# Unstable harddisk won't go in dock - and icon is "greyed out" in Finder



## shizzuh (Jul 13, 2007)

Some time ago, I couldn't find my system disk in the dock in Finder (the thing to the left when you open a Finder window). I thought I'd accidently thrown it out, so I did a Sherlock search for it. I found the disc, but its icon was weirdly "greyed out", as if to tell me the disc was "deactivated" or so - and it wouldn't go into the disk dock.

I tried reformatting the disc completely, which worked for 1 day or so, and then the problem was there again. So I thought the harddisk was effed and bought a new one, formatted it and installed OS+programs yet again. After 2 days, the disk disappeared again and was, again, "greyed out" when I searched for it.

In between all this, on both of the HD's I've tried, I've tried using OSX' own disctool as well as Discwarrior to repair the disk, but no beneficial effects on that either.

Running Mac OSX 10.4.9 on a Powermac Dual G5 1,8 GHz.
I've had the same setup with regards to software, RAM and HD's for almost a year prior to this happening, so it's most likely not a problem caused by new equipment going crazy.

Anyone see this before?


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## shuuhen (Sep 4, 2004)

Do you have a second login? Either log into the second one or create a new login and test to see if you have the same problem.

Have you tried fixing permissions (with Disk Utility)?


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

can you do a screen capture of the grayed out disks?


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## shizzuh (Jul 13, 2007)

Yes, indeed I can, and thank you both for replying. I've tried creating a new user, but unfortunately, that doesn't change anything for me.

Here's a screenshot:


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

ok, some question i have to help me wrap my head around this. are there one or two harddrives installed in the mac. how are they formatted as far as partitions and file format? what folder did you find this greyed out harddrive in? and your boot drive is named "secondary hd" correct?


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## shizzuh (Jul 13, 2007)

I have two harddrives installed, my primary HD with OSX on it that I boot from is the 80 gig "Macintosh HD", the one that's greyed out. It's formatted as OSX format with journaling on.

My secondary HD is a 320 gig Seagate - same type as the primary HD only larger. It's formatted as OSX with journaling off.

There's just one partition on both drives. By that I mean that they're formatted "as is" sizewise.

The folder I've located the "Macintosh HD" in, is the computers/users "root folder" or whatever that's called. My username is "Taur", and folder is named "Taurs Macintosh G5" or something along the lines of this.

I'm still trying to get Apples own technicians to help, but they haven't been successful so far. :4-dontkno

Thanks in advance for any useful input.


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## Macsolver (Jul 25, 2007)

*Try this....*

Hi,

This may be worth trying. Run the Apple Disk Utility. In the left hand column, click on the visible disk. The middle blue button in DU tool bar should read "Unmount"

Now select the Greyed out disk in the left hand column. The middle blue button in DU tool bar may now read "Mount". If it does, hit the button.

Does it work now ?

Regards,

Nick


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## shizzuh (Jul 13, 2007)

Hello Macsolver. Thanks a lot for the input, it's greatly appreciated. I'll try it first thing in the morning (I'm on a PC at home).


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## shizzuh (Jul 13, 2007)

Macsolver,
Unfortunately, I can't unmount the disc, probably because it's the one I'm running my OS from. Any suggestions to bypass this effect?


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

have you tried booting in single user mode and running the unix disk checker there?


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## shizzuh (Jul 13, 2007)

I must admit I have absolutely no idea of how to do that, sinclair_tm. I'm not familiar with the term "unix disk checker" or "single user mode". Maybe that's because my OS is in danish and I'm not very experienced with OSX alltogether, I dunno. Have you got any directions on where I could read up on it?


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## shuuhen (Sep 4, 2004)

Just wondering, do you have the Developer Tools installed? If so, you can try using the SetFile program to make the drive visible. It looks like the invisible bit might be set. To do this you would open the terminal (you'll probably need to do this from an admin account) and type the stuff in the code block and press return (copy and paste works too):

```
/Developer/Tools/SetFile -a v /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/
```
You could also try a program like XRay or InVisibles. Unfortunately I haven't used either, so I can't say how they work.


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## shuuhen (Sep 4, 2004)

shizzuh said:


> I must admit I have absolutely no idea of how to do that, sinclair_tm. I'm not familiar with the term "unix disk checker" or "single user mode". Maybe that's because my OS is in danish and I'm not very experienced with OSX alltogether, I dunno. Have you got any directions on where I could read up on it?


Single user mode info can be found here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106388

You can read about fsck and other good parts of Mac OS X here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

shuuhen posted the info you need. in the 2nd link, goto the section "use fsck" and floolw the instructions. just ignore the whole thing about the journaling. just run fsck even if you have journaled hsf+. but it does seem that shuuhen may be unto something about the disk being set to invisible. if fsck doesn't fix it for you, i may have a way to test the invisible thing with software i know and trust, thats free too.


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## shizzuh (Jul 13, 2007)

This is absolutely awesome. I can't get to my mac atm because it's in the studio, but I'll post the results of your efforts (and mine :grin: ) as soon as I get the chance to work on it


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