Lost boot drive, Disk Util on boot CD sees but won't mount

1. My boot drive stopped booting (running Tiger)
2. Booted to 10.2 install disc, Disc Util found "keys out of order" problem, couldn't fix.
3. On extra HD, installed 10.2, boots fine
4. Now, following master/slave jumper directions on
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=111769, I can't get the boot drive to act as a slave. ID conflict?
5. The goal is to try Norton Utilities (I have version 7, hope that's late enough) to repair the keys problem or at least recover data from the drive to the new boot drive, so I need them both up simultaneously
6. What am I missing here?
thanks

Apple (MIcroMat etc) warn to never use an older
version of any disk utility, including Apple's, on a
newer system. There is a TIL if you look for it.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301269
Hatter, thanks for that. I was explaining the forward compatibility thing to my wife last night. My hope HAD been to use Norton to recover files, but after what was posted above I'm glad it didn't boot!
The other is that some systems won't boot OS X from
slave drives, probably more so with 10.2 (can you say
"beta?").
Actually, I'm not trying to boot from a slave, instead I'm trying to get to the OLD Tiger boot drive (Keys out of order) AS a slave now. Can't get a jumper setting combo to work, no matter whose documentation I use. New, 10.2 boot drive is a Maxtor 90000 model, old boot (new slave) is Quantum Fireball EX.
you should be using your Tiger DVD; and you shouldn't
be using NUM 7 or 8 on Tiger. The first thing to try
is always fsck or a clone of the current/latest
system.
Um, if I had a Tiger DVD that would be great. If I had a DVD drive, even better! I'm having to scrounge here.
I don't think B&W will support Cable Select. I would
invest in a SATA/ATA controller for 2nd drive (and
better I/O).
See above on scrounging. I've been aware of the controller issue since the B/W rev 1, they came out the first time I worked at Apple. Which reminds me, I was an assassin there, had one of the best First Call Resolution numbers. Now, three, four years later, with a computer that has run flawlessly all that time, I've forgotten more than I ever knew!
Thanks.
David

Similar Messages

Drive passes S.M.A.R.T but won't mount

Hey all, I couldn't find a good section for this question so I thought I'd post it here.
I have an external "new" WD Passport Studio drive that I have a lot of important data on. The other day I plugged it in and it didn't mount. I can see the drive and the partition under Disk Utility, but it fails to mount. I did a repair and pasted the output of the log below. - The drive also passes S.M.A.R.T - Any ideas?
setStartTime, knownStartTime = 2012-07-13 03:15:59 +0000
calculateTabs: (R.1: 116, L.2: 121, R.3: 379, L.4: 384)
Verify and Repair volume “POV Mobile One”
2012-07-12 23:15:59 -0400: Verify and Repair volume “POV Mobile One”
2012-07-12 23:15:59 -0400: Starting repair tool:
dmAsyncMessageForDisk (disk2s10): Checking file system2012-07-12 23:16:01 -0400: Checking file systemrepairOutputDictionary for disk2s10: {
    "fsck_msg_number" = 213;
    "fsck_msg_string" = "Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.";
    "fsck_msg_type" = VERIFY;
    "fsck_verbosity" = 0;
2012-07-12 23:16:45 -0400: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
repairOutputDictionary for disk2s10: {
    "fsck_msg_number" = 201;
    "fsck_msg_string" = "Checking extents overflow file.";
    "fsck_msg_type" = VERIFY;
    "fsck_verbosity" = 0;
2012-07-12 23:16:49 -0400: Checking extents overflow file.
dmAsyncProgressForDisk (disk2s10): barberPole=No, percent=0.0
repairOutputDictionary for disk2s10: {
    "fsck_msg_number" = 202;
    "fsck_msg_string" = "Checking catalog file.";
    "fsck_msg_type" = VERIFY;
    "fsck_verbosity" = 0;
2012-07-12 23:17:11 -0400: Checking catalog file.
dmAsyncProgressForDisk (disk2s10): barberPole=No, percent=1.0
setCurrentPercentage 1.00%
firsttime with 72.25
totalEstimate = 72.25 (72.25)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (144.49) *
totalEstimate = 72.25 (216.74)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (288.99)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (361.23)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (433.48)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (505.73)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (577.97)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (650.22)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (722.47)
calc: persecond = 72.25 (72.25), remaining 7152.41
totalEstimate = 72.25 (72.25)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (144.50)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (216.74) *
totalEstimate = 72.25 (288.99)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (361.24)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (433.48)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (505.73)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (577.97)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (650.22)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (722.47)
calc: persecond = 72.25 (72.25), remaining 7152.43
output = 1 hour, 59 minutes
repairOutputDictionary for disk2s10: {
    "fsck_msg_number" = 207;
    "fsck_msg_string" = "Checking multi-linked files.";
    "fsck_msg_type" = VERIFY;
    "fsck_verbosity" = 0;
2012-07-12 23:20:30 -0400: Checking multi-linked files.
repairOutputDictionary for disk2s10: {
    "fsck_msg_number" = 203;
    "fsck_msg_string" = "Checking catalog hierarchy.";
    "fsck_msg_type" = VERIFY;
    "fsck_verbosity" = 0;
2012-07-12 23:20:30 -0400: Checking catalog hierarchy.
dmAsyncProgressForDisk (disk2s10): barberPole=No, percent=2.0
setCurrentPercentage 2.00%
totalEstimate = 72.25 (72.25)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (144.50)
totalEstimate = 135.70 (280.20)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (352.44) *
totalEstimate = 72.25 (424.69)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (496.94)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (569.18)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (641.43)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (713.67)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (785.92)
calc: persecond = 135.70 (78.59), remaining 7702.03
totalEstimate = 72.25 (72.25)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (144.50)
totalEstimate = 135.70 (280.20)
totalEstimate = 135.70 (415.90)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (488.14) *
totalEstimate = 72.25 (560.39)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (632.64)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (704.88)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (777.13)
totalEstimate = 72.25 (849.38)
calc: persecond = 135.70 (84.94), remaining 8323.88
output = 2 hours
repairOutputDictionary for disk2s10: {
    "fsck_msg_number" = 204;
    "fsck_msg_string" = "Checking extended attributes file.";
    "fsck_msg_type" = VERIFY;
    "fsck_verbosity" = 0;
2012-07-12 23:20:30 -0400: Checking extended attributes file.
repairOutputDictionary for disk2s10: {
    "fsck_msg_number" = 205;
    "fsck_msg_string" = "Checking volume bitmap.";
    "fsck_msg_type" = VERIFY;
    "fsck_verbosity" = 0;
2012-07-12 23:27:19 -0400: Checking volume bitmap.
repairOutputDictionary for disk2s10: {
    "fsck_msg_number" = 106;
    "fsck_msg_string" = "The volume %1$@ could not be verified completely.";
    "fsck_msg_type" = FAIL;
    "fsck_verbosity" = 0;
    parameters =     (
            volumename = "POV Mobile One";
2012-07-12 23:35:27 -0400: The volume POV Mobile One could not be verified completely.
dmAsyncProgressForDisk (disk2s10): barberPole=No, percent=100.0
dmAsyncMessageForDisk (disk2s10): Volume repair complete.2012-07-12 23:35:27 -0400: Volume repair complete.dmAsyncMessageForDisk (disk2s10): Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.2012-07-12 23:35:27 -0400: Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.dmAsyncProgressForDisk (disk2s10): barberPole=Yes, percent=100.0
dmAsyncProgressForDisk (disk2s10): barberPole=No, percent=100.0
dmAsyncFinishedForDisk (disk2s10) repairError: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files. - -19996
2012-07-12 23:35:59 -0400: Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.2012-07-12 23:35:59 -0400:
2012-07-12 23:35:59 -0400: Disk Utility stopped repairing “POV Mobile One”: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
2012-07-12 23:36:19 -0400:
calculateTabs: (R.1: 116, L.2: 121, R.3: 379, L.4: 384)

Looks like Disk Utility gave you the following error message:
Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
That means the drive is very badly corrupt, and may not be repairable. Some or all data may already be destroyed. You can try repairing with something like DiskWarrior. That often is able to repair problems that Disk Utility cannot. However, there are no guarantees, and even if DiskWarrior can fix the drive's directories, there may be irreversible damage to some of your data files. Do you have backups of that data?

Disk Utility says everything's fine, but Install disk doesn't find my internal drive as a possible destination. When I startup with Command S, I get a looping "cannot mount errno = 19" message.

Disk Utility says everything's fine, but Install disk doesn't find my internal drive as a possible destination. When I startup with Command + S, I get a looping "cannot mount errno = 19" message.
Problem started when I used Tech Tool Pro 6 to "de-fragment volume". Had to cancel that process before it finished because I ran out of time. Thereafter, when I startup my machine normally, I get the gray Apple logo at first, but it changes to a prohibited symbol (circle with a slash thru it) and hangs.
When I startup holding the Option key, I can see my internal drive, but I get the same results as above.
When I startup using the MacBook OSX Install DVD, it does not find my internal drive as possible destination.
When I startup using the MacBook OSX Install DVD and then run Disk Utility, it finds my drive, allows me to "repair" and says everything is fine.
When I startup with Command + S, I get a looping error message "errno = 19" and cannot stop it to do anything else.
When I startup from Disk Warrior v4.4, it does not find my internal drive to do any repairs.
When I startup from Tech Tool Pro 6 and run the "computer check" diagnostics, everything passes but the Volume Structure, which fails at "Volume Extents (B-tree)." When I use TTP's "Tools" option to run "volume repair" it will show my internal drive and allow me to click the GO button, but nothing happens and nothing changes.
I have a Time Machine backup on an external USB drive, but for as long as the internal drive doesn't mount, I can't use the backup to restore.

It's a false report and should be ignored.
I would not rely on TT as I've already said earlier even before Grant posted similar advice.
I really think the Rigid Disk Block may be corrupted. This holds the partition map and could prevent a volume from being unmounted. Unfortunately, there is no way to fix that without repartitioning the drive which will remove everything. So, before going down this road I hope you have backups or can make a backup.
Drive Partition and Format
1. 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.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X.
5. Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

Help. I lost my driver disk that came with my ipod.

I lost the driver disk that came with my ipod mini brfore i instaled it onto my computer. is there anyone that can help me by directing me to a place where i can download one online or can i get a new one sent to me. thankyou for all your help. I have a 4 gb ipod serial number 4J5188FPS41

You can download both iTunes and the iPod updater from Apple's website; no other software from the CD is required to use the iPod.
(9572)

External Firewire drives power up, but won't mount.

I wanted to see if anyone else is having this problem. I recently upgraded my mom's laptop to OSX Lion after she experienced a lot of problems with Snow Leopard. All updates available from Software Update have been installed. Now 2 issues have arisen after the new install: 1) the FW 800 and 400 ports appear to be non-functional, and 2) the OS takes about 10 minutes to boot up to the desktop.
1) Regarding the FW ports: I have a couple external Firewire 800 hard drives that I use on other Macs so I know they're fully operational and mount without any issues. They're both 5400RPM drives that have been inserted into Macally external enclosures, and are of different capacities - one is 320GB and the other is 500GB. The enclosures offer FW 800, 400, USB 2.0 and mini-USB connectivity. But after upgrading the laptop I mentioned, neither of the drives will mount when using the FW 800 or 400 cables. They power up but won't mount, and they don't show up in the list in Disk Utility. However, the drives will power up and mount via USB.
I realize the laptop may have a hardware/port problem - but both 800 and 400 ports? Seems unlikely.
2) Any idea why it's taking the OS 10 minutes to boot up? I've shut down the laptop and rebooted it twice since the OS install, and both times took 10 minutes.
I may just install Lion on one of the hard drives, pull it and then pop it into the laptop to see if that makes any difference. Before I do that, can anyone recommend a hardware utility that can check the ports?
I welcome your suggestions.
Thank you.

Thanks for responding. Here's the info you requested. I'm not a systems guy so hopefully I've pasted in something that helps.
system.log report, after searching BOOT_TIME, here's one of the timestamps:
May 25 22:04:58 localhost bootlog[0]: BOOT_TIME 1337997898 0
Here's a chunk of the log after that timestamp:
May 25 22:05:00 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***
May 25 22:05:13 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.powerd): Unknown value for key POSIXSpawnType: Interactive
May 25 22:05:13 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.sandboxd): Unknown value for key POSIXSpawnType: Interactive
May 25 22:05:18 localhost com.apple.pfctl[34]: No ALTQ support in kernel
May 25 22:05:18 localhost com.apple.pfctl[34]: ALTQ related functions disabled
May 25 22:05:18 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: starting CaptiveNetworkSupport as SystemEventAgent built May 25 2011 12:27:35
May 25 22:05:18 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: CaptiveNetworkSupport:CaptiveSCCopyWiFiDevices:388 WiFi Device Name == NULL
May 25 22:05:19 localhost com.apple.ucupdate.plist[28]: ucupdate: Checked 1 update, no match found.
May 25 22:06:14 localhost configd[14]: InterfaceNamer: timed out waiting for IOKit to quiesce
May 25 22:06:14 localhost configd[14]: Busy services :
May 25 22:06:14 localhost configd[14]:   MacBookPro3,1 [76967, 4375662836 ms]
May 25 22:06:15 localhost mDNSResponder[37]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-320.16 (Mar 17 2012 21:31:16) starting OSXVers 11
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: ERROR,Time,359690775.485,Function,"_Apple80211* CLWifiService::createApple80211()",Apple80211GetIfListCopy failed, error -3903 (Unknown error: -3903)
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,1   locationd                           0x00000001077fe583 locationd + 624003
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,2   locationd                           0x00000001077fe719 locationd + 624409
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,3   libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff85f46c79 _dispatch_barrier_sync_f_invoke + 33
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,4   locationd                           0x00000001077fe9b0 locationd + 625072
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,5   locationd                           0x00000001077fea10 locationd + 625168
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,6   libsystem_c.dylib                   0x00007fff85e96e06 pthread_once + 86
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,7   locationd                           0x00000001077fea47 locationd + 625223
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,8   locationd                           0x00000001077f33ac locationd + 578476
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,9   locationd                           0x00000001077f353f locationd + 578879
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,10 libsystem_c.dylib                   0x00007fff85e96e06 pthread_once + 86
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,11 locationd                           0x00000001077f3509 locationd + 578825
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,12 locationd                           0x00000001077b052a locationd + 304426
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,13 locationd                           0x0000000107791653 locationd + 177747
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,14 locationd                           0x0000000107791a08 locationd + 178696
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,15 locationd                           0x00000001077921b2 locationd + 180658
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,16 locationd                           0x00000001077c332c locationd + 381740
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,17 locationd                           0x0000000107767fd8 locationd + 8152
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,18 ???                                 0x0000000000000001 0x0 + 1
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.usbmuxd[27]: usbmuxd-268.5 on Jan 5 2012 at 03:34:01, running 64 bit
May 25 22:06:15 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: CaptiveNetworkSupport:CaptiveSCCopyWiFiDevices:388 WiFi Device Name == NULL
May 25 22:06:15 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: ServermgrdRegistration cannot load config data
May 25 22:06:15 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: get_backup_share_points no AFP
May 25 22:06:15 localhost systemkeychain[59]: done file: /var/run/systemkeychaincheck.done
May 25 22:06:15 localhost configd[14]: ioctl(SIOCGIFCAP) failed: Device not configured
May 25 22:06:16: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
May 25 22:06:16 localhost mDNSResponder[37]: D2D_IPC: Loaded
May 25 22:06:16 localhost mDNSResponder[37]: D2DInitialize succeeded
If you want me to post the kernal log, I can do that next if nothing in here points anyone in the right direction. FYI - the system booted normally this morning after shutting it down overnight.

EZ Quest Firewire 400 ext drive works in 10.4 (PPC) but won't mount in 10.6 (Intel)

I have an EZ Quest external FireWire 400 drive. Was working fine on my MDD Mac running OS X 10.4.11. NOW, when I hook it up to my iMac running OS X 10.6.8, it will not mount. Tried different ports. Tried device on and off at boot. Doesn't show up on desktop or in sidebar of finder window or in System Profiler. Drive powers up, but won't mount. Please help. Thanks. Dennis

I have the same problem. Two different EZQuest Quad interface drives suddenly won't mount on my 2010 iMac (Core Duo) via the firewire 800 or 400 ports. If I use a USB cable, both drives mount as normal, but I need the Firewire 800 ports to stream audio samples for Logic.
Both of these drives were working fine for over a year until I upgraded recently to 10.6.8 on the iMac and then tried to use one of the drives yesterday with a new 2012 MacBook Pro (10.7.4). The drive mounted once on the MacBook Pro, then disappeared and now will not mount on either the MacBook Pro or my iMac.
I tried resetting the PRAM and SMC on the iMac, but the drives still won't mount via firewire. The fact that both EZQuest drives still mount via USB indicates this is a firewire problem particular to Mac OS 10.6.8 and 10.7 rather than an external drive problem. It also seems that many people are experiencing this regardless of the external drive brand. Does anybody know how to fix this?

Drive Visible Thru diskutil list But Won't Mount

I'm attempting to recover information on a hard drive that won't mount. I can see it in Disk Utility and through the Terminal, but everything I do to access the drive contents is met with some sort of roadblock. Here are a couple of things I tried:
sudo diskutil mount disk3s10
... results in "unknown special file or filesystem
sudo diskutil mount disk3s10
... results in Unrecognized filesystem
sudo dd bs=512 if=/dev/disk3s10 of=/dev/disk2[location]/recovered.dmg conv=noerror,sync
... results in Permission denied
Using Disk Utility (through the Finder) I can "see" the drive and Verify/Repair the disk.
... The volume External FW -150GB appears to be OK.
Also in Disk Utility, when attempting to mount,
... The disk "External FW -150GB" could not be mounted. Try running Frist Aid on the disk and then retry mounting.
Ideally I could get the drive to mount. But short of that I'd be incredibly happy copying the data to a disk image and pulling out whatever still appears to be intact. If anyone has ideas what to try next I'd really appreciate the direction. Thanks.

Hi
Possibly a fault on the drive controller card? Mechanically it seems OK because at least you can see it in DU and it does seem to be spinning.
In cases like this I have used DataRescue:
http://www.prosofteng.com/
With some success. DataRescue can scavenge for data without the need for a valid directory. As long as the drive is spinning you stand a chance. Might be worth a shot?
If you have DiskWarrior you could use that? Sometimes it can restore/replace a directory for long enough to allow you to get desired data off it. If it can manage it then the drive should mount. You will have to be quick though as you will probably only get one chance at it.
Tony

PCIe USB 3.0 Card appears in system report, but won't mount drives

I have an early 2008 Mac Pro running Mavericks 10.9.2
Bought an Orico PME-4U USB 3.0 4-port PCIe card with the Sata power cable.
Installations seems to go okay -- the card is powered by one of the empty hard drive bays. The card appears in my computer's System Report as follows:
NEC USB 3.0:
Name:          pci1b73,1100
Type:          USB Superspeed Bus
Driver Installed:          Yes
MSI:          Yes
Bus:          PCI
Slot:          Slot-3
Vendor ID:          0x1b73
Device ID:          0x1100
Subsystem Vendor ID:          0x1b73
Subsystem ID:          0x1100
Revision ID:          0x0001
Link Width:          x1
Link Speed:          2.5 GT/s
When I plug in external drives, they receive power from the card, but nothing will mount.
Is it a faulty card? This is the second USB 3.0 card I've tried unsuccessfully.

Orico tech support had nothing to add beyond installing "GenericUSBXHCI.kext" and trying out different PCI slots.
I've tried two brands of PCIe USB 3.0 cards now and neither work.
I've also checked the SATA power cable and it works with the 4-port Firewire 800 PCIe card I have, so it's not that.
Anybody have any ideas?

External Hard Drive Disk Utility Can't Repair the Disk

Hi,
I have a Seagate 1 TB Backup Plus Drive which was working perfectly fine until I plugged it into a USB hub. It detected it while in the hub and I was able to get files off of it, but when I ejected it from the hub and put it back into the USB slot on the computer it was not detected by finder. It shows up in the disk utility and I clicked verify and repair and it says:
Verify and Repair volume “Seagate Backup Plus Drive”
Checking file system
Volume repair complete.
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
Is there any way to get this to work properly again? Or if not is there a way for me to recover my files on the external hard drive?
Thanks
I have a Macbook PRO late 2011 running OS X Mavericks.

Use a more powerful utility such as DiskWarrior, or a product such as those listed here.
(108710)

Backup startup external drives, disk utility, dmgs

Dear All,
I am trying to backup my Mac Mini to a Firewire drive with an image file (dmg) using Disk Utility. But I get this error: "Unable to create dmg. Resource busy." That is due to my startup disk being my Mini which I'd like to backup. So I've tried to make a backup drive with a working system 10.4.10 folder, but found that my Mini did not come with install disks. Dragging and dropping the files from the Mini to an external disk does not result in a hard disk that can be used as a startup disk. Is this normal? When I opened the Mac Mini package it did not indicate that I was due to find install disks.
So how can I make an external backup FWire drive that I can start from, and then do a backup using Disk Utility of my Mini's internal hard drive?
Thanks for any advice.

Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disk. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. Otherwise, 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, if supported.) 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, if supported.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
5. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
8. Select the destination drive on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked. Verify the settings for Ownership and Permissions as follows: Owner=system with read/write; Group=admin with read/write; Other with read-only. If they are not correct then reset them.

Internal Hard Drive Disk Utility Repair Problem

Hello all! I'm really hoping someone can help me out because I'm in a bit of a panic right now about all of this.
For starters, I have a Mid-2007 20" Intel based iMac.
The other day, I turned on my computer and got a flashing question mark and the computer would not boot. Luckily, I have an external hard drive, so I went through the process of using the Install Discs to use the Hard Drive to start up my computer. Everything worked out and once the computer turned on, I was able to access my Hard Drive and had full access to my files. I powered down my computer as I had to run out the door for school and was planning on backing all of my files up on my external hard drive tonight.
Unfortunately, when I turned on my computer, my internal hard drive had disappeared. I can only start the computer with my external drive plugged in.
I accessed the Disk Utility, and it was the first place I was able to locate my Hard Drive. On the left hand side, underneath the external drive, it simply says "Media". I cannot click on ANY of the options under First Aid and the only thing it seems I can do is Erase the drive.
I would REALLY like to avoid this option, as there are nearly 5 years worth of documents on this computer.
My S.M.A.R.T. Status says Not Supported, and it's saying that the Total Capacity is 0 Bytes.
I suppose I should also mention that with the disc I used I am now running OS X 10.4.11, but previously, I was running 10.5. I can't remember the last decimal place. I don't know why there was a difference, as I used the same disk...
I have NO IDEA where to go from this point besides taking it somewhere to see if my files can be recovered.
Can anyone help me out here?
If you need any more details about my computer/the actions I took, just let me know.
Thanks so much!!

If you cannot access the internal HD then it may have crashed, I am getting you may not have been backing up either so if it has crashed and you don't have a backup then your data is probably gone. If you can get the internal HD to show up again before you do ANYTHING else back it up using Time Machine (assuming you use 10.5.x or above) or create a clone on an external HD using either SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner.
My recommendation at this point is to take the machine into and an Apple Store or AASP to have it looked at.

Finder will not detect hard drive; disk utility will

Finder will not detect my hard drive. Disk utility will, however, it will not eject the harddrive from the computer. Any help?
I have a lot of files on it, so I would not be happy if they cannot be retrieved. It has been working for the past 2(?) years without much issue.

SilverSkyRat wrote:
Have you checked the manufacturer's web site for any firmware updates for the drive?
In Disk Utility, select the drive and click Repair Disk. If any errors are displayed, rerun Repair Disk until no errors occur.
You can't run repair disk while booted from the disk to be repaired.
Boot from Recovery, then run Repair Disk.

Unable to write to External Hard Drive, Disk Utility options don't work.

I am a recent new user of Apple Mac from when I bought this Macbook Air 3 months ago.
Nice machine, but difficult to get the hang of.
Specific problem I'd like help with please is to enable me to write to my Samsung S2 Portable Hard Drive (500GB)
I can see it and read files, but can't save to the EHD.
In Disk Utility, all options to verify and repair the EHD are greyed out. So, most of the friendly suggestions on other threads don't help me.
I don't know how big the hard drive is on my Macbook (nor how to find out), or how much remaining space there is, but there is over 400GB of data on the EHD.
The EHD is in NTFS format, all data on it was from Windows computers. There isn't space on my Windows laptop for all this data.
I don't have another EHD, so have nowhere to move the data to if I have to reformat the EHD.
On another thread I saw a suggestion to uninstall something or other before reformatting the EHD, but I don't even know how to uninstall programs on a Macbook.
I don't know why Apple have to spoil such a great machine by making it so difficult for non-afficionados to use (sorry, frustrated).
I say "great" because it's so light it makes work much easier. I can carry it around all day with little effort and don't have to take the charger to work.
Any help anyone could offer with the EHD will be appreciated.
Thanks...........

Hi Limnos,
Yes, I'm new to Mac, having bought this Macbook 3 months ago after years of Windows (as stated in my original post).
I still have a Windows laptop and all my work colleagues currently use Windows, so I need compatibility with both.
Paragon sounds like a good option, and I don't mind a bit of cost if it sorts the problem.
Hopefully I'll get feedback from someone who has used Paragon and can report how effective it is and whether or not there are any problems asociated with it.
Good tip thanks about the Disk Utility, I'll look into that.
Thanks........

Reformatting External Hard drive: Disk Utility crashes near the end

I recently updated to Leopard and emptied off my external hard drive and then wanted to (zero out data &) reformat it and start fresh so as to use it with the new Time Machine feature.
However, near the end of reformatting it with Disk Utility the progress just stopped and after giving it some time I did a force quit and sure enough it came to light that it had crashed. Since then I've tried again several times to the same result. I even tried doing it of the Disk Utility on the install CD and it crashed with one minute left!!
Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated!

Use a more powerful utility such as DiskWarrior, or a product such as those listed here.
(108710)

Semi Functional Disc Drive/Disk Utility Useless

Ok, the other day I got some new DVD-R (memorex)s and tried to burn a copy of a home movie I made onto the DVD-R. Initially, I put in the DVD and began burning the movie, and about half way through the "write" process it cancels out and says "ERROR INCOMPATIBLE DISC", and spits out the DVD. So now, I try again, only now I put in the DVD, in about a second it makes this rough sounding noise, and then spits the DVD out again. The DVD is not misshapen or anything. What I thought was strange was that it was burning CD's fine, and playing regular DVD's with no trouble. Until last night, I put in a real DVD and it just spit it out. Won't accept it. So I check out Disk Utility, and it says that my HARD DRIVE, not my Pioneer disc drive "has reported a fatal hardware error to Disk Utility. If the drive has not failed completely, back up as much data as you can and then replace it with a working drive." It also labels my "S.M.A.R.T." status, as "failing". My computer is working perfectly besides this DVD-R issue, so I don't see why my hard drive is reporting a fatal hardware error, when it's the disc drive that seems to be having troubles. Any thoughts?

Daryl, Welcome to the discussion area!
This is the discussion area for the iMac G3 CRT.
Is that what you have?
In your system information you list an Intel based iMac. If that is what you are discussing you should post in the Intel based iMac discussion area.

Lost boot drive, Disk Util on boot CD sees but won't mount

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