Unmount or Mount Disk

I posted the question of how to erase space on my external hard drive. I received four replies but I have follow-up queations to the replies. One response was I can't unmount anything on a disk until it is mounted. How do I do that? Second reply asked if there was anything else on the error message I get when I try to erase my external hard drive. This is message: "Volume Erase failed: (this part is in bold letters) Volumje Erase failed with the error" Couldn't unmount disk"
When I click unmount disk I get this message: "Unmount disk failed (again in bold letters). The disk "My Book" could not be unmounted. Make sure that all apllications and files are closed on this disk." As far as I can tell, I hve no applications or files running on the disk. How can I tell if I do have anything running?
The second reply also says I can force unmount my disk with an option when I get the dialogthat opened telling me you can't unmount it. However I don't see that or any other option when that screen appears.
The third reply says I can control-click the icon for the drive and select eject. I'm afraid this will eject or eliminate my entire external hard drive. Is this something I really want to do?
The fourth reply said to drag my external HDD's Icon to the trash. Please help me,what are HDD's?.
I am a novice at this and am asking for help. I appreciate any help you, or others, can give me.

There are any number of reasons you cannot unmount a drive. One of them is that the drive is in use. Will the drive Eject? Do you get the same error immediately after you reboot the computer? Have you tried booting from an installer DVD in order to erase the drive? If you have Lion or Mountain Lion you would boot from the Recovery HD instead of a DVD.

Similar Messages

(Un)mounting disks

Connected to my Mac mini are 2 USB disks of equal size. I want one to be actively used and the other to be a copy of the first. I want that copy to be made once a week and I want the disk to not be accessible for anything but making that copy. So what I'm looking to do is mount the disk, make the copy and then unmount the disk.
I've played around with the command line, but can't seem to figure out how to use the mount and umount commands properly. When 'ejected' from the Finder, I can't seem to come up with the right command to mount the disk again. And when trying to unmount a volume, it keeps telling me it's busy even when there are no open files - see log below.
Any ideas?
This machine runs OS X Leopard 10.5.8 by the way.
[host:~] user% sudo umount /Volumes/backup
umount: unmount(/Volumes/backup): Resource busy
[host:~] user% fuser /Volumes/backup/*
fuser: No match.
[host:~] user% fuser /Volumes/backup/.*
/Volumes/backup/.:
/Volumes/backup/..:
/Volumes/backup/.DS_Store:
/Volumes/backup/.Spotlight-V100:
/Volumes/backup/.Trashes:
/Volumes/backup/.com.apple.timemachine.supported:
/Volumes/backup/.fseventsd:

The Aqua environment itself probably has too tight a grip on the hardware for you to be able to unmount the external disks with umount. I can do that (from user space) with MacFUSE volumes. Try using "hdiutil" with the "attach" and "detach" options.

How to make mounted disk image appear in sidebar

Hi all,
Previously, I had inadvertently dragged the icon for a mounted disk image off the sidebar. It made the cool "poof" thing. I then checked if it was really unmounted using disk image. It was not, so I unmounted it there.
Subsequently, when I would mount that disk image, the icon would not appear in the sidebar. If you run into this problem, you can fix it thus:
1) Go to the Go --> Go to Folder menu item in the Finder.
2) Enter /Volumes
3) Drag the icon of the mounted disk image to the disk part of the sidebar
You will need to aim properly to get access to the sidebar without activating one of the disk icons.
4) All better
This started out as a question, but I fixed it and thought someone else could use the info.
Scott

Nicely done Scott, thanks!

Invisible Mounted Disk Image

I have a disk image that is encrypted. In opens and mounts as expected on a machine running 10.3.9.
That same disk image when I attempt to open it on another machine running 10.4.9; prompts for the
password and appears to mount however it's not visible in the Finder! When I use a utility to "show invisible files"
it still doesn't appear. If I go to DiskUtility, the volume shows as mounted. It appears with a ls /Volume command in
Terminal. If it didn't appear on another machine I'd say the disk image was damaged or corrupt but it's only on the
10.4.9 machine that it doesn't show. Tried a clean "safe" user account - same results.
I've run all the Maintenance and Disk repairs, Re-did the 10.4.9 (combo) update, DiskWarrior, Drive Genius, etc on
both the Mounted disk image and the 10.4.9 machine.
I've also trashed: Finder Prefs, Extensions.kextcache, Extensions.mkext and
Com.apple.LaunchServices.plist.
Anyone? Any ideas?
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Even though the disk image did not appear in a "safe user" account, today I
logged in Root and low and behold the image mounted (as it had been) but
this time it was visible appearing on the desktop. I went and changed the
permissions on the mounted disk image to ignore permissions on this
volume. Logged back in my normal user account, entered the pw and it
appeared! The odd thing is have no idea as to how the permissions could
of previously been changed on an unmounted - encrypted disk image.
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

HT1526 I'm trying to delete files from the trash and an .InProgress file in Time Machine that cannot be moved to the trash. I cannot unmount the TM disk either. If I use the chflags -R nouchg command, I get a "Resource busy" message. Any suggestions?

I've got one or maybe two problems. Time Machine routinely crashes and there is a file in the TM folder that is an .InProgress file at the end of successful backups. Can't delete it, even using various sudo commands in Terminal. These come back with a "Resource busy" message.
Similarly, there is a Microsoft Office alias in my trash that will not delete, again including various delete or Terminal commands. Also "Resource busy"
I can't reformat the TM volume since it cannot unmount and it also cannot unmount the whole disk, which contains some other backup files I'd rather keep.
Any suggestions?
Mike

I'm not sure I can be very helpful since I was doing a lot of things and ultimately the problems went away. But one thing that definitely seemed to help was to shut down, restart, do something, shut down again and repeat. So with a clean start, try to move the file to the trash. If that works, shut down restart and look to see if it is still in the trash. Empty the trash. Shut down if it appears to empty and then restart. It seemed sometimes that the computer was doing what I wanted then something was overriding this and restoring. The shutdowns immedately after I could do something but before it engaged an override operation seemed to keep this from happening.
Sorry to not have more to offer but...

Problem writing external file to externally mounted disk in Windows

Folks,
I've got a puzzling problem with a simple OWB mapping where I'm dumping the contents of a table to an external file.
Versions are OWB v 11.2.0.2 64-bits on Oracle RDBMS 11.2.0.2 Windows 2007 64-bits Enterprise Server.
When the external files module is hooked up to a location that points to a local disk and directory on the OWB-server, everything works fine - files are created and written.
When the external files module is hooked up to a location that points to a mounted disk on another Windows 2007 64-bits Enterprise Server, I get +"Invalid Path for target file, check if connector is deployed correctly".+
The "File System Location Path" in OWB is set to "N:" (no slashes either way). "Test Connection" reports OK.
I've given both the Oracle os-user and "Everyone" (for good measure) all rights on the mounted disk, and I can see that the generated package code is using the correct Directory, and the Directory Path is the correct one on the server. The mounted disk (N:) should appear as a local disk to Oracle as far as I can see. I'm able to create and delete files on the disk using command line on the OWB/DB-server.
I'm scratching my head on this one....

then mapped that share as a network drive (N:) on server A (the OWB/DB-server)I think that problem was with different accounts used for run Oracle database (usually database instance run under SYSTEM account) and which you used to map share (it was interactive session). Even when you made this map persistent (enable "Reconnect at logon" option during mapping) you don't grant access to this drive to other accounts (including SYSTEM ) - this drive will not be visible to other users.
I think it is possible to create "persistent" network drive mapping for Oracle database context with specification non-SYSTEM account (domain or server local) for running Oracle database instance (and Oracle Listener service).
Also it seems there is a workaround to access mapped network drive under SYSTEM account:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/182750/how-to-map-a-network-drive-to-be-used-by-a-service
Regards,
Oleg

What's Happening?? Some days after installing latest security up date for 10.5.8 on G4, both inernal CD/DVD drives failed to mount disks other than a cleaning disk which mounted and was imported into iTunes.No other CD or DVD disk will mount.

What's Happening?? Some days after installing latest security update for 10.5.8 on G4, both inernal CD/DVD drives failed to mount disks other than a cleaning disk which mounted and was imported into iTunes. No other CD or DVD disk will mount.Is this a unique experience?

Hello Robert,
First, Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), use Disk Utility from there to Repair Permissions, test if things work OK in Safe Mode.
Then move these files to the Desktop...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.recentitems.plist
Reboot & test.
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.

Mac wont mount disk images, and fails to auto detect some usb devices.

for some reason, all of a sudden, my mac won't mount disks. even disks I know in the past have worked.
also, it wont auto detect some external devices. especially jump drives and hard drives and audio interfaces. It has to be rebooted with the the devices connected.
I know its not a hardware problem, because everything runs smooth in windows on this computer.
I did some extensive cleaning recently, and installed a lot of new stuff, but i don't know what could be causing this.
any help would be greatly apreciated!

This USB faq may help.
An SMC reset may help you mount disks.
 DALE

Does Time Machine still ignore mounted disk images? Specifically, encrypted sparse bundle disk images?

My Time Machine backs up to Time Capsule which cannot be encrypted. I also have confidential data in an encrypted sparse bundle disk image in my home folder. When TM backs up and the encrypted sparse bundle disk image is mounted and I'm accessing the data, does TM back up the data "in the clear" decrypted form or does it exclude the disk image because it's mounted? I've done a little research, but there's conflicting information. Not sure what happens in Lion now...

Time Machine does not backup mounted disk images! The encrypted sparse bundle disk image was mounted, I updated a doc and did a TM backup - the file was not listed in the TM repository and the doc remained unchanged in the encrypted sparse bundle disk image on TM. Then I ejected the disk image and did a TM backup - the updated doc was backed up in the encrypted sparse bundle disk image! Thank you!

Preview app damage pictures on mounted disk

I recently upgraded the system to Mavericks and preview app starts to get weird. I have a bunch of pictures (in .tif, jpeg, etc types) on mounted disks and I used to open with preview and it worked perfect. But recently, when I open up a picture file with preview for the first time, it seems ok. But for the second time and onwards, it says the file "is damaged and should be move to trash". I tried thousands of times for all types of pictures, but it's always like that, first time good and second time damaged. However, if I open the same picture with iPhoto in the first time, no matter how many times I tried, it's always working well, no damage was found, so I guess it's the preview app that damages the picture file. Also, this weird thing didn't happen when I open any local pictures. Preview is still always good with the local ones. I didn't come across that before, and didn't find a solution on any websites. Can someone help me here please? Bunch of thx!

That's a good idea, but actually I just fixed the problem last night by turning on the Gatekeeper in Security to allow apps or files from anywhere can be open on my macbook, then the error went away! Sorry for not marking this question as solved on time, but do appreciate your attention!

How to make iMovie 09 recognize a mounted disk image?

I'm trying to store video clips in a disk image (Mac OS Extended - Journaled, single Apple Partition Map). Previously in iMovie 08 all I had to do was mount the image, start iMovie and it would recognize it as an additional drive. Then I could drag events to it and store them there. In 09 this does not work. It sees the image but has the yellow triangle/exclamation point in it. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make it recognize the image! I've tried all variations in disk utility to create the image to no avail. Is iMovie 09 looking for a certain file on the disk image to recognize it? Maybe something in the DS_Store file or the .localized? Very frustrating.
Hoping someone can help. Thanks.

jsd2 wrote:
Try the following:
Mount the disk image so that there is a disk icon on the Desktop, and then launch Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities). Copy-paste the following line into the Terminal window, and then type a single space. Do not type <Return> yet:
sudo mdutil -i on
After typing the single space, drag the mounted disk image icon from the Desktop into the Terminal window, click inside the Terminal window, and then type <Return>. Enter your admin password at the prompt (it will not echo on the screen), and again type <Return>.
Hopefully that will enable Spotlght indexing on the mounted image. It might take some time to complete depending on the contents.
The result for this for me, three times, was "Indexing disabled."

Time Machine Backup of mounted disk

Hi,
For sharing my iPhoto Library among multiple users on a MacBook Pro running, currently 10.6.8, I have by a Apple Support guide created a disk image file, and mounted it for storing my pictures without permission issues.
However, to account for future expansion, the disk image is made to be 100 GB, while current photo library size is approx 50 GB. Is there any way of getting Time Machine to backup the files within the mounted disk, rather than backing up the disk image file itself? So that the size of the backup at present would be the actual size of contents of the disk, rather than the whole disk image file itself? And furthermore, by copying a disk image file, will the actual files within also be backuped?
Hoping this makes sense to some you you, thanks!

Create a sparse bundle disk image and copy your library there. A sparse bundle disk image consists of strips, rather than one single file. The bundle will expand to fit your needs by adding strips. If things change in the bundle, TimeMachine should be smart enough to only backup the changed strips, not the entire image. So if you tell Disk Utility to create an empty sparse bundle disk image of 1000GB and you put in only 50 GB, the bundle will only occupy 50 GB.
When you delete loads of data, you can even shrink back the disk image (through a terminal command) to free up real disk space.
Message was edited by: eljonco, added shrinking info

General Installation/ Mounted disk images

I am a Mac virgin, having only had my new iMac for 2 weeks. I have recently downloaded/installed some apps (google earth for instance) and notice that if I eject the mounted disk image that the app will no longer run. I can not "hide" the mounted disk in the HD either. It just sits there on my desktop.
Is there no way to rid my desktop of all this clutter? If anything, is there anyway to hide the icons on my desktop like you could on...<ughhh> XP <ughhh>?
Thanks for your help.

What you need to do is quit Google Earth, open the Applications folder (with Finder in front, click the "Go" menu then "Applications") and drag the application into the Applications folder. After it copies, eject the installer diskimage and you can delete it.
Some installers run a program that installs the app and its support files, and others (like Google Earth) just open the diskimage package and show you the application icon, which makes it all to easy to just doubleclick to run. Since diskimages cannot be ejected while files are open, things get messy real fast.
It's a common problem with even experienced Mac users that they continue to run several apps from the diskimage or from their desktop. Hopefully the Leopard version will have this problem fixed.

.PLST on mounted disk

Hi
In the thread below Cyclosauras helped get my head around "defaults write" etc, which works great for my wee app,
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2676053&#2676053
what I would like to attempt is to expand on this for my purposes by having the .plst file on a mounted disk that a couple of users access, so as each user uses the same .plst, what would I need to add to this script to make this possible?
set LASTNUMBER to 0
do shell script "/usr/bin/defaults write ~/Desktop/TestFile 'LAST NUMBER' " & LASTNUMBER
set new_num to (do shell script "defaults read ~/Desktop/TestFile 'LAST NUMBER'")
display dialog new_num
cheers
Budgie

Hi kel
Thanks for that, I think I need to explain a wee bit better,
Im trying to have 1 .plst stored on a mounted disk that two users access via my app from their own work stations, the information in the .plst is the same for both, meaning that if user (A) opens the app types 123 clicks ok to write to .plst, then user (B) opens the app he will see "123", both users get to see what the other has entered into the .plst
hope that makes some sense
Budgie

I updated to Tiger 10.4.11 & cannot mount disk images &other problems.HELP!

I just updated to Tiger 10.4.11/combo update. I used the stand alone installer (because Software Update since I updated to 10.4.10delta). I repaired permissions before and after the update. Now I can't mount disk images I always get the message "Mount Failed".This occured when downloading and trying to open an existing disk image.I ran fsck, even tried AppleJack all to no avail.I know this problem wasn't there before the update as I downloaded the update and a couple of small utilities and all was well with the world (they all mounted properly). I was doing fine with OSX 10.4.9 but just had to upgrade! Can someone PLEASE HELP ME? I'M grateful for any suggestions and the forums have been good to me in the past.
badcat53

Some part of the OS is messed up... I've heard that if you Deltas you must stick with those, if you do Combos you must stick with those, no idea if it's true, as I always use the bigger Combo Updates.
Most likely the best solution for both of you is an Archive & Install...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120
Then apply...
The combo update for PowerPC-based Macs...
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx10411comboupdateppc.html
The combo update for Intel-based Macs...
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx10411comboupdateintel.html

Unmount or Mount Disk

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for