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Macbook Pro won't detect linux partitioned external HD. HELP!

I have a Seagate external HD. The external HD is running linux. My brand new Macbook Pro is running Mountain Lion. On my previous mac, I was running an older operating system. Snow Leopard I believe. When I plugged in the external linux HD, it would be detected and mount. When I plug in the HD to my new computer, a popup reads "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer. I have the option to initiatize, ignore, or eject. If I choose initialize or ignore, nothing happens and the disc won't mount. It is detected by the disk utility app, but it won't allow me to repair or verify disk permissions or mount the disk. I've already tried resetting PRAM and SMC. Is there any other way for this linux HD to be detected? I've heard that Mountain Lion doesn't have natice support for linux. Is there anything I can do? I just have to transfer some files from my mac to the linux partitioned drive. THanks.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Dec 4, 2012 9:57 PM

35 replies

Turpulus Author

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Dec 6, 2012 6:30 PM in response to ds store

I found the free version of virtual box. I'm just stumped on how to get it working. I'll try osxfuse or macfuse. I"m not a complete noob with computers, just linux. I know absolutely nothing about linux. To answer your question about the hard drive formatted in linux, I have a hard drive connected to my xbox and the hard drive is formatted in linux so the hard drive needs to be also. I'll keep you posted. Thanks!!!

Turpulus Author

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Dec 9, 2012 10:27 PM in response to Turpulus

Ok I'm almost there! I just need a little more help. I"m stuck on this step:

4. Create a mount point by making a directory in your /Volumes folder or anywhere on your system.

How do I access the Volumes Folder? And is the directory just a subfolder in the volumes folder? Thanks.

Courcoul

Level 6

18,558 points

Dec 9, 2012 10:55 PM in response to Turpulus

First you need to get into the Volumes subdirectory, it is normally hidden. So go to the Finder and in its Go menu choose Go to Folder... type exactly /Volumes with no spaces in the textbox that pops up and click Go. A window will pop up and you're there. The mount point thing means "create a new folder inside /Volumes". Just check if a specific name is needed.

Turpulus Author

Level 1

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Dec 10, 2012 6:43 PM in response to Courcoul

Thanks! I made a folder titled mountpoint there. THis is what I type into my terminal:

fuse-ext2 /dev/disk1s1 /Volumes/mountpoint

After I hit enter I get the following message:

dyld: Library not loaded: /usr/local/lib/libfuse.2.dylib

Referenced from: /usr/local/bin/fuse-ext2

Reason: image not found

If I type in the above line without any spaces I get a different message:

-bash: fuse-ext2/dev/disk1s1/Volumes/mountpoint: No such file or directory

What am I doing wrong? I installed fuse-ext2 module and I installed macfuse. I put them both in my applications directory. Do I need to do something else iwth them? Thanks.

Turpulus Author

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Dec 10, 2012 6:54 PM in response to Turpulus

I also noticed that when I look at the name of my external hard drive in disk utility it now reads:

Mount Point : Not mounted
Capacity : 1.5 TB (1,500,298,346,496 Bytes)

Format : fuse-ext2
Available : -

Owners Enabled : -
Used : -

Number of Folders : -
Number of Files : -

I don't believe it said that the format was fuse-ext2 before, so I may be making progress.

g_wolfman

Level 4

1,137 points

Dec 10, 2012 7:06 PM in response to Turpulus

Your first command looks correct.

Did you install OSXFuse (or MacFuse)? If so, then libfuse.2.dylib should be present in /usr/local/lib - probably as a symlink to another dynamic library file.

You probably also need to reboot after installing whichever Fuse system you chose. Did you reboot?

Turpulus Author

Level 1

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Dec 10, 2012 7:37 PM in response to g_wolfman

Yup, I installed MacFuse. I did reboot. Not sure what symlink is. Same error.

Turpulus Author

Level 1

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Dec 10, 2012 9:17 PM in response to g_wolfman

I installed OSXfuse and tried it again. Here is the message I got when I ran the line in Terminal:

fuse-ext2: version:'0.0.7', fuse_version:'27' [main (../../fuse-ext2/fuse-ext2.c:324)]

fuse-ext2: enter [do_probe (../../fuse-ext2/do_probe.c:30)]

fuse-ext2: Error while trying to open /dev/disk1s1 (rc=13) [do_probe (../../fuse-ext2/do_probe.c:34)]

fuse-ext2: Probe failed [main (../../fuse-ext2/fuse-ext2.c:340)]

Turpulus Author

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Dec 10, 2012 9:27 PM in response to Turpulus

Ok, my drive miraculously mounted. However, I still can't write to it. It won't let me drag and drop a file to it. Here is the terminal message I get:

fuse-ext2 -o force /dev/disk1s1 /Volumes/mountpoint

fuse-ext2: version:'0.0.7', fuse_version:'27' [main (../../fuse-ext2/fuse-ext2.c:324)]

fuse-ext2: enter [do_probe (../../fuse-ext2/do_probe.c:30)]

fuse-ext2: Error while trying to open /dev/disk1s1 (rc=13) [do_probe (../../fuse-ext2/do_probe.c:34)]

fuse-ext2: Probe failed [main (../../fuse-ext2/fuse-ext2.c:340)]

g_wolfman

Level 4

1,137 points

Dec 11, 2012 9:43 AM in response to Turpulus

OK, I took a few minutes to install fuse-ext2 (already have OSXFuse) and format a USB stick in a Linux VM so I had a disk to play with.

This is what you need to do (and in my opinion, the whole process is shaky and error-prone, so you are working at your own risk here...this is simply the least shaky and error-prone method I got to work):

When you have OSXFuse and fuse-ext2 installed, simply attaching the drive should cause it to mount and be displayed in the Finder. This is going to be read-only. If all you need to do is recover data off this disk, then great. Everything works and when you are done simply eject it like any other disk.

If you need to write to this disk (and really aren't willing to just use a Linux VM) then:

1. Open Disk Utility. You will see the disk with its volume directly underneath it.

2. Select the volume. Click the Info button in the toolbar and note the device identifier (disk3s1, disk4s1, or something similar. If it's simply like "disk3", then you selected the disk, not the volume), as you will need it later;

3. Ensuring you have still got the volume selected, click Unmount (NOT Eject) in the toolbar. The volume should be greyed out now;

4. Open the terminal. Type the following line (except replacing the disk identifier and mountpoint with the correct information specific to your set up) at the command prompt:

sudo fuse-ext2 -o force /dev/disk4s1 /Volumes/Linux

You will be asked to type your administrator password, which will not be echoed back at all as you type it. The volume should now mount on your Desktop.

5. Do whatever work you plan to do. Note that the fuse-ext2 project makes the warning that there is no guarantee that a read-write mount is safe or bug-free. Caveat emptor.

6. When done, return to Disk Uitility, select the disk (not the volume this time) and click the Eject button in the toolbar.

Essentially, fuse-ext2 mounts the disk as owned by root with rwxr-xr-x permissions. Therefore, you need to authenticate using sudo to get the -o force option to "take" in order to allow write access. If you "Get Info" on the volume in the Finder after it mounts, you will see you have "custom access". Personally, I would call this a bug in fuse-ext2, but it is only version 0.0.7...so it's not like bug-free can be expected.

And one final time...caveat emptor. No guarantees about stability, data loss or anything else if you are trying to use fuse-ext2 for read-write access.

Turpulus Author

Level 1

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Dec 11, 2012 10:51 AM in response to g_wolfman

Thank you so muCh! I'll try it as soon as I get home. Just to clarify, the risks are too the linux drive and the file I am trying to transfer, not to my macbook right? SO worst case scenario I lose the data on the linux drive or the file I am transfering right? If so, that's a risk I'm willing to take. Linux VM refers to using the virtual box application right? I already gave that a shot and probably didn't use it right. I wasn't sure which options I needed. If all else fails, I would be willing to partition my HD into linux even though I have no ideo how to use linux. Am I correct in assuming that I would not be able to transfer files from my OSX partition to my linux partition? I would have to put all the software on my linux partition and reaqquire those files right? Wolfman: I'll try your suggestion tonight and let you know how it goes. Thanks again!!!!

Courcoul

Level 6

18,558 points

Dec 11, 2012 10:58 AM in response to Turpulus

Turpulus wrote:

I would be willing to partition my HD into linux even though I have no ideo how to use linux.

That is practically a no-go solution for most users. BootCamp now supports only Win7, maybe Win8 with an update. Coercing BC to install other OS's or using alternate non-BC dualboot strategies require a profound knowledge of both the Mac's architecture as well as all the OS's involved.

In other words, even Sheldon Cooper would have to think twice for this one. 😝

g_wolfman

Level 4

1,137 points

Dec 11, 2012 4:55 PM in response to Turpulus

The risks would be to the file you are trying to transfer - mainly that the write would fail partway through - and to the Linux partition - mainly that a failure could corrupt the partition.

I imagine that the risks are fairly low...but I have no idea for certain.

In any case, the original file and your Mac hard drive should be safe enough; you are only reading from them. Anything that goes wrong would be on the writing side.

Turpulus Author

Level 1

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Dec 11, 2012 5:17 PM in response to g_wolfman

Still won't work. I'm getting the bad mountpoint message. Here is the info:

Name : X360ISOS

Type : Partition

Disk Identifier : disk1s1

Mount Point : /Volumes/X360ISOS

File System : fuse-ext2

Connection Bus : USB

Device Tree : IODeviceTree:/PCI0@0/EHC2@1A

Writable : No

Capacity : 1.5 TB (1,500,298,346,496 Bytes)

Free Space : 1.12 TB (1,115,764,486,144 Bytes)

Used : 361 GB (360,996,397,056 Bytes)

Number of Files : 115

Number of Folders : 0

Owners Enabled : Yes

Can Turn Owners Off : No

Can Repair Permissions : No

Can Be Verified : Yes

Can Be Repaired : Yes

Can Be Formatted : Yes

Bootable : No

Supports Journaling : No

Journaled : No

Disk Number : 1

Partition Number : 1

Here is what is going on in the terminal:

sudo fuse-ext2 -o force /dev/disk1s1 /Volumes/X360ISOS

fuse-ext2: version:'0.0.7', fuse_version:'27' [main (../../fuse-ext2/fuse-ext2.c:324)]

fuse-ext2: enter [do_probe (../../fuse-ext2/do_probe.c:30)]

fuse-ext2: leave [do_probe (../../fuse-ext2/do_probe.c:55)]

fuse-ext2: opts.device: /dev/disk1s1 [main (../../fuse-ext2/fuse-ext2.c:351)]

fuse-ext2: opts.mnt_point: /Volumes/X360ISOS [main (../../fuse-ext2/fuse-ext2.c:352)]

fuse-ext2: opts.volname: X360ISOS [main (../../fuse-ext2/fuse-ext2.c:353)]

fuse-ext2: opts.options: force [main (../../fuse-ext2/fuse-ext2.c:354)]

fuse-ext2: parsed_options: force,allow_other,local,noappledouble,fsname=/dev/disk1s1,fstypename=ext2,volna me=X360ISOS [main (../../fuse-ext2/fuse-ext2.c:355)]

fuse-ext2: mounting read-write [main (../../fuse-ext2/fuse-ext2.c:369)]

fuse: bad mount point `/Volumes/X360ISOS': No such file or directory

g_wolfman

Level 4

1,137 points

Dec 12, 2012 7:07 AM in response to Turpulus

OK, here's my last suggestion...after this I'm just out of ideas, because I can get it to work...so I'm not sure what else to troubleshoot.

/Volumes is really supposed to be used by the OS for mounting auto-detected volumes...so let's not use it. Instead of creating a folder under /Volumes to use as the mountpoint, put it right in your home folder. Use X360IOS again if you like, or maybe call it something simple like "linuxmnt" (maybe there will be other Linux disks in your future...).

Then the command to mount would be:

sudo fuse-ext2 -o force /dev/<your disk identifier> ~/X360IOS

It will still appear on your Desktop if it mounts successfully.

Macbook Pro won't detect linux partitioned external HD. HELP!