mount: /Volumes/external failed with 72

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Level 1

35 points

mount: /Volumes/external failed with 72

When I plug in an external hard drive, it is recognized by my Mac, but it does not appear in the Finder. System report sees it and Disk Utility sees it, I just cannot save to it or access it (see attached).

When trying to force the disk to mount in Terminal, I get the error failed with 72

Here are details from Terminal

JONOMBP:~ jyoung$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme 1.0 TB disk0

1: Apple_APFS_ISC ⁨⁩ 524.3 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_APFS ⁨Container disk3⁩ 994.7 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_APFS_Recovery ⁨⁩ 5.4 GB disk0s3

/dev/disk3 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +994.7 GB disk3

Physical Store disk0s2

1: APFS Volume ⁨Macintosh HD⁩ 25.1 GB disk3s1

2: APFS Snapshot ⁨com.apple.os.update-...⁩ 25.1 GB disk3s1s1

3: APFS Volume ⁨Preboot⁩ 492.6 MB disk3s2

4: APFS Volume ⁨Recovery⁩ 1.7 GB disk3s3

5: APFS Volume ⁨Data⁩ 279.5 GB disk3s5

6: APFS Volume ⁨VM⁩ 16.1 GB disk3s6

/dev/disk5 (external, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GARMIN *110.5 MB disk5

/dev/disk6 (external, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *7.9 GB disk6

1: DOS_FAT_32 ⁨NO NAME⁩ 7.9 GB disk6s1

This is what I tried in Terminal:

JONOMBP:~ jyoung$ sudo mount -t DOS_FAT_32 /dev/disk6s1 /Volumes/external/

mount: exec /Library/Filesystems/DOS_FAT_32.fs/Contents/Resources/mount_DOS_FAT_32 for /Volumes/external: No such file or directory

mount: /Volumes/external failed with 72

I am not Terminal guru, so I am assuming I have done something incorrect above. How can I get external drive to mount?

Attachments:

MacBook Pro Apple Silicon

Posted on Jun 27, 2022 10:04 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

0X4DBOY Author

Level 1

35 points

Jun 28, 2022 5:56 AM in response to 0X4DBOY

UPDATE:

I was able to resolve the issue…

Summary:

I needed to mount a Garmin Edge 800 cycling computer, along with the Compact Flash Drive inside of it, so that I could sync my ride data with Garmin Connect.

Step1: Identify drives we want to mount

Click Apple menu
choose About this Mac
Click System Report…
Select USB in the Hardware list.
Click on the drive that you want to mount.

In my case, this is what I saw:

Composite Device:

Product ID: 0x2491

Vendor ID: 0x091e (Garmin International)

Version: 5.09

Serial Number: 0000e3dbf300

Speed: Up to 12 Mb/s

Location ID: 0x02120000 / 6

Current Available (mA): 500

Current Required (mA): 500

Extra Operating Current (mA): 0

Media:

Edge 800 Flash:

Capacity: 110.5 MB (110,493,696 bytes)

Removable Media: Yes

BSD Name: disk4

Logical Unit: 0

Partition Map Type: Unknown

S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified

USB Interface: 0

Edge 800 SD Card:

Capacity: 7.95 GB (7,948,206,080 bytes)

Removable Media: Yes

BSD Name: disk5

Logical Unit: 1

Partition Map Type: MBR (Master Boot Record)

S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified

USB Interface: 0

Volumes:

NO NAME:

Capacity: 7.94 GB (7,944,011,776 bytes)

File System: MS-DOS FAT32

BSD Name: disk5s1

Content: DOS_FAT_32

Volume UUID: 1B8E30A6-D3F7-3718-B95E-9F2CAF025D4B

STEP 2: Make a Directory

It appears we need to make a directory to force the drive to mount to, which is accomplished with the following command (note that you can use anything you want in place usb):

sudo mkdir /Volumes/usb

Tip: This YouTube tutorial explains how to make a directory - https://youtu.be/QMvYHgQOEvA?t=194 if you want to learn more.

Step 3: Force Mount Garmin Edge Flash Drives

The Garmin Edge has an onboard flash drive and an extra flash drive where all my data is stored and synced, so I needed to force both to mount.

Enter the following to mount the secondary flash card inside Garmin device:

sudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk5s1 /Volumes/usb/

(Returns: Executing: /usr/bin/kmutil load -p /System/Library/Extensions/msdosfs.kext)

At this point, I can access the Flash drive data in Finder.

Enter the following to mount the Garmin built-in flash drive:

sudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk4 /Volumes/usb/

Nothing happens this time, but I can now see and access both drives, and now Garmin Express can see and access my Garmin Edge 800.

CLOSING THOUGHTS:

I am assuming the same approach will work for all external drives.
I do not know what will happen the next time I try this after restarting or disconnecting the drive, I am assuming I will have to repeat this process again. I'd like a way to make this permanent or at least a way to automate this manual work.
I have the Garmin Edge device plugged into a USB hub, but should in any situation as long as the information in System Report (Step 1) is correct.

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

55,664 points

Jun 27, 2022 6:48 PM in response to 0X4DBOY

You gave the wrong volume name to the command when using the command line. It appears the drive you want to mount on the command line has the volume name of "NO NAME". Using the "mount" command also requires you to also have a folder already created for the mount point.

Try using this command (much easier than the *nix "mount" command):

diskutil  mount  readOnly  diskXsY

Replace "diskXsY" with the correct drive identifier ("X") and partition number ("Y") for the volume you want to mount. In your screenshot this was "disk6s1", but these identifiers will change every time you connect the drive so you must get these values after connecting the drive.

I added the "readOnly" option since it may allow it to mount even if there is a problem with the file system. If you need to write to this volume, then you can try the command without the "readOnly" option.

If you want to use the standard *nix "mount" command like in your original post, then you will first need to create a folder in your home user folder (such as "MyDrive" on the Desktop). I'm having you do this so we don't run into any problems with macOS security which can occur with locations outside of the home user foler. Then you could use the following "mount" command to attempt to mount the volume using the "MyDrive" folder just created on the Desktop:

sudo  mount  -v  -t  msdos   /dev/diskXsY  ~/Desktop/MyDrive

I added the "-v" option for verbose mode which may provide more details. To add the read-only option just add "-r" to the options between "-v" and "-t" such as:

sudo  mount  -v  -r  -t  msdos   /dev/diskXsY  ~/Desktop/MyDrive

Or to shortcut it you can combine it with the verbose option:

sudo  mount  -vr  -t  msdos   /dev/diskXsY  ~/Desktop/MyDrive

Remember to replace "diskXsY" with the correct values you retrieve after connecting the drive.

I'm supplying this in case you need to retrieve data from this drive. Otherwise you should just erase the drive. It is likely this drive has a file system issue, or perhaps the drive is failing. USB sticks are not very reliable. Have you tried running Disk Utility First Aid on this drive? Make sure to run First Aid on the physical drive as well in case there is an issue with the partition table, but to see the physical drive you may need to click "View" within Disk Utility and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical drive appears on the left pane of Disk Utility.

You should always have frequent and regular backups of your computer and all external media (including the cloud) which contains important & unique data.

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Answer 3

0X4DBOY Author

Level 1

35 points

Jun 28, 2022 4:49 AM in response to HWTech

Thank you HWTech, your suggestions did provide additional insight. The disk appears to be blocked.

JONOMBP:~ jyoung$ sudo diskutil mount /dev/disk5s1

Password:

Volume on disk5s1 failed to mount: "Blocked"

JONOMBP:~ jyoung$

Is there are way to unblock?

The drives used to mount as expected when I plugged them into the ports on my Thunderbolt Display, but I do not have the Thunderbolt display with me right now.

JFYI, this particular drive is a Flash drive, inside of a Garmin Edge 800 cycling computer. I am trying to sync my ride data to Garmin's website, but I cannot due to the drive apparently being blocked. All drives are blocked.

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mount: /Volumes/external failed with 72

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