Phantom USB device

[graand]

Every time I start my iMac I get a device mounted that does not exist! It's from an MP3 player I connected years ago (one of the kids' cheapies!) that we haven't used in years. Yet somehow the Mac 'sees' this thing when it boots. Where is it coming from and how do I get rid of it???

More background: I do a 'Get Info' on this and it shows up as a MS-DOS volume. It shows a real capacity (30Gb) and I can copy files to it as though it exists as an external USB device.

 

[hughvane]

Welcome to Mac-Forums. So the Phantom has struck again!!

Four things to try.
1. Once you've copied a file to this ghost device, use Cmd-F (Finder) to look for that file. Doing so may locate the device, or its alias.
2. Look for it in Disk Utilities. If found, select it and eject or unmount. Just be sure you get the right device!!
3. If not found with DU, go to Finder > Prefs > Sidebar to see if Removable Media is checked. If so, uncheck it. Reboot your computer, return to Finder > Sidebar, and re-check the Removable Media option.
4. Repair permissions, preferably with OnyX Titanium Software for your OS version.

Lastly, please post your Mac and MacOS specs in your profile. It helps us to help you better.

 

[graand]

Thanks! My comments after each of your tips:

Grant

(Thanks for the tip on filling in my Mac specs. Will do!)
= = =

Welcome to Mac-Forums. So the Phantom has struck again!!

Four things to try.
1. Once you've copied a file to this ghost device, use Cmd-F (Finder) to look for that file. Doing so may locate the device, or its alias.

Yep, did this. When the phantom is mounted, the file shows up at the root of the phantom drive, just as though it were a 'real' hard drive. If I eject or unmount the phantom, the file of course disappears from the 'found files' list.

2. Look for it in Disk Utilities. If found, select it and eject or unmount. Just be sure you get the right device!!

Yep, been there done that. The phantom shows up as a drive. When I unmount it, it goes grey as being "unmounted". I can simply mount it again, and there it is on the desktop!

3. If not found with DU, go to Finder > Prefs > Sidebar to see if Removable Media is checked. If so, uncheck it. Reboot your computer, return to Finder > Sidebar, and re-check the Removable Media option.

OK, I learned something new today! I had right-clicked on the phantom in the sidebar and selected the "Remove from Sidebar" option. Didn't do much except that of course the phantom didn't show up on the sidebar list any more. When I checked the Finder > Prefs, the Hard Disk selection showed a partial selection (line in the check box instead of a check mark). When I re-checked this box, the phantom shows up in the sidebar once again. I hadn't used this Finder > Prefs option before.

4. Repair permissions, preferably with OnyX Titanium Software for your OS version.

I have not done a permissions repair yet, and will take that on next. I'll let you know how I make out.

Lastly, please post your Mac and MacOS specs in your profile. It helps us to help you better.[/QUOTE]

 

[Slydude]

Try the following and see if it gives you a better clue about the location of the phantom drive.

1. From the finder Go Menu choose Go To Folder
2. In the box that appears type /volumes then choose Go
3. A window wil open with all of your drives listed hopefully the phantom drive will be there. If so you should be able to select it and choose "Get Info" to find the pathname. You may also be able to drag it to the trash from this window.

 

[graand]

Rehantom drive

When I do this to go to /volumes, I see aliases for my two 'real' drives and the phantom. When I "Show Originals" it simply shows up as a mounted drive. This is of course with the phantom mounted. If it is not mounted, then it doesn't show up. It behaves exactly like an external drive or USB stick would, there just is no physical medium involved. It "has" to be something somewhere on my main hard drive, just cannot for the life of me figure out what! When I copy or delete files to/off the phantom, the disk utilization on the primary drive changes so it's some kind of volume on the HD.

Further to hughvane, I ran Onyx (after upgrading to v 2.0.6 for OS 10.5.8) and repaired permission. Nothing it found related to the phantom.

Thanks for the tips folks! I'm expecting someone will point out something very obvious but so far it eludes me...

Thanks
Grant

= = =
Try the following and see if it gives you a better clue about the location of the phantom drive.

1. From the finder Go Menu choose Go To Folder
2. In the box that appears type /volumes then choose Go
3. A window wil open with all of your drives listed hopefully the phantom drive will be there. If so you should be able to select it and choose "Get Info" to find the pathname. You may also be able to drag it to the trash from this window.[/QUOTE]

 

[hughvane]

Was your iMac hard drive partitioned at some stage, particularly during the period of using the .mp3 player?

 

[graand]

Nope. I've not had a real use for drive partitioning and have kept it simple. But I agree, that's what this is behaving like. It looks like a partition the size of that ****ed MP3 player.

If the drive did get partitioned through some mystery process there should be a way to get rid of the partition? I don't deal in the world of hard drive partitioning enough to be fully conversant.

Thanks
Grant
= = =

Was your iMac hard drive partitioned at some stage, particularly during the period of using the .mp3 player?

 

[dtravis7]

If it's truly a partition on the drive Disk Utility should be able to make it all one partition.

 

[graand]

Yes it looks like a partition. Is there a means to "simply" delete the partition and restore the capacity back to the original physical hard drive? I don't see anything like this in Disk Utility.

 

[hughvane]

I think you're at the stage of Archive & Install from the original Install disk. That will preserve all your second and third-party files while getting rid of the partition(s) currently on the HD. It will also remove the ghost drive. Just make sure of two things:
1. that you have sufficient disk space, because a Previous System folder will be created, occupying anything up to 8 Gb; and
2. that you specify a single partition on the HD before beginning the installation process.

If you don't wish to do A&I, then boot into Safe mode and transfer all the files you wish to retain on to another drive. Then do a full, clean install, which will remove the partitions. Not a method I'd recommend, but workable.

 

[graand]

I'm thinking along the same lines. For now I'll just rename the drive so it isn't so offensive (right now it's named as a cheap MP3 player!) and use the disk space, and do the rebuild when I've got time to spend. It's not critical at the moment, just a pain in the butt to have the machine running me instead of the other way around. You'd think M$ had something to do with this...

Thanks for your ideas!

Grant

I think you're at the stage of Archive & Install from the original Install disk. That will preserve all your second and third-party files while getting rid of the partition(s) currently on the HD. It will also remove the ghost drive. Just make sure of two things:
1. that you have sufficient disk space, because a Previous System folder will be created, occupying anything up to 8 Gb; and
2. that you specify a single partition on the HD before beginning the installation process.

If you don't wish to do A&I, then boot into Safe mode and transfer all the files you wish to retain on to another drive. Then do a full, clean install, which will remove the partitions. Not a method I'd recommend, but workable.