External Drive won't mount

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Mac-mini with 10.11.3.

I have an OWC (mini-stack) external drive that used to mount fine, including after upgrading from Lion to El Capitan. All of a sudden the drive won't mount. Dis Utility doesn't see the drive, Drive Geius doesn't see the drive.

Two days ago, the drive mounted after maybe a dozen attempts but I haven;'t managed that again. That's my backup drive.

Please advise.
 
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How old is the drive?

Also, did you check the connections? Maybe try another cable and/or another port on your Mac Mini.
 
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I have an OWC (mini-stack) external drive that used to mount fine, including after upgrading from Lion to El Capitan. All of a sudden the drive won't mount. Dis Utility doesn't see the drive, Drive Geius doesn't see the drive.

+1 trying a different cable or port. Have you tried DiskWarrior? I've had great success using that
 
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The drive is about 2 years old and not heavily used.

The connections seem okay, but I do not have a spare firewire.

Disk Utility and Drive Genius do not see the external drive unless it is mounted.What good is Disk Warrior if the drive won't mount? Does it still "see" the drive?

I suspect it has to to do with me upgrading from Lion to El Capitan. But as I said, the drive worked with El Capitan at first.

The drive will mount after tI turn it off and back on 10 to 25 times. I realize that's not exactly good for a hard drive. I also can tell if the drive will mount after turning it on. If the drive makes subtle crunchy noises, it will mount a moment later. If I don't hear those HD noises, it won't mount.

Another observation: After I got the drive ,mounted, I copied a 1.5 GB folder from my mini to the external drive. usually this would just take a minute or so, but this time the estimate was 1 hour. Would this indicate a bad firewire/bad internal connection?
 
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It may be a long shot but I have repaired disks where the partition would not mount.

Does Disk Utility see the volume at all?

It may just be a hardware problem, but if its real important, disk warrior may not be that last resort effort. Even if it doesnt help, its a great tool to have around.

If this was your backup drive, when you go to backup a machine after an OS upgrade, it requires a lot of changes to be made to the backup to prepare it for the new OS support. It may seem like a strange time for a hardware failure but it may have been on its last legs and just got taken out at the knees at the first attempted backup with El Capitan. Legacy hard drives are always on the verge of crashing!

Best of luck to you!
 
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Neither Disk Utility nor Drive Genius sees the drive at all, unless I can see it mounted on the Desktop.

I did without any problems mount the drive after going from Lion to El Capitan.

I actually had no yet backed up using El Capitan until I manually tried copying a folder today. That folder was copied way too slowly and then, according to a pop-up, the process was stopped due to an error in a jpg. Afterwards I could not eject the drive and the mini froze, requiring reboot.

So I should every time a new OS comes along buy new backup drives?

When I buy a new backup drive how do I make sure its is compatible with the current OS?
 
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Neither Disk Utility nor Drive Genius sees the drive at all, unless I can see it mounted on the Desktop.

So I should every time a new OS comes along buy new backup drives?

When I buy a new backup drive how do I make sure its is compatible with the current OS?

That is really not necessary, as long as you take care of the drive. That requires periodic disk cleanup and maintenance. As for backups, before performing a "major" OS upgrade, you should make a backup of your internal drive partition containing the OS and your applications. And, it would be best if you make a bootable backup/clone when doing that. There are two excellent products you can use to do that:

1. SuperDuper! - here is a link about it: http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

2. Carbon Copy Cloner - here is a link about it: https://bombich.com/

As you can see, SuperDuper! is less expensive. The primary reason for that is that Carbon Copy Cloner also backs up the hidden Recovery HD partition too, whereas SuperDuper! does not. I use SuperDuper!, and that shortcoming is not an issue for me. as 1) I have some third party Disk Maintenance software that is superior to Disk Utility, and 2) I can easily re-create the Recovery HD partition.
 
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I have been using Carbon Copy Cloner.

My post was really about not getting the drive to reliably mount. Now the thread has veered off the topic and it's all about how to make backups.

Other than Disk Utility and Drive Genius, what software should I be using for disk cleanup and maintenance? And how do I get to that point with a drive I can't reliably mount?
 

Cory Cooper

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I have seen this issue with several brands of external drives. Sometimes, the power supply is the culprit.

Does the indicator light on the front blink at all?

C
 
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That drive has a wall wart. Nominal output is 12 Volt, I measured actual output at 12.4 Volt.

Yes, the external drive has power. Power indicator is on and I can hear the drive spin up when I turn it on.

I am wondering if the Firewire is defective. It does have a visible kink. I think it's a Firewire 800 9-9 (Type B 9-9). I am gender-confused by these connectors. Are they male or female? I'd like to see if a new cable helps. If that doesn't do it, I will try another enclosure.

2enryf9.jpg
 

Cory Cooper

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The cable could be the problem if it has a kink in it.

Those are FireWire 800 (9-pin) "male" connectors. Any standard FireWire 800 cable should work.

Let us know if that resolves it.

C
 
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Locally I could get only a 6 foot cable for $20, so I ordered a 1meter cable from -where-allthe-best-things-are-made. Should be here in a week. I'll report back.
 
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I received and installed the new Firewire. So far the drive has mounted every time I turned it on. So it looks like the original Firewire was indeed defective.
 
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I received and installed the new Firewire. So far the drive has mounted every time I turned it on. So it looks like the original Firewire was indeed defective.

That's wonderful! Glad it was a simple and not expensive solution!
 

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