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Prevent hard drive from auto-mounting?
#36859 10/30/15 10:35 PM
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tacit Offline OP
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I have a MacBook Pro (15-inch, mid-2012) with two hard drives in it. I took out the DVD drive and replaced it with a second hard drive. The primary hard drive contains all my applications and data; the second hard drive contains an operating system and a set of tools I can use if my first hard drive takes a header, as well as backups of critical data I have not yet backed up to an external drive. (I'm paranoid and meticulous about backups.)

I'm replacing the primary hard drive with a 1TB SSD--mostly for speed, but also to extend battery life, as I often travel long distances with this computer. An SSD, lacking a motor to spin the hard drive platters, uses far less power.

I want the second hard drive, which is still an old-school spinning-rust jobbie, to mount only when I need it. To conserve battery power, I would like it not to auto-mount when I boot from the primary...but,, and this is the important bit, I still want to be able to select it as the startup volume if I option-boot the computer. I want it to not auto-mount so I don't have to remember to eject it to save battery power.

Is there a way to do this? I suppose I could write an AppleScript to dismount the second drive when I boot from the first, but that seems clunky. I'd prefer a simple, clean, elegant way for it not to mount at all but still be available if I start the computer with the Option key down. Any ideas?


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Re: Prevent hard drive from auto-mounting?
tacit #36864 10/30/15 11:20 PM
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I thought I had bookmarked something that did what you're looking for, but no such luck, although it sounds familiar.

Searching MacUpdate turned up MountWatcher ($18) which may be useful if I'm understanding it.

It seems to allow you to set a separate user name and password for each volume, so (presumably) dismissing the p/w pane with no entry would prevent your drive from mounting.

Ah ha! Found it... Prevent a volume from mounting at boot, but I don't know if it affects an option-boot. (Also, it's from 2012.)

Hope this helps.


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In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Prevent hard drive from auto-mounting?
artie505 #36871 10/31/15 11:23 AM
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tacit Offline OP
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Thank you! That's exactly what I needed. It works a treat. smile


Photo gallery, all about me, and more: www.xeromag.com/franklin.html
Re: Prevent hard drive from auto-mounting?
tacit #36872 10/31/15 11:36 AM
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cool

(You've obviously spent some time in the UK lately. wink )


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Prevent hard drive from auto-mounting?
tacit #36918 11/02/15 01:06 PM
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should be trivial (and free) to just create a login action that unmounts the drive? I'd make a launch agent, but others could just make an automator action I suppose and drop it into their Login Items


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Re: Prevent hard drive from auto-mounting?
Virtual1 #36920 11/02/15 02:33 PM
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What he thanked me for was the link to a Terminal command, not the one to the $18 app (which I would have edited out had he not posted first, because it's even less elegant than the AppleScript he proposed).


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire

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