Unable to verify or repair external hard drive

i am running 10.6.4 and had a Lacie 2tb external plugged into the computer; suddenly it says that the drive is not formatted for use with this computer.
I have tried: DiskUtility(no help) both from the install disk and from the computer
DiskWarrior(no Help) did not recognize drive was plugged in
I am unable to veryify or repair the permissions on this disk as well...?
is there a way to get this drive recognized?
There is about 1.5tb of data that I need so formatting it is not really an option. Unless you can format and get that data back?
Please help
Thanks Much

If the drive is not able to be repaired by both Disk Utility and DiskWarrior, you could try another utility, like [TechTool Pro|http://www.micromat.com>, but I'm afraid you may be disappointed. Chances are, in a case like this, that the drive has died or is dying. In which case, you're about to learn a valuable but painful lesson on the necessity of backups.
If nothing will repair it, you can try recovering what you can using a tool like [Data Rescue|http://www.prosofteng.com> or [File Salvage|http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?mainpage=product_info&productsid=1]. I believe one of those will let you scan and get a list of what can be recovered before purchasing, so you can determine if this will work without spending money. If I'm right and the drive is dead, though, a professional service will be your only option... they'll pull the drive apart and get what data they can, which probably won't be all of it.
In the meantime, you need to immediately start backing up any data on other drives. See my [Mac Backup Guide|http://www.reedcorner.net/thomas/guides/backups> for more information.

Similar Messages

Hi everyone, after updating to 10.6.8, i've been unable to backup to my external hard-drive on Time Machine. anyone having same issues?

I did a software update to 10.6.8. and I've been unable to back up my files to my external hard-drive on Time Machine. The error message it gives says "he backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk."
It recommends using Disk Utility to repair the backup disk and i've tried that but it finds nothing wrong with the disk!
I even tried copying files off it so i could re-format the drive but it apparently can't do that and the error message is that there's a wrong case sensitive file. Please help, I really need a solution.
Thanks,
Regards,
Chi.

If you mean you're getting the same message:
see #C3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. It will show you how to locate the message(s) that describe the problem, then help you fix it. If that doesn't help, post back with details, including all the messages, your setup (especially the destination for the backups), what you've done, and the results.
If that's not the message you're getting, please clarify.

Failing-but-possibly-repaired external hard drive: what to do?

I had a problem restoring a file from my external hard drive; disk repair said there were serious problems with the disk; DiskWarrior repaired it, but said there may be some missing files. (There's now a "backup" icon and a "rescued files" icon on the hard drive.)
What's the best next step? Assume the "repair" took? (Doubt this is prudent.) Clone the external hard drive onto another and resume Time Machine from that point? (Possible?) Simply start over with TM on the new drive and ditch the old?

Are these your only backups? If so, I'd advise putting that drive "on the shelf" until you can get a new one and get a full backup on it, preferably a "bootable clone."
The two most popular apps for that are [CarbonCopyCloner|http://www.bombich.com>, which is donationware, and [SuperDuper|http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html]. It has a free version, but you need the paid one (about $30) to do updates instead of full replacements, or scheduling.
Then, if you want to try to salvage your Time Machine backups, delete the "rescued files" folder. The only other thing on the drive should be your Backups.backupdb folder. Start your Mac up from the Install disc, then Restart normally. That should trigger a "deep traversal" on the next Time Machine backup, where Time Machine will compare everything on your system to the backups, and back up anything that's missing. You should see "Scanning nnnn items" on the Time Machine Preferences window. That will take somewhat longer than a normal backup, but should get you caught up with the current contents of your system (some copies of things you'd deleted or changed may be gone).
Or, as kingfumonkey says, do a zero-out erase and start fresh.
Either way, continue both normal Time Machine and regular "clone" backups. You might want to consider getting a portable external for the clone, so you can take it to your safe deposit box, workplace, relative's house, or other secure off-site location, so you're also protected against fire, flood, theft, direct lightning strike on your power lines, etc.

[Solved] Unable to write to an external hard drive

Hi Everybody,
I installed the Nov iso and plugged in my external hard drive. The mount command says:
/dev/sr0 on /run/media/ly/WD SmartWare type udf (ro,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=100,umask=77,iocharset=utf8,uhelper=udisks2)
/dev/sdb1 on /run/media/ly/My Book type ntfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=100,fmask=0177,dmask=077,nls=utf8,errors=continue,mft_zone_multiplier=1,uhelper=udisks2)
I and even root were unable to create a file / directory on /run/media/ly/My Book. Does anybody know how to fix?
Thank you.
PS: Before I installed the Nov iso, I was able to read / write from that My Book.
Thank all of you. You all are great. The reason I mentioned the Nov iso is that since I re-installed my machine with the Nov iso, a lot of things don't work as before. I don't blame the Nov iso, I just wanted to list all the things I did to my machine so that you see the whole picture.
A lot of things which don't work as before include:
- gnome seems to ignore the metacity directory in a gtk theme (I use gnome-tweak-tool to install a new theme, I can see changes everywhere but not at the window title bars, but when I copy the metacity files of the new theme into the metacity directory of the default theme which is Adwaita, I can see the changes)
- it's very un-intuitive (is it a word?) to change the wallpaper: until now I still don't know how to use my own wallpaper
- nautilus seems to hide the preferences: I cannot find it to change some things like single click to open a directory, show hidden files, add the Delete item to the menu ...
Last edited by dxxvi (2012-11-16 08:15:16)

WonderWoofy wrote:Are you escaping you spaces?
Yes.
sudo vim /run/media/ly/My\ Book/test.txt

HT201250 My Time Machine Icon in the Toolbar is dimmed, and I'm unable to connect to my external Hard Drive, please help!

Time Machine seems to be dead, since I'm unable to reset it. As soon as I try anything, it goes to back to the "OFF" Position. Would appreciate any Help, to get my external Hard Drive to work. Adolffrom Peachland!
Product, 2012 IMac 21.5"

There's an apple store in my city but it is about a 20 minute drive and I do not have apple care. Do you think they would still help me?

Repairing external hard drive

Im trying to repair my external hard drive but everytime i try it stops and says "error: live file system repair is not supported"

I have a 1 TeraByte external that no longer would work or backup from my Time Machine backups after the OS update to Maverick, it claimed the drive was full and could no longer do backups unless I erased it or made room on the drive. So I tried to use disk utilities and also got the error: live file system repair is not supported. Then only thing left to do was.
Press Cmd + R on boot and then choose Disk utility then reformate the external drive and then I got a working clean external drive. Then I rebooted and the drive was ready for a fresh backup with Time Machine which is working as I write this. A full backup will probably take 6-9 hours as I have close to 800 gigs to backup.
Hope this helps everyone here.
JP

Unable to print or use external hard drives via Airport Extreme

Hi.
I installed Airport Extreme with no problems. Airport utility program shows everything is ok, and shows my printer (Canon LBP5100) and my two external hard drives which are connected to Airport via USB-hub.
My airport extreme is connected to ADSL-router and is providing another WLAN in my house. The internet connection works fine, but I couldn't print nor use my hard drives. I installed the printer using the bonjour guided printer installation tool.
I haven't heard that my printer would not be compatible with airport extreme so was my airport purchase totally unnecessary or what tricks should I use to make the printer and the external hard drives be available?
Sincerely,
Jarkko
Finland

Hi.
Thank you for your reply. No help though.
Printer gives me this warning:
The network cable is not connected, or the printer is not turned on. Check these items.
And still the hard drives are not visible anywhere.

Unable to view files on external hard drive. Progress Bar

I have been deleting various files from my external hard drive and now I cannot see the remainder of the files. Although the Trash is empty, it still shows there is something there and I get a small window that shows progress bar. I can still see the external hard drive files via spotlight, so they are still there. I have tried
Force Quit
Restart
Shut Down
Forced Shut Down
I feel sure that has something to do with the Trash?
Please...Any Ideas

I have the exact same problem.

Error: Couldn't unmount disk -- when trying to verify/repair external hard drives. Has anyone had this problem and solved it?

I have a number of hard drives that my Mac Book Pro no longer 'recognises' at least for very long. When I turn them on the deskstop icon shows up but then shortly afterwards I get a message saying that it has been unplugged incorrectly. I haven't unplugged it any of them. When I try to run very/repair disk before they disappear I get the error in the subject line above. Has anyone had this problem and if so how did you rectify it?

The drive is malfunctioning and needs to be replaced, or you have some other hardware fault.
Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store.
Back up all data on the internal drive(s) before you hand over your computer to anyone. If privacy is a concern, erase the data partition(s) with the option to write zeros* (do this only if you have at least two complete, independent backups, and you know how to restore to an empty drive from any of them.) Don’t erase the recovery partition, if present.
Keeping your confidential data secure during hardware repair
*An SSD doesn't need to be zeroed.

Disk utility can't repair external hard drive

A couple months back, I had to get a whole new hard drive case for my external because the power cord broke. Anyway, It's worked fine until now...
The hard drive doesn't show up with the other volumes.
It does show up on Disk Utility. When I try to repair or verify the drive, it works up until the end, but then it automatically quits and it says this:
Verifying volume “FIREWIRE”
** /dev/disk1s1
** Phase 1 - Read FAT
** Phase 2 - Check Cluster Chains
** Phase 3 - Checking Directories
Unable to read directory (Input/output error)
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 non HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
Anyway, I have 45GB of music as well as movies and photographs that mean a lot to me so I hope I don't have to erase the drive or anything...
Thanks to anyone who helps me out.

Hmm, I can't seem to find anything on Windows (XP) that will fix my exact problem...
Then again, I am the crappiest Windows user ever so, once again, any help would be great.
I searched "disk repair" on the help and support center, and it gave me a bunch of ways to fix the drive depending on the problem. The thing is, none of the problems seemed to match mine...
Your personal data files are missing or have been corrupted, or you want to revert to a previous version of a file.
After updating a device driver, you can log on, but the system is unstable.
After installing a new device, the system is unstable.
Changes made to your system or application settings are causing your computer to run poorly and you do not know how to restore the previous settings.
After installing an application, the system is unstable or an application is not working properly.
Operating system does not start (the logon screen does not appear)
I'm not really sure what the exact problem is, I just know that it isn't working on the Mac, but it is on the PC.

Unable to verify or repair my external hard drive with disk utility, reason being ...

Hello there,
I have been facing this problem: After I started getting an error 50 error while trying to view in Quicktime player a movie which I had exported from FCPX today, I found that I was not even able to trash the movie [this was a test movie used for export and I had no need for the same]. A little while later when I opened FCPX, I found this message pop up:
Got a little worried and then tried to verify and repair my hard drives using disk utility, but I could neither verify nor repair the disk. What should I do now?

Hello Klaus,
I think I have been able to overcome the problem/s.
I have been using my Seagate 2 TB drive [2 USB] with a FW adapter and was using FW connectivity for the past several months without any problems. About 2 months ago I added a 2 TB Lacie, FW, to my workflow and this EHD was daisychained to the Seagate. Had been facing no problem with this arrangement until today.
Now let me try to tell you what I had done:
I ejected the Seagate drive with the intention of reconnecting it again. But, no, when I tried to reconnect, this message came up:
After several attempts, I did this, connected the Lacie by FW to the FW port on the Mac and connected the Seagate by 2 USB. Was I glad to see my Seagate HD icons shining in all their glory on my desktop! I utilised the services of disk utility and was informed that these prodigal sons were absolutely fine.
I also tried to do this: empty the trash. Was I happy to hear the sound of files being cast out?
Well, well, at least I will be able to get some peaceful sleep now! I have not yet opened FCPX, but I trust it will also be reading the Seagate HD once again.
Good night and thanks for being helpful.

Successfully upgraded to 3.3 Unable to backup to external hard drive. Aperture closes unexpectedly without error message.

Upgrade to 3.3 was successful. My library is stored on an external hard drive and I have vaults stored on different hard drives. Aperture seems to be functiong OK but I am unable to backup to my external hard drives. The application seems to go through the process of upgrading the library again and quits unexpectedly at step seven without an error message. Anyone come up with a work around before Apple sorts this bug out?

What do you mean when you say "unable to backup to my external drives"? Are you updating your Vaults? If so, are you able to create a new Vault? If you are, create them and confirm that they work. If they work, delete the old Vaults and keep the new ones.

External Hard Drive woes (possibly Time Machine related)

Hello everyone,
I am using one of the partitions on my WD My Passport for Mac (1 TB) partitioned into two sepaprate partions (both Mac OS Extended Journaled) of 500 GB each as my backup disk for Time Machine.
Now, Time Machine seems to work fine on it for some time. However, after a period of time (~5 hours) time machine stops working. Here are the relevant logs.
2/2/12 5:35:26.221 AM com.apple.backupd: Starting standard backup
2/2/12 5:35:26.424 AM com.apple.backupd: Backing up to: /Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb
2/2/12 5:35:27.351 AM com.apple.backupd: 2.52 GB required (including padding), 243.30 GB available
2/2/12 5:35:39.920 AM com.apple.backupd: Copied 1408 files (49.3 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
2/2/12 5:35:40.073 AM com.apple.backupd: 2.46 GB required (including padding), 243.25 GB available
2/2/12 5:35:43.099 AM com.apple.backupd: Copied 876 files (199 bytes) from volume Macintosh HD.
2/2/12 5:35:43.631 AM com.apple.backupd: Starting post-backup thinning
2/2/12 5:35:43.631 AM com.apple.backupd: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
2/2/12 5:35:43.655 AM com.apple.backupd: Backup completed successfully.
2/2/12 6:35:26.125 AM com.apple.backupd: Starting standard backup
2/2/12 6:35:26.379 AM com.apple.backupd: Backing up to: /Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb
2/2/12 6:37:30.081 AM com.apple.backupd: Error: (-50) Creating directory 2012-02-02-063730.inProgress
2/2/12 6:37:30.081 AM com.apple.backupd: Failed to make snapshot container.
2/2/12 6:37:43.118 AM com.apple.backupd: Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly size:37
2/2/12 6:37:53.131 AM com.apple.backupd: Backup failed with error: 2
2/2/12 7:35:25.953 AM com.apple.backupd: Starting standard backup
2/2/12 7:35:26.129 AM com.apple.backupd: Backing up to: /Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb
2/2/12 7:35:26.190 AM com.apple.backupd: Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly size:37
2/2/12 7:35:26.192 AM com.apple.backupd: Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly size:37
2/2/12 7:35:36.207 AM com.apple.backupd: Backup failed with error: 2
2/2/12 8:35:25.847 AM com.apple.backupd: Starting standard backup
2/2/12 8:35:26.020 AM com.apple.backupd: Backing up to: /Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb
2/2/12 8:35:26.076 AM com.apple.backupd: Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly size:37
2/2/12 8:35:26.078 AM com.apple.backupd: Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly size:37
2/2/12 8:35:36.091 AM com.apple.backupd: Backup failed with error: 2
When this happens, the Hard Drive makes beeping noises (each time Time Machine tries to access it). It refuses to unmount, and Disk Utility refuses to either verify or repair the hard drive. Forcibly unplugging the hard drive and replugging it does not help either. It makes beeping noises for about half a minute and then goes quiet. However, neither is it mounted nor is it visible in the disk utility.
The only way I have managed to fix this is to plug the hard drive in another mac, where it mounts without any problem. I then run disk utility to verify the hard drive (on that mac) and then when I replug the drive to my laptop, it works. Until it breaks again.
The only other "error" related to my external hard drive that I have found in system logs is also pasted below:
2/2/12 12:50:07.161 AM com.apple.backupd: Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 "The file “objects.nib” couldn’t be opened." UserInfo=0x7f9097807460 {NSURL=file://localhost/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh%20HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/ar.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSFilePath=/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/ar.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSUnderlyingError=0x7f9097833650 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Not a directory"}
2/2/12 12:50:07.289 AM com.apple.backupd: Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 "The file “objects.nib” couldn’t be opened." UserInfo=0x7f9097096050 {NSURL=file://localhost/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh%20HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/hu.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSFilePath=/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/hu.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSUnderlyingError=0x7f9097095f40 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Not a directory"}
2/2/12 12:50:07.294 AM com.apple.backupd: Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 "The file “objects.nib” couldn’t be opened." UserInfo=0x7f9097359940 {NSURL=file://localhost/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh%20HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/ko.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSFilePath=/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/ko.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSUnderlyingError=0x7f90973598e0 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Not a directory"}
2/2/12 12:50:07.313 AM com.apple.backupd: Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 "The file “objects.nib” couldn’t be opened." UserInfo=0x7f909772fc90 {NSURL=file://localhost/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh%20HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/sv.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSFilePath=/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/sv.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSUnderlyingError=0x7f909772bcc0 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Not a directory"}
2/2/12 12:50:07.326 AM com.apple.backupd: Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 "The file “objects.nib” couldn’t be opened." UserInfo=0x7f909709b6f0 {NSURL=file://localhost/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh%20HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/zh_CN.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSFilePath=/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/zh_CN.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSUnderlyingError=0x7f9097095e30 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Not a directory"}
I don't know what the problem is, but I would like to be able to use an external. I also have another external plugged in my computer (NTFS, and I have NTFS write enabled via http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/) and that hard drive works perfectly. Also, the problem was there before I enabled NTFS write so nothing was harmed in enabling NTFS write.
System Info
OS X 10.7.3 (problem existed with 10.7.2) as well
RAM: 8 GB
Macbook Pro 15" (i7 2.2 GHz, 2011 model)

OSX is having trouble reading or writing to the drive. That's usually hardware (the drive, port, or cable).
Try different ports, cables, and combinations of the two (a plug that works fine in one port may not make good contact in a different one).
Be sure it's connected directly to your Mac -- no hubs or daisy chains, and not a port on your keyboard.
Also, what Partition Map Scheme does the drive have? (Check via Disk Utility - select the top line for the drive -- it should show at the lower right.)

I upgraded to Mavericks, now I cannot use my External Hard Drive

I have a 13in 2009 MacbookPro that I recently upgraded to Mavericks, and since the upgrade I am unable to mount my Toshiba External Hard Drive that prior to the upgrade worked wonderfully with this computer. The HD still works with my Windows PC. I have run Disk Utility and it appears but is greyed out and says it needs to be repaired if I try to mount it, but repairing has done nothing to help.
I need to get my HD working with my MacbookPro again. Please help me.

Welcome to Apple Support Communities. We're users here and don't speak for "Apple Inc."
Since you say you are using your drive with a Windows PC also, were you using a program such as NTFS for OS X that now needs to be upgraded to work with OS X 10.9 Mavericks?
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

External hard drive corrupted after trying to fix it, in macbook Disk utilities

hello,
After fixing my macbook internal drive with disk utilities, i put to verify my WD external hard drive,that acuse me some errors.
Well i don´t no why but i put the disk utility run for de WD external drive. A few time later , shows up a message that the disk couln't fixed, to format them.
After that my external WD wasn't recognize by any computer, i think the modules of the disk was corruped.
Does any one knows how can i invert ou fix the problem, without formating?
Thank you

Balibaleia wrote:
Does any one knows how can i invert ou fix the problem, without formating?
I assume your asking because you have data on that drive to recover first.
Your going to need to install something like Data Rescue on your computer's boot drive, then connect the problem drive and another external drive with enough space to send all the recovered files too.
Data Rescue takes a long time, it reads the 1's and 0's of the files themselves off the drive, not listening to anything else, it will cost you $100, but that's the going price for software like this.
The option if that doesn't work is to take the internal hard drive out of the external case and use a SATA to USB adapter cable $40, then try the above Data Rescue method again.
If you don't care about any data on the drive, then just toss it. Drives are cheap.

Unable to verify or repair external hard drive

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