How to force a Hard Drive to unmount for formatting in Mac OS X Disk Utility

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 มิ.ย. 2024
  • Have you ever tried to format a disk in Mac OS X and Disk Utility won't Unmount the Hard Drive for formatting? It can happen for external (USB and Firewire) as well as internal disks.
    In this video you will learn how to force a disk to unmount when Disk Utility won't do it.
    You will need a Mac running OS X and this is supported in all versions right up to Mac OS X 10.12 Sierra. Here, we are demonstrating wit Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite.
    The commands you will need are:
    diskutil list
    diskutil unmountDisk force /Volumes/VOLUMENAME
    diskutil unmountDisk force /dev/diskN
    If you have any questions or suggestions for new tutorial videos you would like us to post, please put them in the comments below.
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ความคิดเห็น • 474

  • @christianpoku3526
    @christianpoku3526 5 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Wow, you just saved me a whole day of computer struggles. Thank you so much and keep up the good work.

  • @TallGuyCarReviews
    @TallGuyCarReviews 7 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    Man I've been looking for videos that talk about this all day!! Thank you for help it worked %100!! 💪🏽👌🏽✅

    • @pinknight101
      @pinknight101 6 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Tall Guy Car Reviews hey I know you I'm your fellow subscriber lol

    • @HIMI2003
      @HIMI2003 6 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Didn't know you came here for help.

    • @gideondariel733
      @gideondariel733 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      a trick : watch series on flixzone. Been using them for watching all kinds of movies lately.

    • @emmanuelfrancisco9307
      @emmanuelfrancisco9307 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @Gideon Dariel Definitely, I have been watching on flixzone for years myself =)

  • @HaggisVitae
    @HaggisVitae 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    YAY! Thank you. The first method didn't unmount the disk, but the second worked! MANY thanks. This was making me crazy!

  • @israeltan2599
    @israeltan2599 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I did have to go through both steps (AND a reboot) in order for it to work, but it worked a charm. Thanks a lot for the concise instructions.

  • @LightTower
    @LightTower 6 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    God bless you kind man... this was the solution I was looking for after 12 hours of continuous frustration and agony.

  • @AveMarisStella08
    @AveMarisStella08 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This was fantastic. First, it got me over my trepidation in using Terminal. And second, it solved the un-mounting issue of my USB drive. Worked perfectly and I was then able to erase it. Now I want to explore other things Terminal can let me do! Thanks so much for this!

  • @sveeny
    @sveeny 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Wow, thank you so much. You're a hero! I've had two partitions. One for Data, one for Time Machine. The Time Machine somehow corrupted and I couldn't even format and redo it. Now it works thanks to you!!

  • @frankberna2391
    @frankberna2391 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thanks for solving my problem! It's great to watch a TH-cam tutorial where the presenter is able to deliver content with our trying to be a comedian! Thank you again!

  • @drewculross777
    @drewculross777 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    This was very helpful! Concise and to the point, great work.

  • @clintcaward5089
    @clintcaward5089 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great video. Nothing worked for us trying to format a new seagate Hargrove for MAC - and finally you're ray last tip to type in unmount disc 2 actually worked! Thanks so much for this video. Huge help, big cheers from Oz

  • @chantarawtf2189
    @chantarawtf2189 6 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    thank you! I've never used an external hard drive before and this helped so much! i was lost! the /dev/disk2 worked for me. i can finally clear up my mac :)

    • @Flash8876
      @Flash8876 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      How you unlock hard disk trying installing OS X and it’s showing disk is locked

  • @Nectarquest
    @Nectarquest 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    7 years later and you saved my SSD - Thank you!

  • @katrinadobbermane7876
    @katrinadobbermane7876 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    For me it still shows “Unmount failed for..”...

  • @Amanda-bc1vb
    @Amanda-bc1vb 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I had to watch soooo many videos to get this figured out! Thank you for finally having the solution!

  • @glenndachui6277
    @glenndachui6277 6 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Aha! I just erased my empty disk and now the formatting works, whew! Many thanks for your excellent instructions; they gave me hope.

  • @kimberlybinns1343
    @kimberlybinns1343 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This was very helpful and it worked for me. I had to type in the disk info using the second method and it was successful. Thanks for sharing.

  • @CartooningGenius
    @CartooningGenius 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Great help video - I'd been struggling to sort this out! Really appreciate the step by step explanation!

  • @maddskillz867
    @maddskillz867 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    This really helped me after a failed installation to High Sierra. Thank you so much!

  • @rken100
    @rken100 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    THANK YOU!!! I just bought a transcend external drive and was having problems with the hdd unmounting issue and your video help out a lot Thank you !!!!

  • @justjourdan000
    @justjourdan000 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Simple and straight to the point. Perfect. Thanks.

  • @TPRQnet
    @TPRQnet 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you! SO helpful. Might want to remember to update for more recent OSXs. Thanks again!

  • @a5h13y7
    @a5h13y7 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Clear tutorial. Thanks man. wish all TH-cam tutorials were like this

  • @LoganHughes5025
    @LoganHughes5025 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    The first method was getting me the "failed for force" error but the second method worked just fine! Thanks a million! You saved me from having to go to Best Buy to return my USB! :)

  • @DiedrichSeth
    @DiedrichSeth 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Dude just watched this in July of 2020 you explained this Masterfully! I fixed my External Hard Drive and did a 4 Partition on it with ease. You Rock! ☆☆☆☆☆

  • @mrrickywang
    @mrrickywang 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    there was no way i thought this would work knowing myself, but it DID. THANK YOU!

  • @qp4less
    @qp4less 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Dude, you're awesome! You made it so easy to follow along... That fixed my issue.... Thanks again for sharing.

  • @diordrama
    @diordrama 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thank you!!!! So concise, clear and very helpful!!!

  • @GaborBerta01
    @GaborBerta01 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    It worked using the second method (diskutil unmountDisk force /dev/diskN). Thanks a lot!

  • @adriverslife4305
    @adriverslife4305 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great video thank you!! took me 30 mins to find this video and go through the process but it worked!

  • @nexttech3207
    @nexttech3207 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thank you very much worked out great for me, was struggling a lot with this weird problem

  • @LBluffBob
    @LBluffBob 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    In spite of the below message, I went back to Disk Utilities, and the disk reformatted perfectly. Thank you for the video because without it, I would have no idea what to try. I think I was lucky. Any comments?

  • @emadelsaghier5488
    @emadelsaghier5488 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    thanks, diskutil unmountDisk force /dev/diskN
    that worked for me

  • @MalcolmHelicopter
    @MalcolmHelicopter 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Brilliantly clear. Thank you. Solved my problem 😊👍🏻❗️

  • @skmun01
    @skmun01 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    simple and straight forward. Not like 30mins video of others.

  • @jessicakennedy8355
    @jessicakennedy8355 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks for this - using the name of the volume didn’t work for me but the other option /dev/disk2 did work, so thank you

  • @kwokwingyo
    @kwokwingyo 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you very much! very well presented and at a good pace for us non comp peeps to understand :D

  • @phosphordiester7545
    @phosphordiester7545 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    You saved my external drive! Thank you very much!

  • @benjacksonnz
    @benjacksonnz 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Finally a video and instruction that worked! Awesome

  • @mikaelmmelo
    @mikaelmmelo 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you! Was super easy to follow for a non-tech guy like myself!

  • @alchemymultiverse3662
    @alchemymultiverse3662 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you so much! It worked when you gave the second option.

  • @mikefreschezza
    @mikefreschezza 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    Tried the first method, it came back with the error msg "unmount failed for force".
    Tried the second method, worked like a charm!
    Thanks, great vid!

  • @nwhetz1
    @nwhetz1 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    THANK YOU!!! I was just about to throw my computer and hard drive out the window until i found this 😆. Thanks so much. This worked perfectly

    • @mong4491
      @mong4491 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Im at that point man every thing i do just leads to another problem im trying to format my computer and I'm stuck here

  • @marcfaaborg1470
    @marcfaaborg1470 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Brilliant!!!! Finally managed to get my broken External drive formatted using your guide! Mine wouldn´t respond, because items in trash (that also couldn´t get force removed) - Many thanks!

  • @RandiBarry
    @RandiBarry 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thank you so much this helped doing the 2nd half dev/disk2

  • @LTdammit
    @LTdammit 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Neither of these methods worked for me but this did:
    Have Disk Utility open.
    Click eject in finder.
    Dialogue window pops up with "Disk in use, would you like to force eject?" Click Force Eject.
    In Disk Utility, the drive should still be there but grayed out.
    From there you can erase with no problems.
    Worked for me, good luck ppl

  • @scarbo7234
    @scarbo7234 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    This works perfectly, I managed to reformat a faulty usb drive in less than 10 minutes. Before, the usb used to drive me mad because I couldn't find any way to do the reformat. Terminal is definitely the best way to do it.

  • @ryanparsons4698
    @ryanparsons4698 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks! This was easy and very helpful!!

  • @RonnieDizon
    @RonnieDizon 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you so much! This helped a ton!

  • @anaperez-mo1lb
    @anaperez-mo1lb 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thanks!! you are the best! I tried everything!!!

  • @bobguthrie
    @bobguthrie 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Excellent, It finally unmounted this bloody drive. Thanks for the video =)

  • @brettdavidpemberton
    @brettdavidpemberton 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you!!! This was super helpful.

  • @Rajnu61
    @Rajnu61 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks a ton for your timely help, which even Apple site was unable to provide

  • @masanobumaou
    @masanobumaou 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thank U very mch! this worked very well :D After force mount everything was fine ^^

  • @findingfern
    @findingfern ปีที่แล้ว

    Amazing! Did the trick. Thanks👍🏼

  • @PaceyPimp
    @PaceyPimp 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    This worked in High Sierra in ExFat to restore my USB drive back to its full space from a 50% i had. Now i have my full disk space. Thanks

  • @alexahn7107
    @alexahn7107 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    great video, simple to follow thank you

  •  6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Really usefully ( the last part when use /dev/disk ..... ) that was my case! Thanks !

  • @djicono
    @djicono 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks for your tutorial. Recommend

  • @musicsynctank
    @musicsynctank 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    THANK YOU! Worked 100% on my external Seagate backup drive after my Dad's PC laptop destroyed its partition map. I had to erase it, but at least I can use it again. Saved me £100. Amazing.!

  • @kathyhanson3666
    @kathyhanson3666 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Worked like a charm! Many thanks!

  • @Da_bird_
    @Da_bird_ 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Man this video was a life saver, thanks!!

  • @heatherzhu2682
    @heatherzhu2682 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    Super useful, solved my problem perfectly!!!!

  • @judestv
    @judestv 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    YOU ROCK!....I'm new to Mac, and I've tried about 7 different ways over the last few weeks to get this damn thing unmounted...all of which were VERY confusing to me...THANK YOU...It's actually quite simple...lol...The first way did not work for me (forcing the partition to unmount)...I had to force the main part....(yes that's a technical term...lol)...Thanks again...I was ready to scrap it!...
    Peace~

  • @wardenist
    @wardenist 7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Thank you so much my friend, you are a life saver.

  • @DavidGatti
    @DavidGatti 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Awesome, thank you sooooo much! Great video.

  • @xtremesales7644
    @xtremesales7644 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks for the video it made a long day in to a quick fix

  • @sadenesmith6799
    @sadenesmith6799 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    This was so helpful! Thank you.

  • @shailpatel3587
    @shailpatel3587 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks very much for this! Absolutely worked. Had to do on for a clean OS instal on a 'new' second hand computer that was in a bit of mess and the disk utility program didnt work.

  • @c492
    @c492 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you! I did it, and I have very little experience! I had to try a few things, but it worked out.

  • @phuma9376
    @phuma9376 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I rarely comment but this is amazing. Thanks man.

  • @adame6169
    @adame6169 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very helpful. Thank you for sharing.

  • @adsmar1987
    @adsmar1987 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    This was a great help!

  • @oswald2437
    @oswald2437 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you so much that was helpful.

  • @SomethingDoneful
    @SomethingDoneful 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    this is awesome! Thank you!!!

  • @OneEyedKing
    @OneEyedKing 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great video. Fix my problem with unmounting so I could get my external hardrive to show up as a device on Recordbox!

  • @drewhayes2192
    @drewhayes2192 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Huge help! Thanks a bunch!

  • @lilicarolo2166
    @lilicarolo2166 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    it worked for me !! THANK YOU!!

  • @alpertokat1
    @alpertokat1 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    thanks a lot! excellent explanation and it was really helpful.

  • @amanghumman3767
    @amanghumman3767 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Awesome.
    Very Helpful

  • @joseedumont3231
    @joseedumont3231 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you so much, I had exactly that problem 👍🏻

  • @cliffgarber2253
    @cliffgarber2253 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Many, many thanks for this!

  • @darrenazgard6614
    @darrenazgard6614 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great thanks. This helped a lot.

  • @samuelgiroux6853
    @samuelgiroux6853 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    What a legend the 2nd option worked for me 😍

  • @ivanbragato1047
    @ivanbragato1047 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks man! You really saved my day!

  • @alessioferreri
    @alessioferreri ปีที่แล้ว

    You are the saviour! thanks a lot man

  • @matthewriley127
    @matthewriley127 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Worked perfectly thank you!

  • @110Snowboard
    @110Snowboard 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    worked perfectly on my samsung SSD cheers!

  • @mikeandlou09
    @mikeandlou09 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you that really helped me out

  • @conororton6100
    @conororton6100 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you so much!! Your video saved me

  • @SivaBodagala
    @SivaBodagala 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you. Very useful.

  • @MrBunsss
    @MrBunsss 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very helpful. Thank you.

  • @SHAQARTS
    @SHAQARTS 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    YOU SAVED MY LIFE !!!! THANK YOU

  • @Chaine_GB_WilsonSeno
    @Chaine_GB_WilsonSeno 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks bro, this video is helps me

  • @joycecresser5884
    @joycecresser5884 ปีที่แล้ว

    Titanic help! Thanks SO much!

  • @RedeyeBlackfire
    @RedeyeBlackfire 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    You the man Bro thanks alot I was about to break this darn thing lol

  • @mustafaalzini1856
    @mustafaalzini1856 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    thanx a lot was really helpfull.., thx

  • @desertmav8632
    @desertmav8632 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Finally! Found something that worked(and learned something!)

  • @fishywtf
    @fishywtf 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Just tried and it worked!

  • @propertymanager38b67
    @propertymanager38b67 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    The first one did not work for me, but the second one did. Thanks!

  • @evelynavril
    @evelynavril 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    BRavo, bravo. It worked , Thank you very much : )