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Mac won't mount 2013 iMac Fusion Drive

HDJulie

HDJulie

macrumors demi-goddess
Original poster
Jun 13, 2008
932
431
Little Rock, AR
My sister's 2013 iMac was dropped & the screen no longer works. She has a newer iMac but we realized that there was a Parallels VM on the old iMac that had not transferred to the new one. I've removed the fusion drive from the old iMac & connected it to my Mac Pro using a Sabrent cable that connects to USB & also has a plug to give it power. I can see the drive in Disk Utility but it won't mount - it gives the dreaded error (com.apple.DiskManagement.disenter error -119930868.)

If I show all devices, the volume is grayed out under the "parent" device. I can run first aid on that parent & it finishes quickly with everything ok. I've used Disk Drill to do a recovery but it does not recover the .pvm file. The Pro is running Big Sur so I thought that maybe it was a compatibility issue & installed Catalina in a VM. Same result. Is there anything special about the fusion drive that won't allow it to be mounted, or did the drop likely damage the drive as well.
 
HDJulie said:
My sister's 2013 iMac was dropped & the screen no longer works. She has a newer iMac but we realized that there was a Parallels VM on the old iMac that had not transferred to the new one. I've removed the fusion drive from the old iMac & connected it to my Mac Pro using a Sabrent cable that connects to USB & also has a plug to give it power. I can see the drive in Disk Utility but it won't mount - it gives the dreaded error (com.apple.DiskManagement.disenter error -119930868.)

If I show all devices, the volume is grayed out under the "parent" device. I can run first aid on that parent & it finishes quickly with everything ok. I've used Disk Drill to do a recovery but it does not recover the .pvm file. The Pro is running Big Sur so I thought that maybe it was a compatibility issue & installed Catalina in a VM. Same result. Is there anything special about the fusion drive that won't allow it to be mounted, or did the drop likely damage the drive as well.
Click to expand...
A Fusion Drive is two disks- an SSD and a standard hard drive. If you took out one drive you’re not going to be able to read any data.
 
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Damn, I thought they were somehow on the same physical disk. Thanks, I'll go look for the other one. Even so, they'll mount separately. Will the SSD look for the other drive?
 
HDJulie said:
Damn, I thought they were somehow on the same physical disk. Thanks, I'll go look for the other one. Even so, they'll mount separately. Will the SSD look for the other drive?
Click to expand...
Your best bet is probably to put the disk you removed back in and start up the broken Mac into target disk mode. The Apple SSD part of the Fusion Drive that’s in the 2013 Mac is probably a proprietary blade type SSD rather than a standard one that you can put into a cheap enclosure.
 
Ok, thanks. The old iMac is dead - screen is cracked & you can't see anything on it other than colored lines. I've at least got the recovery of pictures & such using Disk Drill
 
Look at the iFixit repair guide for your 2013 iMac. The SSD blade is on the back side of the logic board. You have to remove the logic board to get at that SSD.
If the old iMac powers on, you don't need to see anything on the screen to get into target disk mode - but the boot drives need to be physically installed - and you need to connect the old iMac to your newer one.
 
HDJulie said:
Ok, thanks. The old iMac is dead - screen is cracked & you can't see anything on it other than colored lines. I've at least got the recovery of pictures & such using Disk Drill
Click to expand...
You don’t need to see anything. Turn on the computer and hold the T key as you do so. You will need a thunderbolt cable or combination of thunderbolt adapters and FireWire cables to connect the two computers, but if the data is critical, then it may be worth the expense: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/transfer-files-mac-computers-target-disk-mode-mchlp1443/mac
 
chabig said:
Let this also be a lesson in backing up your data.
Click to expand...
Actually, the data had been backed up. She had the new Mac for several months. Rather than restore from a Time Machine backup, she copied her pictures, documents, & videos manually. Once she did that, she added a new external drive for the Time Machine & reformatted the old for her daughter's iMac.
 
chrfr said:
You don’t need to see anything. Turn on the computer and hold the T key as you do so. You will need a thunderbolt cable or combination of thunderbolt adapters and FireWire cables to connect the two computers, but if the data is critical, then it may be worth the expense: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/transfer-files-mac-computers-target-disk-mode-mchlp1443/mac
Click to expand...
I appreciate the help. The data isn't critical - it's more of an inconvenience. We'll live :)
 
HDJulie said:
I appreciate the help. The data isn't critical - it's more of an inconvenience. We'll live :)
Click to expand...

I assume that only the LCD was broken.
You can hook up the iMac to your TV as external display, can't you? If it can boot into Target disk mode, then it can boot normally as well.
Put the HDD back in, hook a minidisplayport to HDMI cable to connect it to your TV, or another PC monitor (if available) and try to boot the iMac.
I assume that it will boot normally and you can even work on it as usual.
The minidisplayport to HDMI cable (adapter) is cheaper than the TB cable/adapter you might need to get it work in Target Disk Mode.
 
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