My computer it won't mount my external drive

I restored my computer and after it completed my computer won't mount my external drive, i went to disk utility the disk shows up there but no mounted.
my computer is OS x Mavericks 10.9.5

See mount section in 1st linked article.
Disk Unmount Using Terminal
Disk Utility – Force Mount Disk

Similar Messages

My Mac won't mount my external HDD after installing Lion - What can I do?

My Mac won't mount my external HDD after installing Lion - What can I do?
HDD: Verbatim 3.5'' External HDD eSATA & USB 2.0 #48802
I can not find it in Disc Utilities - so I can not repair it.
I also haven't found any Driver for the HDD to do an update.
My Mac is running on the most recent updates of OS Lion.
The HDD worked before. It contains my former Time-Mashine Backups. I would like to use this drive again. It isn't very old yet.
It would be much appreciated if anyone could help.
Cheers,
Yves

OK, try restarting in Safe Mode and if that doesn't work try resetting the SMC and PRAM.
SMC RESET
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and ALL peripherals.
Wait 15 seconds.
Attach the computers power cable.
Wait another 5 seconds and press the power button to turn on the computer.
PRAM RESET
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.

Why won't photos from external drive stay on my computer (iPhoto) once I disconnect the external drive?

I'm trying to move photos from my external drive to my new computer. When I connect the external drive, I'm able to view all the photos in iPhoto, and I'm able to drag photos to a desktop folder and/or directly into iPhoto. But, when I disconnect the external drive, I no longer have access to the photos on my computer. I'm sure there's a step I may be overlooking but I'm using the same process I've used in the past and cannot determine next steps.

Thanks so far.
I'm currently working on a 2012 MacBook Air 13", running OSX 10.8.
Upon opening my external drive, I've dragged the iPhoto Library to my computer's desktop. When I've opened iPhoto and tried to import the library (from external drive and/or from the desktop), I'm unable to do so, i.e., the library is not highlighted (it won't allow me to click on it).
I can open and view the library from my external drive in iPhoto when the external drive is connected to the computer. But, once the external drive is disconnected from the computer, I'm unable to view the library
I've tried all of the aforementioned when the "Copy Imported Item(s) to the iPhoto Library" is checked.

Is there a way to "force-mount" an external drive that doesn't show up on it's own when plugged in with firewire?

Hi, is there a way to "force-mount" an external drive that doesn't show up on the desktop? I have a new Hitachi SATA III 2 TB Ultrastar that won't show up like all the other drives when plugged in. So I can't partition, repair, format etc with Disk Utility, Disk Drill, Tech Tools etc. How do I make it visible?
I use the FW 400 to 800 adapter and a FW hub.
Thanks,
W.

ok, I did find the log in Diskutil of what happened, I just can't figure out why it happened and how to start over:
2014-04-20 13:42:08 -0400: Disk Utility started.
2014-04-20 13:44:30 -0400: Preparing to erase : “Terra 8”
2014-04-20 13:44:30 -0400:           Partition Scheme: GUID Partition Table
2014-04-20 13:44:30 -0400:           1 volume will be created
2014-04-20 13:44:30 -0400:                     Name                    : “Terra 8”
2014-04-20 13:44:30 -0400:                     Size                    : 2 TB
2014-04-20 13:44:30 -0400:                     File system          : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
2014-04-20 13:44:30 -0400: Unmounting disk
2014-04-20 13:45:00 -0400: Creating the partition map
2014-04-20 13:45:01 -0400: Waiting for the disks to reappear
2014-04-20 13:45:01 -0400: Formatting disk2s2 as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with name Terra 8
2014-04-20 13:45:26 -0400: Initialized /dev/rdisk2s2 as a 2 TB case-insensitive HFS Plus volume with a 155648k journal
2014-04-20 13:45:26 -0400: Mounting disk
2014-04-20 13:45:29 -0400: Erase complete.
2014-04-20 13:45:29 -0400:
- That was it, gone.....

Automated mounting of external drive?

I have a MBP and would like to have it mount an external drive when I'm in my home office. If I add the drive to my login list, that works fine as long as I restart when I get home. However, most of the time I put the computer to sleep when I go somewhere, so when I get home the drive is no longer mounted.
Is there an approach or a utility program that would automatically mount the drive when it is available without my having to manually mount it or restart?

My terminology is perhaps incorrect. What I want to do is to connect to a server, not mount an external drive.

Had a problem copying files, now MBP won't mount the external HD`

Hi
I thought to put this in the MBP forum but since I thik it may be the OS I decided to post here.
I have a newer MBP with OS 10.5, I have an external LaCie c0nnected via eSata to keep my firewire 400 port free. I mounted another external HD to the Firewire port and the computer recognized it and I started copyig some files from the LaCie to the other external. Both formatted HFS+ Files were QT files. Somewhere during the copy process things locked up. I had to force quit the copy process, then coldn't restart the computer so had to ue the boot button to turn it off. Now I can't connect anything to the FW port. The MBP won't mount the 2nd external HD so I can get those files copied. I brought up my FCE and connected the external monitor to the FW port but now that doesn't work either and it was working this morning.
I hope I didn't blow the FW400 port! Is there any way to 'clear it' in case it's still looking for that HD? I don't kow if I'm asking theright way cause I'm really new to MAC's. I tried the Disk Utility to verify the disk and got an OK message. What else can I try?
Thanks
Allen

Hi VK
Well I didn't blow the FW port. My video editing partner came over today to discuss a project we're working on together. He has FC Pro and I have FCE4. So I mentioned the problem to him cause it was his HD that wouldn't mount.
We had FCE open so I was showing him my external monitor fed via the FW port wasn't working either. He went to the View menu then to Video out and then to refresh video devices. BINGO! The external monitor started working. So it wasn't the FW port but apparently the FW was locked up or looking for the other HD. Now it's working. But I haven't tried connecting another external FW HD yet.
Thanks for your help
Allen

Media won't mount via external optical after 10.4.4 update

I did a search of the forums and found nothing related to my problem, sorry if this has already been covered. This is my first post on the support forums, so please forgive me if this is posted in the wrong area, and feel free to point me in the right direction if I should be asking this queston elsewhere.
The subject heading says it all. I have an external Firewire DVD writer, and since I updated to 10.4.4 it won't mount any media when connected second in a chain after my external hard drive. If I disconnect the hard drive and plug the optical drive directly to the iBook, discs mount just fine, but when it is second in the chain ... nothing.
Additionally, neither Disk Utility nor Toast will recognise the optical drive in order to burn data unless the device is plugged directly into the computer.
The obvious solution would be to reverse the order of the devices, so the optical drive comes before the hard drive, but I have experienced problems with hard drive access and speeds of transfer to the hard drive when I've hooked things up in that order, so it is not an ideal solution.
Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.

Dear Joel,
for me I have a solution. I had to turn spotlight off with "sudo mdutil -i off" and then to delete all the files in the hidden /.Spotlight-V100 folder and then turn spotlight on again. And then wait for the computer to index again BEFORE the restart. Can be observed in the activity monitor: task mdimport.
I found my solution on the following page:
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/macosx10_4tiger/topic3036.html
Click on May 11, 2005.
Good luck to you!
Alex

Mac OS 10.4.10 / Unable to mount my external drive

I'm using a previous model 15" MacBook Pro, equipped with the 2.33 Core Duo chip and 2 GB of RAM. I used software update on Saturday to upgrade to 10.4.10 and since then, I haven't been able to get my external USB hard drive to mount.
I've done some searching around the support forums and found that this was a problem for a few people upgrading to 10.3.9, but I haven't seen anything yet about this behavior with the 10.3.10 upgrade.
Has anyone found a fix yet? I work in the office half of the week and then at home the other half of the week. All of my files are kept on my external USB drive and so without being able to access it on my Mac at home, I'm kind of stuck. I can use my wife's Mac Mini, but I'd really like to be able to work on my computer.
I've tried repairing permissions running basic maintenance using Oynx, but the drive still won't mount. It shows up immediately when I plug into my old iBook and my XP machine at work, so I know it's not the drive itself. I don't seem to have any problems getting my iPod to mount (2nd gen Mini), nor a USB flash drive.
Thoughts? I'd really appreciate some friendly advice as this is pretty "mission critical" for me.
Robb

I took my MacBook Pro into the Apple Store today and the Genius wasn't able to figure out the problem. He claimed it was the drive being finicky. We eventually rolled back to OS 10.4.8, which I then upgrade to 10.4.9 and it works just as it used to before I upgraded to 10.4.10.
Just wanted to report on the situation, in case someone else was having this same problem and needed help.

Mac Mini won't read my external drive

Bought a Seagate 500GB external harddrive for my mac mini, and stored about 100GB of information in the harddrive. Now, the mini won't read the external harddrive. I am wondering if there is a way to retrieve it... Can someone help me? I don't think I can afford to loose 100GB of information.... Any help is greatly appreciated!

Clearly it has worked previously since you have data on it, but you haven't indicated what model of Mac mini you have (which can make a difference in terms of troubleshooting steps) and what circumstances surrounded the 'disappearance' of the drive - particularly as Boece says, whether it was disconnected (or powered down) without being first ejected from the desktop.
If the drive isn't being seen in the profiler, there is a possibility that the drive is not, in itself, faulty. A damaged cable, a faulty hub or a problem with the system's USB ports could be responsible. Since you don't give any detail about your system, it's hard to focus better on advising appropriate steps - however, if you are using a hub, remove it and connect the drive directly to the system, preferably using a different cable. If it mounts, then it was the cable or hub. If not, then open Disk Utility (in Applications>Utilities) and see if it appears in the drive list on the left.
If there's no hub and the cable checks out OK, then you might next perform a PMU reset (if it's a G4 mini) or SMC reset (if it's an Intel).
To reset the PMU for a G4 mini
- Unplug all cables from the computer, including the power cord.
- Wait 10 seconds.
- Plug in the power cord while simultaneously pressing and holding the power button on the back of the computer.
- Let go of the power button.
- Press the power button once more to start up your Mac mini.
To reset the SMC on an Intel mini:
-From the Apple menu, choose Shut Down (or if the computer is not responding, hold the power button until it turns off).
-Unplug all cables from the computer, including the power cord and any display cables.
-Wait at least 15 seconds.
-Plug the power cord back in, making sure the power button is not being pressed at the time.
-Then reconnect your keyboard and mouse to the computer.
-Press the power button on the back to start up your computer.
If those steps don't help resolve the problem, post back with more information.

Time Machine won't back up external drive to Time Capsule

I recently got a Time Capsule, and successfully set it up to back up my iMac's primary drive, but for some reason Time Machine won't back up my external drive to the Time Capsule.
I removed the external drive from the exclusion list in System Preferences > Time Machine > Options, and from what I've read this should be sufficient to make Time Machine back up the drive.
The external drive is connected to my iMac via Thunderbolt > Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adaptor > Firewire 800 input, and the Time Capsule is connected via Ethernet to my LAN.
Since I'm using Ethernet, I've disabled Wi-Fi on the Time Capusule by going to AirPort Utility > My Time Capsule > Edit > Wireless > Network Mode > Off.
The reason I believe the external drive is not being backed up is because when I click the Time Machine icon in the upper-right status bar and choose "Enter Time Machine", none of the folders on external drive show any older versions.
Furthermore, when I click Finder > Time Machine Backups > Backups.backupdb, I can see only one sub-folder which has the name of my iMac's primary drive. I can't see any equivalent folder for my external drive.
Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

I don't see anything you have done wrong.. perhaps it does backup in a different way.
Load the widget.. A1 here... http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
That will allow you to track the log of TM to see what it is doing.
I would also try rebooting the computer.. exclude the drive again.. reboot.. and remove the exclusion.
You should be able to check the actual settings of TM in plist file.
And you can do a full reset of TM as well.. See A4. Check what is in the file. Pondini lists the location for you.
Nothing surprises me with Mountain Lion ...!!

How to mount an external drive?

My external drive, used for Time Machine, is not mounting. I've tried Disk Utilities which sees the hardware but not the partition so I can't Verify or Repair. I've run Disk Warrior but it does not see the drive either. (Also tried zapping SMC and the safe-mode reboot.) Since the drive is showing but not mounting, is it reasonable to assume the hardware is okay, but it is something is messed up with the status/data?
I replaced the previous Time Machine disk about 2 months ago because its 2TB had filled up over 5 years. This one seemed to be working fine then today, poof, it's gone.
Thanks for any advice on next things to try. Failing that, suggestions on a good data-recovery service.
bash-3.2$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *256.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Computer                    255.2 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                                                   *4.0 TB     disk1
bash-3.2$

Might try a mount from Terminal with
mount /dev/disk1
Or a force mount...
mount force /dev/disk1

How do I re-mount an external drive in Lightroom 2 running on Windows 7?

I am using Lightroom 2 and have moved many picture folders to an external drive. Now when I reconnect the external drive Lightroom shows the drive as offline. I need to know how to re-mount the drive. I am running Windows 7 and can not fine the disk utility in Lightroom 2.

Lightroom does not have a disk utility.
a) Make sure the drive is visible and accessible via <My Computer>. If it is visible in <My Computer>, Lr should also see it as connected.
b) If it is not check if the power for the drive is <ON> and remove and re-connect the USB / Firewire / eSata cable.
c) If this doesn't help: Check in <My Computer> if the drive has the same drive letter as before. Sometimes Win 7 changes the drive letter, and then Lr cannot find the drive.
In this case you have to change the drive letter to what it was before.
d) If the drive letter has not changed and Lr still cannot see the drive, try this:
Put one dummy photo on the external drive - via Win Explorer. It can be a copy of another photo but - in Win Explorer - change the name of the dummy photo to something descriptive.
Then in Lr open the Import Dialog and import this dummy photo. After that Lr should see the drive and you can delete the dummy photo.

MacBook Pro won't recognize 1TB external drive

Hey team,
My mid-2010 MacBook Pro won't recognize my WD My Passport 1TB drive. I was copying files from the drive to my computer when my computer went to sleep (didn't run out of power, just went to standby mode). Turned computer back on and now it won't recognize the drive.
It is a USB 3.0 cord (computer is only USB 2.0 and the cord works with other drives) and when plugged in, the light turns on and the disk spins but isn't recognized my this or other computers (also not in Disk Utility).
Tried a handful of disk recovery programs but nothing wants to 'see' the disk plugged in.
Thanks for any and all suggestions.

yes yes yes, I warn people about WD drives on this link:
Your dead external hard drive is likely fine! Great hope for your 'faulty' external HD
theReKleiner wrote:
What now?
Only option is to buy the SAME exact HD and swap controller boards, or pay someone a LOT more $$$ to do the same thing.
its not soldered there, its just a controller/ SATA "one piece"
They do that to save 50 cents in mfg. costs.
I mention your "issue" in that link. Which is why you do NOT buy WD ext. HD.
they make the controller board and SATA card one piece.
CURRENT MFG. THAT HAVE controller board and SATA cards as one piece are : WD USB drives, and Toshiba USB Canvio
However Toshiba didnt USED to do that, but they started doing it at the end of 2013.
avoid those 2.
To avoid that nonsense, buy Hitachi drives in USB.
Or, the best option:
Save money and invest in a bare hard drive backup and redundancy plan
Its cheaper
less fuss
more reiable, removes the nasty failure point of SATA card interfaces.
takes up lot less space.
Bare hard drives and docks. The most reliable and cheapest method of hard drive data storage, archives, and redundancies
The best method for your data archives and redundancies, which is also the least expensive, the most reliable, and the most compact option is the purchase of naked hard drives and at least one USB 3.0 HD dock ($40 roughly).
While regarding Time Machine and your Macbook or desktop, your primary backup is best saved to a conventional USB (or Firewire / thunderbolt) hard drive inside an enclosure, the most important part of your data protection begins after your 1st / primary Time Machine / backup; and these are your secondary (most important) data storage devices, archives and their redundancies.
However bare hard drives and docks (below) also work perfectly as a Time Machine backup, this is for home use, since the docking station is certainly not very portable as a notebook Time Machine backup device should be; nor should bare HD be packed around with a notebook, rather remain at home or office.
Six terabytes of 2.5" HD pictured below in a very compact space.
Bare hard drives and docks have the lowest cost, the highest reliability, and take up the smallest storage space
Drawbacks:
1. Care and knowledge in general handling of naked hard drives (how not to shock a bare HD, and how to hold them properly). Not a genuine drawback.
Advantages:
1. By far the least expensive method of mass HD storage on a personal basis. Highest quality naked HD can be purchased in bulk very cheap.
2. Eliminates the horrible failure point of SATA bridges and interfaces between external drives and the computer.
3. Per square foot you can store more terabytes of data this way than any other.
4. Fast, easy, no fuss and most simplex method of data storage on hard drives.

Leopard Won't Boot from External Drive

I'm using an iBook G4 running Mac OS X 10.4.10. I just purchased a Western Digital 320GB eSATA external hard drive to use as an external Leopard boot disk because my internal hard drive does not work (I've been using a 20GB Lacie external hard drive as my boot drive up to now).
I have installed Leopard onto the new external drive using the Leopard install DVD. The installation was successful, and the new external drive mounts on the desktop. In addition, I can see all of its contents, and it appears as a startup disk in the startup disk preference panel. However, when I select it as the startup disk and restart the computer, it will not boot from the new external drive.
Notes:
1. The drive is formatted in the Apple Partition Map scheme.
2. I have pressed "option" during restart, but the drive does not appear.
3. I have restarted with only the new hard drive connected to the cpu, to no avail.
Am I missing something? Please assist.
Thanks!

I've been trying all day to boot from my external HD after installing Leopard on both my HD and external HD. I was convinced that my external HD volume wasn't being read and recognized. What I discovered a while ago was that my internal HD volume always shows up at the top of the list on my desktop whether it's the volume running or not!!
When running 10.4.11 and booting from the external HD, the icon for the external HD volume always appeared at the top on the desktop, over the internal HD icon. That's how I could remember which one I was on. That's not happening now. I may have been working on the backup for half the day and not known it.
The only way I'm able to tell for sure which is the active drive is to check the User folder to see whether the House/Home icon appears (the system running) or the name is in text (the system not running).
Is there some way to change that or is it a glitch in Leopard? It's weird!

IMac won't boot with external drives attached

I am using iMac 27" Late 2013 model upgraded to mavericks 10.9.4. Two external drives are always attached with it, one is segate 3.5" 2TB USB 3.0 drive and another one is 2.5" usb 2.0 drive.
when i start my imac with external drives attached it won't boot up. Stuck at plain white screen after a startup chime, not even any apple logo or any progress circle appears. And i have to detach all of my drives to make it boot.
This problem arises after upgrading to mavericks. Already tried resetting PRAM, SMC and checked Startup disk and verify disk with disk utility.

Raja,
Do a SMC reset perhaps even a couple of times and see if that helps. Also in System Preferences + Startup Disk make sure the internal HD is selected.
SMC RESET
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and all peripherals.
Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
Release the power button.
Attach the computers power cable.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
PRAM RESET
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.
Roger

My computer it won't mount my external drive

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for