WD External drive won't mount

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WD External drive won't mount

Hello everyone! I haven't been here in a while because I just haven't had any Mac issues. Now I do.

I have a 1 TB WD external HD that won't mount. I connect it via firewire to an Old G4 Sawtooth running OS 10.5.8. My mac sees the drive, it just won't mount. I've also tried to mount it via USB, but again, my system sees the drive, but won't mount it. I inadvertantly disconnected the firewire cable, which I didn't realize for several hours. I reattached the cable, tried to mount it, and nothing. I ran disc repairs, and Disc Utility actually told me the drive was successfully repaired. Again I tried to remount it, but nothing. I repaired permissions, and this didn't work. I've tried different cables, and this doesn't work.

I don't have another Mac to connect it to, so I don't know if this would work. Here's where things get a little wierd, but interesting. I connected it to my PC laptop, and it mounted. Now, this is a drive that was formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) on my G4, so I have to use Mac Drive so my PC will recognize and mount The Drive. So My PC sees The Drive as Mac OS Extended, and mounts it. All files are in tact, and the drive runs normally. This is a music drive and it plays normally on my PC. Meanwhile, if I try connecting it back on My Mac, the name of The Drive randomly changes from 931.5 GB WD to 931.5 GB WD My Media Book. I believe My Media Book is the factory name of The Drive before OS formatting. The Volume name remains the same on my G4 each time I've tried to mount it.

I do have another identical drive that mounts from all the bus ports on my G4. Any ideas here? Can I get my Drive to begin mounting on my G4 again? Any and all answers are appreciated.

Sawtooth G4; 1.8 GHz Dual 7447A; Radeon 9800/128MB; 2GB Ram, Mac OS X (10.4.11), Seagate 200 & 500GB HD; WD 120GB HD; Lacie DVD±RW; 550 Watt PSU

Posted on Feb 22, 2013 12:19 PM

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Answer 1

Reynosof

Level 1

4 points

Jun 5, 2017 7:45 PM in response to mdazlan76

I accidentally unplugged my Western Digital 1TB My Passport for Mac I use as Time Machine. It would´t mount and no Disk Repair could mount it.

I followed your instructions and got it to mount. I reformatted with Disk Utility and made a new backup.

Many thanks.

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Answer 2

Sep 11, 2017 3:35 PM in response to mdazlan76

This may be an old post, but it saved me today.

I was unable to mount my WD drive that I have been using as a Time Machine backup. I tried the force quit 'fsck_hfs' trick as noted above and the drive mounted. I did get the same warning, but unfortunately I didn't have another drive to copy my backups to. So I launched Drive Utility, and now the drive showed up in the sidebar and I ran a First Aid on it. It took about an hour to run, but it repaired with no errors and now I have been able to continue to use the drive as before. I will post back if the drive fails again.

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

238,895 points

Feb 22, 2013 2:54 PM in response to medinaray

Hi, I assume you were trying to mount it in Disk Utility by highlighting it & clicking on the Mount icon above?

In Finder's Menu, select Go menu>Go to Folder, and go to "/volumes". (no quotes)

Volumes is where an alias to your hard drive ("/" at boot) is placed at startup, and where all the "mount points" for auxiliary drives are created for you to access them. This folder is normally hidden from view.

Does it show there?

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Answer 4

medinaray Author

Level 1

60 points

Feb 22, 2013 4:01 PM in response to BDAqua

Hi BDAqua

It does not show in the Volumes Folder. Disc Utility shows it, but I can't mount it.

Can I mount it thru volumes folder?

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

238,895 points

Feb 22, 2013 9:00 PM in response to medinaray

I don't think you can do that, & my guess is the PC changed it somehow.

Might try to mount it in Terminal, like the last post here...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1779529?start=0&tstart=0

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Answer 6

medinaray Author

Level 1

60 points

Feb 23, 2013 4:15 AM in response to BDAqua

Hmm, interesting that you think the PC changed the drive. How could it change the directory, or mapping w/o initializing the drive, and wiping out all the data?

I'm heading out for the day, so I can't try the terminal mount 'til later tonight. Perhaps that will work. Of course, I'm terminal ignorant, so unless someone tells me exactly how to write the command, I'm usually at a loss. But, I'm willing to try.

The other option is to try mounting the drive on another Mac.

Thanks for now BDAqua.

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Answer 7

BDAqua

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238,895 points

Feb 23, 2013 10:38 AM in response to medinaray

I'll try to help with terminal if you need it when you get back.

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Answer 8

medinaray Author

Level 1

60 points

Feb 24, 2013 7:23 AM in response to BDAqua

I need a little help with the terminal command.

I think I need to use this command: diskutil mountDisk MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode.

I know the MountPoint is the Drive's Volume Name. In this case 1TB Music Drive. I think I found the DiskIdentifier thru Disk Utility, by highlighting the Volume name and clicking on Info. Disk Identifier is clearly at the top. But where do I find the DeviceNode? In Info under Device Tree there is a node@ with a number: is this it? I tried it in terminal w/o success.

Also, should I just use the command mountDisk and omit diskutil? Not sure here. Or is there another command I should be using?

Thanks.

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Answer 9

BDAqua

Level 10

238,895 points

Feb 24, 2013 1:16 PM in response to medinaray

As I understand it there are two forms...

diskutil mount disk0s1

diskutil mountDisk "DriveName"

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Answer 10

medinaray Author

Level 1

60 points

Feb 24, 2013 1:45 PM in response to BDAqua

Hi!

I've tried the two ways you mention. All that happens when you type that into terminal is you are given a list of ways to mount or eject a disc with possible command forms....I think?

It seems that the command I listed above is what will work. I just need to know where to find the device node, and how exactly to type the command.

Thanks!

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Answer 11

medinaray Author

Level 1

60 points

Feb 24, 2013 7:54 PM in response to medinaray

I've discovered in disc info thru terminal that the external hard drive that won't mount has Owners: Disabled. All my other drives have Owners: Enabled. So when I enter the command to mount my hard drive thru terminal I'm told, "permission denied." I've tried to enable ownership thru terminal, but I just don't know the right commands.

So I'm wondering, if I can enable ownership for said drive, will I be able to mount it thru terminal? Can I enable ownership of of a hard drive that won't mount thru terminal?

Thanks.

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Answer 12

BDAqua

Level 10

238,895 points

Feb 25, 2013 12:25 AM in response to medinaray

Good work! 🙂

Open Terminal and type these commands carefully with the spaces & change 320GB HD to the name of your drive.

sudo chflags 0 "/volumes/320GB HD"

sudo chown root "/volumes/320GB HD"

sudo chmod 1775 "/volumes/320GB HD"

sudo -k

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Answer 13

medinaray Author

Level 1

60 points

Feb 25, 2013 5:09 AM in response to BDAqua

Hello again,

And thank you for all your patience and help BDAqua.

I typed in the first command: sudo chflags "/volumes/1TB Music Drive", and terminal tells me there is no such fule or directory.

Just to remind you, Disk Utility sees the drive, and the volume name, and I can access info on the drive thru terminal. So I guess the question remains: can I enable ownership on a drive that won't mount, and isn't mounted?

Thank you

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Answer 14

medinaray Author

Level 1

60 points

Feb 25, 2013 9:08 AM in response to medinaray

Two more things I've noticed thru Disk Utility information. First, the unmountable drive is not showing up in the IODeviceTree. All my other drives show up there. Second, and finally, the unmountable drive has Journaled: No. Though it does show itself as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). All my other drives have Journaled: Yes.

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Answer 15

BDAqua

Level 10

238,895 points

Feb 25, 2013 12:19 PM in response to medinaray

Hmmm,

In Terminal, what does this command show?

diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: type name size identifier

0: Apple_partition_scheme *596.2 GB disk0

1: Apple_partition_map 31.5 KB disk0s1

2: Apple_Boot 128.0 MB disk0s2

3: Apple_RAID 596.0 GB disk0s3

/dev/disk1

#: type name size identifier

0: Apple_partition_scheme *596.2 GB disk1

1: Apple_partition_map 31.5 KB disk1s1

2: Apple_Boot 128.0 MB disk1s2

3: Apple_RAID 596.0 GB disk1s3

/dev/disk2

#: type name size identifier

0: Apple_HFS CVBRaid0 *1.2 TB disk2

/dev/disk3

#: type name size identifier

0: Apple_partition_scheme *465.8 GB disk3

1: Apple_partition_map 31.5 KB disk3s1

2: Apple_Driver43 28.0 KB disk3s2

3: Apple_Driver43 28.0 KB disk3s3

4: Apple_Driver_ATA 28.0 KB disk3s4

5: Apple_Driver_ATA 28.0 KB disk3s5

6: Apple_FWDriver 256.0 KB disk3s6

7: Apple_Driver_IOKit 256.0 KB disk3s7

8: Apple_Patches 256.0 KB disk3s8

9: Apple_HFS Leo 167.3 GB disk3s10

10: Apple_HFS Mac OS X Install DVD 9.0 GB disk3s12

11: Apple_HFS LeoUPdate 167.3 GB disk3s14

12: Apple_HFS TigerOS9 121.7 GB disk3s16

/dev/disk4

#: type name size identifier

0: CD_partition_scheme *754.2 MB disk4

1: Apple_partition_map 31.5 KB disk4s1s1

2: Apple_partition_scheme 656.7 MB disk4s1

3: Apple_HFS Civilization III 632.6 MB disk4s1s2

/dev/disk5

#: type name size identifier

0: Apple_partition_scheme *40.0 MB disk5

1: Apple_partition_map 31.5 KB disk5s1

2: Apple_HFS Chicken of the VNC 40.0 MB disk5s2

http://superuser.com/questions/429058/how-can-i-get-the-mount-path-of-a-usb-devi ce-on-osx

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