When I try to format my Western Digital "MyBook" external drive, I get an error..

[seenew]

It says "could not unmount the disk."
What does this mean, and how do I fix it?

Also, what's the difference between Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and not journaled?

Thanks!

 

[alphaod]

You might have to recreate the partition table… Like where it says GUID, MBR, etc. Well it fixed mine when I changed it.

And Journal is if you want Spotlight indexing.

 

[seenew]

Thanks for the reply!

I tried repartitioning it just now as you suggested, and it gives the same error of "could not unmount the disk"

 

[aross99]

Does the drive show up on your desktop? That is what happens when the drive is mounded. Unmounting the drive means to eject it, or take it off the desktop.

I agree that partitioning it (GUID) and formatting it (Mac OS Extended Journaled), is what you want - assuming there isn't anything on the drive you care about...

 

[seenew]

I got it to work by booting from the install disk and using Disk Utility from there, in case anyone was wondering.

 

[bugsnelson]

Format WD MY BOOK for Mac

This worked for me; all the previous suggestions did not-
First, there is a firmware update for the My Book Home Editions. Whether this was a factor in my favor or not, after failing with the above suggestions, I then installed the update and yet still could not use the previously suggested measures. Nonetheless, the firmware update is installed.
I continued to get the error message [unable to unmount].
I used the Disk Utility PARTITION on my internal HD on the My Book, but I partitioned it with ONE partition, and chose the GUID table option.
I then was able to format the drive to HPS+ (journaled) with the ERASE function.
Best wishes.
________________________________
One bum throwing a crumb to another.

 

[freddyvb]

This worked for me; all the previous suggestions did not-
First, there is a firmware update for the My Book Home Editions. Whether this was a factor in my favor or not, after failing with the above suggestions, I then installed the update and yet still could not use the previously suggested measures. Nonetheless, the firmware update is installed.
I continued to get the error message [unable to unmount].
I used the Disk Utility PARTITION on my internal HD on the My Book, but I partitioned it with ONE partition, and chose the GUID table option.
I then was able to format the drive to HPS+ (journaled) with the ERASE function.
Best wishes.
________________________________
One bum throwing a crumb to another.

Thanks, I had the same problem and this worked.

 

[bugsnelson]

Format WD MY BOOK HOME EDITION for Mac

Good. Disk Utility would not allow me to use the ERASE function to re-format. That's why I used PARTITION with one partition with GUID with the journaled formatting. ERASE would then function, which indicated I had fixed the issue. I have since then formatted a second WD MY BOOK, this one an original ESSENTIAL EDITION and had success using the same process.
Happy New Year, everyone!

 

[betototo]

same problem

Hi i try all the suggestions and it still not working, actually i can see the hard drive on my desktop, but when i try to open it it looks like its empty

please HELP!!!!!

This worked for me; all the previous suggestions did not-
First, there is a firmware update for the My Book Home Editions. Whether this was a factor in my favor or not, after failing with the above suggestions, I then installed the update and yet still could not use the previously suggested measures. Nonetheless, the firmware update is installed.
I continued to get the error message [unable to unmount].
I used the Disk Utility PARTITION on my internal HD on the My Book, but I partitioned it with ONE partition, and chose the GUID table option.
I then was able to format the drive to HPS+ (journaled) with the ERASE function.
Best wishes.
________________________________
One bum throwing a crumb to another.