Brand new external hard drive disk not found after erase attempts

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Cedoliku Author

Level 1

4 points

Brand new external hard drive disk not found after erase attempts

I've been trying to "erase" (I'd rather have said "format") a new Seagate IronWolf 8To, using Disk utility, then

terminal diskutility cli.

First with the disk utility app, I had repeatedly a format disk error, saying the operation had failed.

After searching for solutions on the web, I tried with the terminal diskutility commands:

list: the drive appeared correctly

then I launched a

diskutil eraseDisk APFS DiskName GPT disk4

and after a while and some state bar display, had this error:

Error: -69825: Wiping volume data to prevent future accidental probing failed

I then found a topic here with someone explaining he solved the same error issue with changing the external drive cable. So I did the same, moving the disk to another external drive dock, but now the disk doesn't even appear anywhere. Neither in the app, nor when listing disks through the terminal.

It looks like I have definitely truly erased the disk. I can't target it anymore, anywhere..

Help.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 15.1

Posted on Dec 23, 2024 10:58 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

John Galt

Level 10

159,652 points

Dec 23, 2024 11:06 AM in response to Cedoliku

I suspect the drive is defective.

First with the disk utility app, I had repeatedly a format disk error, saying the operation had failed.

Erasing any external hard disk drive requires no special procedure. If ** reported a failure, return the drive as defective. You already devoted enough time and effort into getting it to work.

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Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

159,652 points

Dec 23, 2024 12:48 PM in response to Cedoliku

I understand. I don't think it changes the answer though; that disk drive has all the indications of a failed device, and you already ruled out the other possible cause (a defective cable).

Maybe try formatting it while your Mac is booted in "Safe Mode" Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support, or using Disk Utility booted in Recovery mode Intro to macOS Recovery - Apple Support, but it is not supposed to be this difficult.

We have about twenty minutes to edit a post, after which it can no longer be edited, so posting a followup reply is ok.

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Answer 3

Dec 23, 2024 1:57 PM in response to John Galt

Disk Utility has be substantially "dumbed down" by removing obvious references to Physical Devices, so that you don't get confused by container-disks and other APFS data structures. But Physical devices is EXACTLY what you want to be addressing for this use.

Use the tiny "View" menu inside Disk Utility to choose "Show all devices'

Then select the leftmost item of the cluster referring to your external drive, the Physical device, by its immutable manufacturer-given device-name and ERASE that.

I am certain this article is also available in French:

Initialize an external storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

.

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Answer 4

Cedoliku Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 23, 2024 12:36 PM in response to Cedoliku

I've been trying to "erase" (I'd rather have said "format") a new Seagate IronWolf 8To, using Disk utility, then

terminal diskutility cli.

First with the disk utility app, I had repeatedly a format disk error, saying the operation had failed.

After searching for solutions on the web, I tried with the terminal diskutility commands:

list: the drive appeared correctly

then I launched a

diskutil eraseDisk APFS DiskName GPT disk4

and after a while and some state bar display, had this error:

Error: -69825: Wiping volume data to prevent future accidental probing failed

I then found a topic here with someone explaining he solved the same error issue with changing the external drive cable. So I did the same, moving the disk to another external drive dock, but now the disk doesn't even appear anywhere. Neither in the app, nor when listing disks through the terminal.

It looks like I have definitely truly erased the disk. I can't target it anymore, anywhere..

Edit: After many time the disk finally appeared back in the list. Seems it was reading it, don'y know..

Back to the app, erase attempt again, then:

Effacement de « ST8000VN 004-3CP101 Media » (disk2) et création de « 5-2024 »

Démontage ** disque
Création de la carte de partition
En attente de l’activation des partitions
Formatage de disk2s2 comme Mac OS étendu (journalisé) avec le nom 5-2024
newfs_hfs: WriteBuffer:  pwrite(3, 0x7fd718a21000, 1048576, 1032855552): Resource busy
newfs_hfs: write (sector 2017296): Resource busy

Montage ** disque
Impossible de monter disk2s2 après effacement
Échec ** formateur de système de fichiers. : (-69832)

L’opération a échoué…

Yes I'm french. Last line means "operation has failed"

2 lines up: "Unable to mount disk2s2 after erase"

Seems to be failing trying to mount partition 2 (which I didn't create, created by default on the disk)

Help please

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Answer 5

Cedoliku Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 23, 2024 12:40 PM in response to John Galt

Thank you for your reply. Ok. As it is my first attempt to do this on MacOS, I wasn't quite sure, but this would make sense.

Down under I edited my post, but couldn't save it, I think because you already replied to the first version. But You can see the "edit" part I added. The disk came back (after long time loading). But once again failed to mount..

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Answer 6

Dec 23, 2024 6:28 PM in response to Cedoliku

If you want to use the command line instead of Disk Utility using @Grant's instructions, and this is the first time you are preparing the new drive, then you need to partition & format the drive. From the factory a new drive can have odd partition layouts & may even have hidden items which can interfere with the OS & even Disk Utility.

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Brand new external hard drive disk not found after erase attempts

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