and write FAT32 drives. Mac only drives use HFS+ file system. You should copy all the content off the external onto the iMac, then erase the external and format it to FAT32 (called "MS-DOS" in Apple's Disk Utility). You can then copy all the content back and will have read and write access to it as will any PCs you connect it to. If you will not need to connect it to a PC again then use HFS+ (called "Mac OS Extended" in Disk Utility) as this is a superior system to FAT.
BTW this forum is for the much older iMac (Flat Panel) models
G4 (aka Flat Panel): Intel:
Click image to go to correct forum.
cheers
mrtotes

External Hard Drive won't turn on

Hi all,
I have just bought a brand new iMac and a new Western Digital 1TB External Hard Drive to use Time Machine on. I have plugged it all in, done my first back up and it all went fine.
Then, I turned off my computer and all the plugs to go to bed as usual, now when I have come back to it in the morning the Western Digital Hard Drive won't turn on! It's all plugged in and fine, but no life at all.
Has anyone else had this? Can anyone explain or help?
Thanks

Hello Simon. I'd do what Barry Hemphill has suggested and try to return or RMA the drive.
Did you buy the drive from a store or online? I believe the fault would not be fixed by any apple updates as it seems to be a hardware fault rather than a software one from what Ive read.
Is this the drive? http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=357
Does it work when connected via USB at all? I had issues with a firewire drive sometimes not showing up so I switched to a USB interface and it worked fine sinc then.
Good luck!

External hard drive won't shut down after switch from OS10.5 to OS10.4.11

i recently chanded my OS from 10.5 to 10.4.11 (as a programme i want to use is not compatible with leopard), but since i have done this my external hard-drive won't shut down automatically when i shut down my mac. i have to switch it off at the plug instead.
can anyone suggest how i can get it to do this again?
i'm a little concerned that i'm damaging the external drive by turning it off manually all the time..
thanks

Some hard drives shut off with shutdown, some don't. Sometimes hard drives that did shut off with one system will not do the same with a different system. My hard drives which did shut off, prior to 10.5 now stay on.
This is not really a problem as all hard drives spin down after 10- 20 minutes when not in use, whether your computer is on or off. Leaving the drive on is fine, shutting it off manually is fine.
-mj
[email protected]

Hard Drive won't verify so can't Archive and Restore (10.4.6)

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