heartbroken/unmountable sparse image/lost baby photos

Did you possibly change your short username recently?
There have been several problems reported in the past relating to FileVault when the short username is changed.
See for example, this old thread, where a procedure for fixing things is outlined in post #5:
http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?p=190556

Otherwise, please give us more details about what you have done and what you see.
E.g. exactly what size is this unmounted sparse image file?
You should be able to get this info via File/Get Info in Finder.
What is the name of this sparse image file?
Is it named xxx.sparseimage where xxx is your short username?
If so, please launch the "Terminal" application (under /Applications/Utilities) and copy & paste the following commands, press Return, then copy & paste the results back here so we can see:
id
pwd
ls -lao xxx.sparseimage
echo ---------------

(where you would substitute your username for "xxx")

what is a short user name?

i will give you more info soon but i think the sparseimage file is about 77gb

it is named xxx.sparseimage where the xxx=my actual login name

before i try the actions recommended in post#5 should i turn filevault back on
the apple store macgenius turned it off, it took approx 175minutes to reopen

The short username is the shorter version of your login name.
In Accounts preferences it shows "Name" and "Short Name".

So did you recently change your username?

Don't do anything until we get more info about your situation.
How about the results of those Terminal commands?

size 77.88 GB on disk (83,625,431,386bytes)


thomasbartolomeo.sparseimage


Last login: Tue Oct 4 19:05:27 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ id
uid=501(thomasbartolomeo) gid=501(thomasbartolomeo) groups=501(thomasbartolomeo), 79(appserverusr), 80(admin), 81(appserveradm)
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ pwd
/Users/thomasbartolomeo
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ ls -lao xxx.sparseimage
ls: xxx.sparseimage: No such file or directory
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ echo ---------------



corrected info

Last login: Tue Oct 4 19:12:33 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ pwd
/Users/thomasbartolomeo
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ ls -lao thomasbartolomeo.sparseimage
-rwxr--r-- 1 thomasba thomasba - 83625431040 3 Oct 22:45 thomasbartolomeo.sparseimage
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ ls -l /Users
total 0
drwxrwxrwt 7 root wheel 238 2 Apr 2005 Shared
drwxr-xr-x 13 marybart marybart 442 17 Apr 00:27 marybartolomeo
drwxr-xr-x 13 thomasba thomasba 442 4 Oct 19:37 thomasbartolomeo
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ echo ---------------
---------------
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$

i did not knowingly change my username

at one point last night the system asked for my password it did not recognize the password told me to try again later

size 77.88 GB on disk (83,625,431,386bytes)
How big is your hard disk? How much free space is left ("available") on it?
You can get this info from File/Get Info in Finder after selecting the hard disk.
Does it seem likely that your home folder took up that much space (78 GB) ?



Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ ls -lao xxx.sparseimage
ls: xxx.sparseimage: No such file or directory

You were supposed to substitute your username for the "xxx".
Now that we know that your username is 'thomasbartolomeo', the command to be done is:

ls -lao thomasbartolomeo.sparseimage

So please copy & paste the following commands into a Terminal window, press Return, then copy & paste the results back here so we can see:

pwd
ls -lao thomasbartolomeo.sparseimage
ls -l /Users
echo ---------------

capacity 233.63 gb
available 142.03 gb
used 91.59 gb on disk (98,353,295,360bytes)

i had well over 2000 images plus other stuff

sorry i thought that (strong like bull smart like tractor)

Last login: Tue Oct 4 19:12:33 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ pwd
/Users/thomasbartolomeo
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ ls -lao thomasbartolomeo.sparseimage
-rwxr--r-- 1 thomasba thomasba - 83625431040 3 Oct 22:45 thomasbartolomeo.sparseimage
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ ls -l /Users
total 0
drwxrwxrwt 7 root wheel 238 2 Apr 2005 Shared
drwxr-xr-x 13 marybart marybart 442 17 Apr 00:27 marybartolomeo
drwxr-xr-x 13 thomasba thomasba 442 4 Oct 19:37 thomasbartolomeo
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ echo ---------------
---------------
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$

capacity 233.63gb
available 142.03 gb
used 91.59 gb on disk (98,353,438,720bytes)

Last login: Tue Oct 4 19:12:33 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ pwd
/Users/thomasbartolomeo
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ ls -lao thomasbartolomeo.sparseimage
-rwxr--r-- 1 thomasba thomasba - 83625431040 3 Oct 22:45 thomasbartolomeo.sparseimage
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ ls -l /Users
total 0
drwxrwxrwt 7 root wheel 238 2 Apr 2005 Shared
drwxr-xr-x 13 marybart marybart 442 17 Apr 00:27 marybartolomeo
drwxr-xr-x 13 thomasba thomasba 442 4 Oct 19:37 thomasbartolomeo
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ echo ---------------
---------------
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$

capacity 233.63
available 142.03
used 91.59 (98,353438,720bytes)


Last login: Tue Oct 4 19:12:33 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ pwd
/Users/thomasbartolomeo
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ ls -lao thomasbartolomeo.sparseimage
-rwxr--r-- 1 thomasba thomasba - 83625431040 3 Oct 22:45 thomasbartolomeo.sparseimage
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ ls -l /Users
total 0
drwxrwxrwt 7 root wheel 238 2 Apr 2005 Shared
drwxr-xr-x 13 marybart marybart 442 17 Apr 00:27 marybartolomeo
drwxr-xr-x 13 thomasba thomasba 442 4 Oct 19:37 thomasbartolomeo
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ echo ---------------
---------------
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$

That's an absolutely enourmous image.

Stay in the terminal and try this: (better to copy and paste it)

hdiutil mount -noverify /Users/thomasbartolomeo/thomasbartolomeo.sparseimage

enter your password if asked.

wait patiently (perhaps over coffee) and see if it appears on the desktop or in Finder -> Go -> Computer.

If it does, immediately copy the contents to a place OUTSIDE your home folder. This means NOT the Desktop, NOT Documents. The top level of your hard disk or in the 'Users' folder (but NOT the thomasbartolomeo folder) should work. Authenticate and enter your password if it asks. This will take a while, hours would not surprise me.

it went throuigh immediately after password

Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ hdiutil mount -noverify /Users/thomasbartolomeo/thomasbartolomeo.sparseimage
Initializing...
Attaching...
DI_kextDriveGetRequest: failed (0x00000025)
Finishing...
hdiutil: mount failed - no mountable file systems
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$

1) You mentioned some problem with the password not being accepted. Please tell us as much detail as you remember about what happened then.
E.g. are you sure you typed in the correct password?
Did you try again immediately and then it was accepted?
What else happened?
What is the current status with your password? Do you still have problems in logging in?

2) Try the procedures explained in this Apple document for repairing that sparseimage file:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25695
Take notes of what happens (e.g. error messages etc) so you can tell us.

Hmmm. The above won't work if it's your home filevault image.

Post any error messages (they should appear quickly).

And make a second user on your computer. Apple Menu -> System Preferences -> Users -> Click the plus sign on the lower right. Choose a name that is very different from your current one. Click the box to "allow this user to administer this computer". This second account will get used later to put things back in order.

You're quick :)

show us the result of "mount" <- that's it, one word, no quotes.

i think it was my filevault image

in regard to failed password it was when i tried to open XcodeTools.mpkg

i am sure i typed it correct ly all three times it finally said that i would have to try later

no problems since

You're quick :)

show us the result of "mount" <- that's it, one word, no quotes.


-bash: Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~: command not found
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$

ok, try:

/sbin/mount

Are you a programmer? If yes, tell us. If no, you don't need XCode.

1) Try again with the 'mount' command, only this time try like this:

/sbin/mount

2) Did you try the procedures I recommended in post #13 ?

3) When you were trying to use that XCodeTools.mpkg, you said that it asked for your password, but it was rejected. So did you end up doing anything with that XCodeTools package? Or anything else that came with it?

1) Last login: Tue Oct 4 21:03:12 on console
Welcome to Darwin!
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$ /sbin/mount
/dev/disk0s3 on / (local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (local)
fdesc on /dev (union)
<volfs> on /.vol
automount -nsl [295] on /Network (automounted)
automount -fstab [306] on /automount/Servers (automounted)
automount -static [306] on /automount/static (automounted)
Thomas-Bartolomeos-Computer:~ thomasbartolomeo$

2)
Verifying volume "disk1s2"
Volume check failed

1 Volume checked
0 HFS volume verified
1 Volume needs repair

Repairing disk for "disk1s2"
Volume check failed
Error the underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)

Repair attempted on 1 volume
0 HFS volumes repaired
1 volume could not be repaired

First Aid FAiled

Disk Utility stopped repairing because the following error was encountered

The underlying task reported failure on exit

3)

after i started to panic i went and completed the installation to see if that would help - i also added two screensavers, a wallpaper and an add on for itunes downloaded from apple.com earkier not sure if that had any affect

Repairing disk for "disk1s2"
Volume check failed
Error the underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)
That doesn't sound good at all.
Perhaps some more powerful disk utility software like "DiskWarrior" could fix the filesystem problems on that sparse image.
Or maybe one of the data recovery utilities (e.g. "Data Rescue" or "Virtual Lab" - google to find them) could recover some of your files.

Or maybe someone else will suggest something.

after i started to panic i went and completed the installation to see if that would help
Please explain what you mean by "completed the installation". I thought you couldn't do the installation because your password was refused by the installer.

i went back and it accepted my password

so you think i lost the data then

everyone told me that disc warrior wont help because the disc is fine that the file is shot

i went back and it accepted my password
So you successfully installed the XCode Tools and presumably they are still installed - is that right?

so you think i lost the data then
I'm not sure. Maybe.

everyone told me that disc warrior wont help because the disc is fine that the file is shotThe file contains a disk image. It still isn't clear to me if any utility can fix a disk image that is refusing to mount. Try some of the utilities I mentioned. Some of them are available as free demos.

they both need an external harddrive which i dont presently have

thanks for your help so far

they both need an external harddrive which i dont presently have

I assume you are referring to the recovery utilities I suggested.
You need to start either quoting what part of our messages you are responding to, or else use more words to explain what it is you are responding to. It's confusing when there are multiple people and multiple suggestions in the air at once.

And you haven't answered by question about the XCode Tools.
In particular, I'm interested to know if you uninstalled it afterwards. (uninstalling might have removed something that your system needs)

By the way, what model of Mac and version of OS X do you have?

sophiasdad,

first of all:

Don't Panic.

While we are not sure whether or not we'll be able to figure out a way to save your data, don't do anything that would somehow modify the filevault before you've had the occasion to make a backup copy of it. Given its size, an external FW disk would probably be your best option here.

Then try to provide a maximum of details so we can try to figure out what went wrong, especially answer all of haynes questions and try to be less terse about it.

in response to haynes question about unistalling xcode no i did not it is still installed

to voldenuit - what is an external fw disk (is firewire correct)

By the way, what model of Mac and version of OS X do you have?[/QUOTE]


imac g5 with version 10.3.9

iMac G5 with version 10.3.9
Oooh, oooh... bad Apple!!
I recall a previous thread here called
"10.3.9 broke my hdiutil-based backup script! (http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=38035)"
wherein it was revealed...
The problem seems to come from a bug in the Disk Utilities framework that was updated with 10.3.9.
This brought the version of Disk Utility up to 10.4.4 from 10.4.3. The bug occurs if the source volume
you try to create is over 8Gb. Creating a image from this drive will guarantee failure regardless if you
try to do a compressed or uncompressed image.

There a discussion of it going on at the bombich forum, and the bug was filed by bombich with Apple.
http://forums.bombich.com/viewtopic.php?t=5203
I'm not sure if Apple ever patched that puppy for Panther.
[I believe 10.4.1 fixed the associated issue in Tiger 10.4]

-HI-

i wish i would have tried that before i brought the system to a data recovery shop by me

i would have continued to attempt recoveries myself but i need these images and the idvd i made for my little girls first birthday party

thanks i'll let everyone know the outcome

poppatom

Hey tom

I didn't know you were having these issues....maybe we could have helped ya out. When did this occur? Remember that we have a Tiger machine at work and maybe using the disk util from tiger would help out?

Anyone chime in on that? WOuld using the completely updated Disk Util may undo or help to at least verify the file system on Tom's Sparse Image?

Where did you take it? How long did they say it would take to fix it?

Sorry man, I would prolly not been as much help as the people here....If I don't hear back I'll ask ya tomorrow @ work

P.S. Why are you using file vault?

i took it to a well thought of apple shop on long island

the tech said he would call when it was fixxed

thought it was wise to use file vault with no firewall on an open network

i got my imac back today

with a 77gb unmountable steiming pile looks like my sparseimage is dust