Can you help me help a friend?

Question

Level 1

4 points

Can you help me help a friend?

I have a SanDisc 500GB external drive which I'm using with Time Machine. I
pulled it out without ejecting it in mistake for another external drive.

It will no longer mount.

Disc Utility recognises it as a disc. But that is all. It will not erase, and
First Aid returns Operation sccessful instantly, without doing anything.

All its vital statistics look OK (size etc). The TM volume shows zero space
available, owners disabled.

I get a "com.apple.DiskManagement.disenter error 0." Error from Disc Utility.

I am running OS 12.6.1 (Monterey) on a 2017 iMac.

Can anything be done to recover it, or is it now a brick? I don't care about
the actual back up (I have alternatives) but I would like it back.

Any ideas which I can pass on?

Thanks

iMac

Posted on Dec 14, 2022 2:29 AM

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Answer 1

Owl-53

Level 10

116,203 points

Dec 14, 2022 2:42 AM in response to Brenda_Shoot

Would suggest attach the drive to directly to computer.

In Disk Utilities >> View >> View all attached Drives

Unmount the Drive as per illustration below

Then choose the Upper Most Name of the external drive " SanDisc " and reformat as per link below

Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac

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Answer 2

Dec 14, 2022 12:16 PM in response to Boffin405

I did a restart and this time it did mount. I managed to erase and reformat it, but I do not trust it anymore - especially as a Time Machine backup!

However, this has somehow created another problem. There is a "virtual" external disc media somewhere, as reported by Disc Utility, with a mountable volume to which I can copy files. In fact it behaves in all respects as though it really was an external drive. Except that I cannot eject it. I can mount it from Disc Utility, but obviously not by plugging it in!

I'm not sure what to do about it. I can think of a few options:

A. Hope that some knowledgeable person (perhaps with Terminal skills) can help me.

B. Ignore it in the hope that it is not using up much storage. It may go away, but I doubt it; it survived a Shutdown and power off cycle, which cures many ills.

C. Do a Recovery with erase drive in it and restore from a CCC backup. This seems a risky thing to do for what it would be worth.

Meanwhile, I am ordering a replacement drive.

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Answer 3

Owl-53

Level 10

116,203 points

Dec 14, 2022 9:31 AM in response to Boffin405

Put to garbage after using a Hammer to smash the drive. That is to insure the Data can never be recovered ever.

Or at a Big Cost to User, take it to a Professional Data Recovery Company who maybe able to Salvage some data from it.

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Answer 4

Dec 14, 2022 9:41 AM in response to Owl-53

I think I'll do that. I have managed to reformat it, but I do not trust it.

Also, Disc Utility now has an imaginary external drive which it goes through the motions of erasing, renaming and all that but I cannot eject!

I can even move things to it!±

Maybe it will go away?

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Answer 5

Brenda_Shoot Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 14, 2022 3:33 PM in response to Boffin405

Thank you, my friend, for coming here to ASC to review answers personally! 🙂

Perhaps you should try out the drive in a simple test. Save some new, unique, photographs to it and then see if you can 'see' them again on your screen - after you have ejected the drive and then reconnected it.

I believe you are sensible to employ a brand new SSD for use as your Time Machine back-up disk.

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Answer 6

Dec 14, 2022 8:56 AM in response to Owl-53

I have already tried that. But as it won't mount, Disc Utility can't reformat it. Something more drastic is needed!

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Answer 7

Brenda_Shoot Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 14, 2022 10:44 AM in response to Boffin405

P.Phillips suggestion of the destruction of the disk now sounds reasonable under the circumstances!

May I ask the age of the SSD which has failed?

Thanks

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Answer 8

Dec 14, 2022 12:10 PM in response to Brenda_Shoot

Not sure, some years. But if you look in ukscm you can see the current state of play.

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Can you help me help a friend?

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