Duplicate mount point in MacOS Ventura 13.4

Question

Duplicate mount point in MacOS Ventura 13.4

I use Backblaze.com to back up remotely an external drive (a new Crucial 2TB SSD). My 2022 Macbook Pro running MacOS 13.4 recently changed the "mount point" name by adding a "2" to it. It had previously done the same thing by adding a "1". Supposedly this was caused by my turning off the external drive without unmounting it first.

This causes a problem with Backblaze because it thinks this is a new drive when the drive's name changes. My account only allows it to back up one external drive in addition to my Mac's internal drive.

There is an article "Duplicate mount point in /Volumes after unexpected restart - Apple Support" which I have read. It appears to apply only to MacOS Server. In addition, I really don't understand what it's asking me to do and I don't want to mess around with drive names and other system functions, I know from experience I'll just make things worse.

Can anyone suggest, first, how to fix the immediate problem, and second, how to prevent the "mount point" name changing in the future if I've done nothing to cause it?

MacBook Pro (2021)

Posted on Jun 6, 2023 5:22 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Dec 10, 2023 11:23 AM in response to vrVincent

A ticket into Blackblaze support recommended this, and it worked for me (16" M1 Pro running Venture 13.5.2):

If there is a 1 appended to your external drive, please try these steps instead to reset the identifiers on your drives:

Open Finder on your Mac computer
Use the shortcut Shift (⇧) - Cmd (⌘) - G and enter in: /Library/Backblaze.bzpkg/bzdata
Remove the following files:
- bzinfo.xml
- bzvolumes.xml
After these have been removed, run the latest Backblaze installer over your current installation: https://secure.backblaze.com/update.htm
Reboot your computer.
Please then open the Backblaze Preferences Panel and attempt to select your drives once again.

Reply

Answer 2

etresoft

Level 9

50,518 points

Jun 8, 2023 6:06 AM in response to Kenneth Cohen1

Kenneth Cohen1 wrote:

There is an article "Duplicate mount point in /Volumes after unexpected restart - Apple Support" which I have read. It appears to apply only to MacOS Server. In addition, I really don't understand what it's asking me to do and I don't want to mess around with drive names and other system functions, I know from experience I'll just make things worse.

Those instructions apply to both MacOS X Server and MacOS X. But I mean that literally - MacOS X. Don't attempt it on a modern Mac.

Unplug all of your external drives. Then follow those instructions. But when you get to the last part, instead of doing

mv "FalseVolumeName" /

do instead:

rmdir "FalseVolumeName"

You might need to prefix that with "sudo". This is a safe operation. The "rmdir" command will only remove an empty directory. With the drives unmounted, the folder should be empty. Then restart and you'll be good to go.

Reply

Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,110 points

Jun 6, 2023 5:35 AM in response to Kenneth Cohen1

With the drive disconnected, use Go > Computer and see if there is a folder in there with the name of the drive. If there is, that is what is causing the problem.

There is very little difference between “Server” and a standard macOS install. Those instructions will work if the false mount points don’t appear as folders.

Reply

Answer 4

Jun 6, 2023 2:20 PM in response to Kenneth Cohen1

Thanks for this. With the drive ejected (unmounted), the only items in Go>Computer are Macintosh HD and Network. With the drive mounted, the external drive is in Go>Computer with its correct name (without an appended number). The number is only appended to the name of the mount point in Disk Utility. And the number has somehow gone from a '2' to a '3' since I began looking at this a few days ago.

Reply

Answer 5

Jun 8, 2023 5:27 AM in response to Barney-15E

Here is what Terminal shows:

Last login: Mon Jun 5 08:32:26 on console

kjc@Kens-MacBook-Pro ~ %

kjc@Kens-MacBook-Pro ~ % ls -l /Volumes

total 0

lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1 3 Jun 08:40 Macintosh HD -> /

d--x--x--x 2 root wheel 64 3 Jun 08:40 SSD ORIGINAL Cohen data

d--x--x--x 2 root wheel 64 5 Jun 11:31 SSD ORIGINAL Cohen data 1

d--x--x--x 2 root wheel 64 5 Jun 11:33 SSD ORIGINAL Cohen data 2

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 96 22 May 08:08 com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots

kjc@Kens-MacBook-Pro ~ %

Reply

Answer 6

Dec 8, 2023 9:12 AM in response to vrVincent

Same problem here, running OS 14.1.2. Have tried ejecting drive and then Go> /volumes/ but it doesn't appear. And nothing can be dragged from this search box anyway. Backblaze has been unable to back up my drive for a month now because of this.

Reply