I cannot unmount my external hard drive, neither repair or format it

I've got a Western Digital My Passport II and unfortunately I can neither format nor repair it because I can't manage to unmount the disk.
When I run fsck it results in the following:
** /dev/rdisk0s2 (NO WRITE)
Can't open /dev/rdisk0s2: Permission denied
/dev/rdisk0s2 (hfs) EXITED WITH SIGNAL 8
Any help?
Thanks!!

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
There's no reason to think that Mountain Lion will slow down your Mac. Just make a backup of your data before upgrading with Time Machine > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
Also, check that your apps are compatible > http://www.roaringapps.com Upgrade them to a compatible version or delete them before upgrading.
The external drive won't make the OS X Mountain Lion installer fail, but it's better to unplug it during the upgrade.
iWork '08 is compatible with Mountain Lion. iWork '09 includes OS X Mountain Lion features and can be purchased at the Mac App Store.
To upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion, I recommend at least 4 GB of RAM. You can check how much memory you have in Apple menu > About this Mac

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I cannot connect my external hard drives (1 WD My Passport and 1 LaCie Porsche Design). The drives were connected and worked perfect, the WD is used as a Time Capsule, the LaCie is formatted as exFAT and used for miscellaneous. They are both USB 3.0

I cannot connect my external hard drives any longer. I have one WD "My Passport" used as a Time Capsule and one LaCie Porsche Design used for all different kind of data, formatted in exFAT. They worked fine, connected direct or through an additional USB hub or also attached to a Dell monitor. The Lacie helds my iTunes Library and the iPhoto library.
After I moved the iTunes library to the external drive, from time to time the drive went into a never ending loop and I had to shut down the laptop (MacBook Air).
The last time starting again the drives were not recognized any longer. I tried to connect them to another MacBook, which didn't work.
Starting with Windows 7, the WD is also not recognized at all (perhaps because of time capsule format?) and the LaCie gives an error.
Could anybody tell me if there is a chance to get them alive again? When I connect them now, they start to heat up quite fast without anything else happening.
Thanks

Hi,
Just want to clarify, have you checked to make sure the cords are not damaged (going from hard drive to computer and or any power source )?
You have also check to make sure that usb ports are working correctly?
If you have checked these things it may be that the external drives have failed.
I would google the error message from the LaCie drive before I do anything.
There are several ways that I know of, one is to put the hard drive in the freezer for a while (make sure you wrap it air tight) if this works it is not a permenint fix. You might be able to transfer information to another source.
The other method is to plug the hard drive into a hard drive connector a product like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817707192
to do this you would have to remove the hard drive from its enclosure and still this is not a guarantee it will work.
The finally way I know is using a recovery service. This can be rather expensive, and there are no guarantees

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I just looked into this as I was moving my iPad to a new computer for synching. With no thanks to Kobo for any really useful information on their help site (this discussion was the most useful info I found), I think the following may address your issue with respect to Kobo.
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2. Kobo keep track of your personal library. Go to the Kobo website (Kobo.com) and sign in to your account. On the very top line is "My Library". That contains (or at least Kobo says it does) everything you have ever bought from Kobo. Kobo say that you may download any of this content to other devices you own at no charge.
3. I synched my iPad to the new computer. According to Apple, that will delete all my data as the apps are re-installed from the new compute. While all my apps got moved around from the order I previously had (many thanks Apple), all my books are still there together with my bookmarks etc. Looks like this did nothing to change any Kobo data.
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I cannot access a shared external hard drive with other mac accounts (all accounts are on the same macbook Pro). The shared external drive is shared via time capsule and is connected (of course) in USB. I see well this external hard drive as a shared disk with my main account. Yes shared option has been activated with the Airport Utility .. but when I open other account these othe accounts can see the external drive but cannot access to its content that is flagged with a no way sign. Strangely enough when I close my main account and start opening a new session with one of the other account then fine I can access the external hard drive and its content .. BUT then it is from my main account than I cannot access its content the no way sign showing ..
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Results of my enquiries at Apple Genius Bar .. the guys found the problem interesting. They've been unable to provide a fix neither to give any explanation as to the reason why. To be fair I was not much impressed by the technical level demonstrated ..
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Hi,
I am at the tail end of a large documentary project on FCP. Suddenly, this evening my external hard drive (Maxtor One Touch III, Turbo Edition, 1.5TB) becomes sluggish. I shut down (all properly) and restart and the external hard drive is no longer on the desktop (does not mount and cannot be seen anywhere).
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Hello all,
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It shows up in Disk Utility as a page icon - but I cannot access it.
So, unfortunately for me...my problem still remains and I am now out a hundred bucks!
Please, anybody out there - who can give me some direction - I would greatly appreciate it.
BTW, the data is still all there and the light on the front of the drive keeps flashing indicating something is going on...but drive is not mounted, invisible.
I read on the Maxtor packaging something about a built in Maxtor DriveLock - a password protected security measure against theft and loss...could I have inadvertently activated that and that is causing the problem...please advise.

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Hello and thank you in advance for your help.
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Can't unmount my External Hard Drive?

Hi guys,
I've been using my Seagate Portable Media 500GB external hard drive for Time Machine on Mountain Lion.
Last week, Time Machine's backup failed, with the message "Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder."
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The drive is still visible in Finder and I can still access its contents.
I've also tried using a new power cable for the drive and I'm having the same results.
Any advice would be great!
Thanks.

Hi elliswicks,
Please follow this step before atempting Joe Gramm's "boot into recovery" method.
1) Keep your external hard drive plugged in.
2) Restart your computer.
3) Go to Disk Utility and eject the drive.
You should have no problems carrying out Step 3. If this fails, you'll have to rely on Joe Gramm's advanced method.
Hope you (and anybody else) have benefited from this simpler method! Don't forget to like or put "This solved my question" or "This helped me"!
Good luck!
from Galaxy User

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First let me start by saying I am no geek!
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I cannot unmount my external hard drive, neither repair or format it

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