Use these terminal commands to force mount your external hard drive or flash drive for “Could not mount…” disk errors in macOS. Often solves “mount failed with 72” and “mount failed with 71” errors.
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1. Run this command to locate the drive you want to mount. Note it’s [file system] and [disk number]:
diskutil list
2. Create a mount point (enter your Mac’s admin password):
sudo mkdir /Volumes/mount
3. Run this command w/info from step 1:
sudo mount -t [file system] /dev/disk[disk number] /Volumes/mount
NOTE: “[file system]” and “disk[disk number]” should be replaced with the exact name of the drive you want to mount from step 1.
USE THESE MOUNT COMMANDS BASED ON YOUR FILE SYSTEM
sudo mount -t ntfs /dev/disk[disk number] /Volumes/mount
sudo mount -t apfs /dev/disk[disk number] /Volumes/mount
sudo mount -t exfat /dev/disk[disk number] /Volumes/mount
sudo mount -t hfs+ /dev/disk[disk number] /Volumes/mount
sudo mount -t hfsplus /dev/disk[disk number] /Volumes/mount
sudo mount -t fat32 /dev/disk[disk number] /Volumes/mount
sudo mount -t NFS /dev/disk[disk number] /Volumes/mount
sudo mount -t Btrfs /dev/disk[disk number] /Volumes/mount
sudo mount -t XFS /dev/disk[disk number] /Volumes/mount
sudo mount -t ext2 /dev/disk[disk number] /Volumes/mount
ALTERNATE MOUNT COMMANDS:
sudo diskutil mount disk[disk number]
sudo diskutil mount /dev/disk[disk number]
sudo diskutil mount force /dev/disk[disk number]
sudo mount -t [fileSystem] -o force,rw /dev/disk[disk number] /Volumes/mount
sudo mount -t /dev/disk[disk number]
OTHER HELPFUL COMMANDS:
diskutil verifyDisk /dev/disk[disk number]
diskutil repairDisk /dev/disk[disk number]
CHECK FOR DISK ISSUES:
sudo fsck_[file system] -f /dev/disk[disk number]
GRANT READ/WRITE PERMISSION:
sudo chmod 600 /dev/disk[disk number]
BACKUP TO AN OFFSITE SOLUTION SUCH AS BACKBLAZE:
https://secure.backblaze.com/r/05lue6
*UNMOUNT HARD DRIVE BEFORE UNPLUGGING*
Sometimes forcing a drive to unmount is required and it’s important to eject or unmount external drives BEFORE physically unplugging them to avoid potential data loss or damage. You can right-click to Eject a drive OR drag and drop the drive’s icon onto the trash in macOS. This command will unmount the drive.
diskutil unmount /dev/disk[disk number]
diskutil unmount /Volumes/mount (replace mount with your location)
HOW TO FIND DISK NUMBER & FILE SYSTEM IN SYSTEM INFORMATION:
If your disk is plugged into a USB hub/dongle, your device info may appear in “Storage” in the left nav of About this Mac… More Info… System Report… Storage. You will see FileSystem and BSD Name at the top – use both in the Terminal Commands to mount the disk. BSD Name = disk[disk number]. Alternately, your disk information may appear in Thunderbolt/USB4 or USB, or Card Reader if it is a Compact Flash card.
THIRD-PARTY HFS+ FILE SYSTEM SOLUTION
You may need to install a third-party hfsplus filesystem driver. One popular option is the “osxfuse” package, which includes a hfsplus filesystem driver. Note that you’ll need to have Homebrew installed to use the “brew” command. You can install Homebrew by following the instructions at https://brew.sh/.
Terminal Command:
brew install osxfuse
sudo mkdir /Volumes/mount
sudo /usr/local/bin/mount -t hfsplus /dev/disk[number] /Volumes/mount
WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS:
Try an option from “Best Mac data recovery software 2025” https://www.macworld.com/article/668874/best-data-recovery-apps-for-mac.html
CAUTION:
If your disk is unreachable, which is very rare, these commands are a LAST RESORT and will ERASE ALL DATA on the drive and reformat it in the file system you command:
sudo diskutil eraseDisk [fileSystem] “[name your disk]” /dev/disk[number]
• replace [fileSystem] with your preference.
• replace [name your disk] with the name you want to assign to your disk
• replace [number] with the number supplied by System Report or diskutil list command
sudo diskutil eraseDisk apfs “[name your disk]” /dev/disk[number]
sudo diskutil eraseDisk hfsplus “[name your disk]” /dev/disk[number]
sudo diskutil eraseDisk exfat “[name your disk]” /dev/disk[number]
——————————
Video Chapters:
——————————
00:00 The Problem
00:30 Step 1: Open System Report
01:17 Step 2: User Terminal to Make a Directory
02:04 Step 3: User Terminal Force Mount the Drive
02:50 Success: Compact Flash Card Mounts
03:08 Repeat for External Hard Drive
04:13 Wrapping Up
ANNOTATION
March 12, 2024
– updated useful commands, simplified steps
July 28, 2023
– Additional ways to get disk info in pinned comment
July 15, 2023
– added unmount info
April 05, 2023
– alternate way to find disk info in system report – storage
– added chapters
March 28, 2023
– 3rd party file systems with Homebrew
February 27, 2023
– added new commands for finding disk info
January 31, 2023
– added erase commands
January 13, 2023
– added other file systems
– added mount failed with 72 and 71 tags
READ ME Before Asking for Help
STEP 1: Open the Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal) and run the following command:
"diskutil list"
STEP 2: Copy & paste the results of the 'diskutil list' in a new comment.
STEP 3: Include the disk name that you are trying to access.
STEP 4: Include the commands you tried and the results.
SUPPORT THE CHANNEL FOR EXPEDITED HELP:
https://paypal.me/jonopay
– Data recovery and restoration costs as much as $1,000. If you feel like you are getting a portion of that value from this video, please consider sending a tip to https://paypal.me/jonopay.
Thanks,
Jono
Video Chapters:
——————————
00:00 The Problem
00:30 Step 1: Open System Report
01:17 Step 2: User Terminal to Make a Directory
02:04 Step 3: User Terminal Force Mount the Drive
02:50 Success: Compact Flash Card Mounts
03:08 Repeat for External Hard Drive
04:13 Wrapping Up
ALTERNATE METHODS TO FIND DISK INFORMATION W/EXAMPLES
Method #1: Disk Utility
Screenshot showing system information (1) and disk name (2):
https://bit.ly/3rQe3yU
Method #2: System Information App:
1. Open System Information.app (/Applications/Utilities/System Information.app)
4. Select USB (1)
5. Choose the USB Bus where your drive is connected (2)
6. Get File System and Disk Name (3)
Screenshot of System Information.app:
https://bit.ly/3Qd1l7t
INSTALL NTFS DRIVER FOR MAC
macOS Ventura seems to have a problem with mounting NTFS drives due to a missing NTFS driver. The solution is to install NTFS-3G, a third-party NTFS driver.
STEP 01: Install HOMEBREW:
If you don't have Homebrew installed, you can follow the installation instructions at https://brew.sh/.
STEP 02: Install NTFS-3G:
Once you have Homebrew installed, open Terminal and enter the following command to install the NTFS-3G driver:
brew install –cask ntfs-3g
STEP 03: MOUNT THE DISK
After the installation is complete, you can mount the disk using the following command(s), replace "[diskNumber]" and "[mountPoint]" with the correct disk name and mount point for your drive:
sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/[diskNumber] /Volumes/[mountPoint]
sudo /usr/local/bin/ntfs-3g /dev/disk4s2 /Volumes/mount -olocal -oallow_other
You may also try the previous mount command after installing NTFS-3G:
sudo mount -t ntfs /dev/[diskNumber] /Volumes/[mountPoint]
Will this work if I don’t have a card reader?
What if executing the command and mounting the USB drive successfully, but next time inserting it, it still does not show autimatically on the finder sidebar. Need input terminal commands every each time?
Thanks for saving my day!
This just happened to me on a M2 MacBook Pro with all APFS formatted drives. I edit on a Samsung t7 daily for years, no issues. Come to my Mac and suddenly can’t access the drives but see it in disk utility. Bought a brand new $1200 T9 SSD, won’t see it either. I’ll try this but shouldn’t have to! Is it TAHOE doing this?
For some reason, when I click on my external hard drive on the USB System Report, it doesn't show the name. Is this because I used APFS Encrypted?
WOWOW, thank you!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!
Hi, I was wondering if you can help me! I run into this situation where my 1TB hard drive can be read by a PC, but not by my MacBook (it has been reading it fine before, but somehow today it didn't eject properly and now won't show up). I tried Disk utility, but when the drive is connected, the Disk utility never finished loading (it can load if I disconnect the drive). I tried locating the drive in the USB tree, but did not see the File System and Disk Name. This is what was shown:
Elements 10B8:
Location ID: 0x00200000
Connection Type: Removable
Manufacturer: Western Digital
Serial Number: 5758323145433348454A3331
Link Speed: 5 Gb/s
USB Vendor ID: 0x1058
USB Product ID: 0x10b8
USB Product Version: 0x1007
Power Allocated: 4.48 W (896 mA)
Any help would be so appreciated! Thank you so much.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SO MUCH MY BROTHER!! My disk finally recovered after spending all night to fix it. Thanks again. God Bless You 🤗🤗
Hi, I tried this and it worked, thanks so very much. Two follow on questions to jog your expert mind if possible – Do you have any idea why this may happen? Could the drive be damaged? Secondly, I tested if I would need to redo this process again by unplugging the drive after and plugging it back in and In fact I did. I had to redo the whole terminal process again. Is there a solution to this? Thanks very much for your time, its appreciated.
Hi Jono, thanks for this great tutorial! Unfortunately it doesn't work for me for some reason. I'm trying to mount a 4TB external hard drive with this method that was accidentally disconnected while copying some files onto it (3.5 inch hard drive in a docking device) and when I hit enter I receive this in Terminal: usage: mount [-dfFrkuvw] [-o options] [-t external_type] special mount_point
mount [-adfFrkuvw] [-t external_type]
mount [-dfrkuvw] special | mount_point I wonder what am I doing wrong.
Please find the details listed below . I have a 4TB WD hard drive that i see in the disk utility app but will not mount. I followed your instrutions and got the following errors. Please help.
Last login: Sat Jan 3 18:54:40 on ttys000
jomjose@iJozefs-M1-MacBook-Pro ~ % diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0
1: Apple_APFS_ISC Container disk1 524.3 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_APFS Container disk3 994.7 GB disk0s2
3: Apple_APFS_Recovery Container disk2 5.4 GB disk0s3
/dev/disk3 (synthesized):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: APFS Container Scheme – +994.7 GB disk3
Physical Store disk0s2
1: APFS Volume Macintosh HD 12.3 GB disk3s1
2: APFS Snapshot com.apple.os.update-… 12.3 GB disk3s1s1
3: APFS Volume Preboot 8.2 GB disk3s2
4: APFS Volume Recovery 1.2 GB disk3s3
5: APFS Volume Data 398.7 GB disk3s5
6: APFS Volume VM 20.5 KB disk3s6
/dev/disk4 (external, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *4.0 TB disk4
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk4s1
2: Apple_HFS iJozef Storage 4.0 TB disk4s2
jomjose@iJozefs-M1-MacBook-Pro ~ % sudo mkdir /Volumes/mount
Password:
mkdir: /Volumes/mount: File exists
jomjose@iJozefs-M1-MacBook-Pro ~ % sudo mount -t hfsplus /dev/disk4s2 /Volumes/mount
mount: exec /Library/Filesystems/hfsplus.fs/Contents/Resources/mount_hfsplus for /Volumes/mount: No such file or directory
mount: /Volumes/mount failed with 72
jomjose@iJozefs-M1-MacBook-Pro ~ % sudo mount -t hfs /dev/disk4s2 /Volumes/mount
mount_hfs: error on mount(): error = -1.
mount_hfs: Invalid argument
mount: /Volumes/mount failed with 1
jomjose@iJozefs-M1-MacBook-Pro ~ %
Hi Jono, just a follow up to my comment. I have tried your command lines from the video but keep getting an error message when I try to direct it to my 4TB drive. I have pasted the disk list below. Using your code I tried mounting the EFI container and that worked but could not figure out how to mount the actual drive.
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: APFS Container Scheme – +500.0 GB disk1
Physical Store disk0s2
1: APFS Volume Robert's My Cloud Ho… 454.8 GB disk1s1
2: APFS Volume Preboot 2.8 GB disk1s2
3: APFS Volume Recovery 1.3 GB disk1s3
4: APFS Volume VM 2.1 GB disk1s4
5: APFS Volume Macintosh HD 11.3 GB disk1s5
6: APFS Snapshot com.apple.os.update-… 11.3 GB disk1s5s1
/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *4.0 TB disk2
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk2s1
2: Apple_APFS Container disk4 4.0 TB disk2s2
/dev/disk4 (synthesized):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: APFS Container Scheme – +4.0 TB disk4
Physical Store disk2s2
1: APFS Volume 4TB Drive 2.4 TB disk4s1
Hi – great video but I cannot seem to get my 4tb WD Drive to mount using the steps in the video
Here is the drive info:
My Passport 25E2:
Product ID: 0x25e2
Vendor ID: 0x1058 (Western Digital Technologies, Inc.)
Version: 40.03
Serial Number: 57583331443836384B464455
Speed: Up to 5 Gb/s
Manufacturer: Western Digital
Location ID: 0x00110000 / 5
Current Available (mA): 900
Current Required (mA): 896
Extra Operating Current (mA): 0
Media:
My Passport 25E2:
Capacity: 4 TB (4,000,752,599,040 bytes)
Removable Media: No
BSD Name: disk2
Logical Unit: 0
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
SMART status: Verified
USB Interface: 0
Volumes:
EFI:
Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)
File System: MS-DOS FAT32
BSD Name: disk2s1
Content: EFI
Volume UUID: 0E239BC6-F960-3107-89CF-1C97F78BB46B
disk2s2:
Capacity: 4 TB (4,000,541,814,784 bytes)
BSD Name: disk2s2
Content: Apple_APFS
mount failed with 71
THANK YOU!! Saved me!
it worked thank u soo much 😭
Hopefully this gets answered. I followed very closely but keep getting this message.
Desktop$ sudo mount -t ExFat /dev/disk3s2 /Volumes/mount
mount_ExFat: /dev/disk3s2 on /Volumes/mount: Resource busy
mount: /Volumes/mount failed with 71
My external hard drive won't appear in disk utility on any of my Macs, but it shows up fine on a pc. My Lightroom library is stored on it, I tried your video but don't know what to enter for some of the info. Here's all I can see under usb.. please help 🙂 I will pay :):
Portable:
Location ID: 0x02200000
Connection Type: Removable
Manufacturer: Seagate
Serial Number: NB17CVYM
Link Speed: 5 Gb/s
USB Vendor ID: 0x0bc2
USB Product ID: 0x2344
USB Product Version: 0x0712
Power Allocated: 4.48 W (896 mA)
Mine doesn't have any file system. I have Sandisk Portable SSD.
OMG! thank you so much! 🙏
Finally I was able to mount my USB drive, thank you 🙏
I was having a lot of issues with my ipod after upgrading the drive. this solved my problem. Thank you!
Cant mount from external DVD player to Macbook AIr, you would have thought this would work after decades of advances
OHMYGOD YOU SAVED MY LIFE!!!
Basically the disk was read on windows but not on mac, the disk was recognized but can’t be mounted, while my other external HDD was read fine. I hate that it always happened on mac but window always able to read or fix any disk
my file type is apple_apfs. this was my line, sudo mount -t apple_apfs /dev/disk4s2 /volumes/mount this is after making the directory and checking that it was made correctly.
That's super helpful, thank you so much. Managed to mount a drive after tearing my hair out looking all over the web. Can you tell me why this is necessary – what's the issue with a Mac that requires this?
Please please help
I get this message after trying to mount to the directory.I created
sherinasiraj@L4V6C57LT9 ~ % sudo mkdir /Volumes/external
Password:
mkdir: /Volumes/external: File exists
sherinasiraj@L4V6C57LT9 ~ % sudo mount -t exfat/dev/disk4 /Volumes/external
usage: mount [-dfrkuvw] [-o options] [-t external_type] special mount_point
mount [-adfrkuvw] [-t external_type]
mount [-dfrkuvw] special | mount_point
sherinasiraj@L4V6C57LT9 ~ %
It say mount failed with 71 .. what should I do ..?
Hi ! I have the same issue with a WD elements drive on my MacBook Air m4 but I cannot find any "BSD Names", only avlaibale information is :
Identifiant de l’emplacement : 0x01200000
Type de connexion : Removable
Fabricant : Western Digital
Numéro de série : 575841324433334E43323135
Vitesse de la liaison : 5 Gb/s
Identifiant du fournisseur USB : 0x1058
Identifiant du produit USB : 0x2621
Version du produit USB : 0x1034
Puissance allouée : 4.48 W (896 mA)
Do you have any idea ? Thanks so much.
I tried this method but got a message in terminal saying input/output error. Any idea what else I can try? Thanks
Password:
usage: mount [-dfrkuvw] [-o options] [-t external_type] special mount_point
mount [-adfrkuvw] [-t external_type]
mount [-dfrkuvw] special | mount_point
Can u help with this..?
Legend!!
Hi, reallyt hoping you can help me I have a SanDisk Extreme Portable 4TB SSD that contains all my Lightroom files and backups. It appears as a sub-disk in disk utility but will not mount. I've tried multiple variations of your commands to no avail; I get error 72 and 66. Below is the result of the diskutil list command. Many, many thanks and large paypal contribution to be made for any help!!
Christians-MacBook-Pro-3:~ christianbartholomew$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *2.0 TB disk0
1: Apple_APFS_ISC Container disk1 524.3 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_APFS Container disk3 2.0 TB disk0s2
3: Apple_APFS_Recovery Container disk2 5.4 GB disk0s3
/dev/disk3 (synthesized):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: APFS Container Scheme – +2.0 TB disk3
Physical Store disk0s2
1: APFS Volume Mac Hard Drive 11.3 GB disk3s1
2: APFS Snapshot com.apple.os.update-… 11.3 GB disk3s1s1
3: APFS Volume Preboot 7.1 GB disk3s2
4: APFS Volume Recovery 1.1 GB disk3s3
5: APFS Volume Data 1.9 TB disk3s5
6: APFS Volume VM 24.6 KB disk3s6
/dev/disk4 (external, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *4.0 TB disk4
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk4s1
2: Apple_APFS Container disk5 4.0 TB disk4s2
/dev/disk5 (synthesized):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: APFS Container Scheme – +4.0 TB disk5
Physical Store disk4s2
1: APFS Volume LR New 4TB 3.1 TB disk5s1
/dev/disk6 (disk image):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: Apple_partition_scheme +268.5 MB disk6
1: Apple_partition_map 32.3 KB disk6s1
2: Apple_HFS DiskDrill 268.4 MB disk6s2
Hi. I did exactly the same but it shows resource busy. And then it said failed with 71. What should I do?
This doesn't work on a Thunderbolt drive 🙁
hi Jono, thanks so much for your help but I'm still having a problem. Attached is the diskutil list: Image 9-9-25 at 10.33 AM.jpeg
Hello- My SSD external drive stopped showing up on my desktop and in disc utility on both my macbook pro and iMac. It contains my Lightroom library and image files. I've had no problems with it before ( 3 days ago). I went through the steps you outlined and it hasn't shown up in disk utility. Here's what I got in terminal
iMac:~ kphilbrick$ sudo mount ExFat /dev/Extreme 55AE /Volumes/mount
Password:
usage: mount [-dfrkuvw] [-o options] [-t external_type] special mount_point
mount [-adfrkuvw] [-t external_type]
mount [-dfrkuvw] special | mount_point
i have problem , mount_ExFAT: /dev/disk4s1 on /Volumes/mount: Resource busy
mount: /Volumes/mount failed with 71
pouyan@Pouyans-Mac-mini ~ %
Bro, I tried and worked, however when I ejected the drive and plugged it in again it did not maintain the setup we did previously, so my question is if this approach is not recorded in the system and we have to put it every time we connect the drive?
Dude I’ve been looking for this video for years finally found it excited to try it only thing is my disk shows and doesn’t show so my disk might be out 😅
Hey bro mine says new place failed with 72
I’ve tried to mount my unmounted external drive using this method, my terminal responds by saying “no such “/Volumes/mount: no such file or directory”
“Mount: /Volumes/mount failed with 72” would love your help on any tips on how to proceed. Thank you!
I followed the steps but it’s not mounting.
My external HDD has a weird file name of Journaled HSF+
I’m not sure if that’s the reason it can’t be found