False Mounts

[silsurf@me.com]

I have been having issues for years regarding "False Mounts" and LightRoom getting confused on the location of my EXT HDD under MacOS. After many support threads and Adobe Remote customer support sessions, I have discovered the issue is due to "False Mounts". It is an issue that affects LightRoom and other Adobe applications because of the way they depend on the Volume structure in locating sources and destinations within the workflow.

I am no expert, but there is no doubt that False Mounts were creating many issues over time that no one seemed to consider. I just wanted to sum up my discoveries as it has been a real sore spot in my workflow.

What are False Mounts?

A False Mount is a folder left on the boot volume, which interferes with the normal moun9ng of external disks and network volumes.False Mounts are typically created

when an applica9on or running process writes data to an external volume after an unexpected unmount. For external drives or network drives, unmounts could be caused by any abrupt disconnec9on of a disk’s connection: a  power failure, a computer crash, or a user unexpectedly disconnecting an external drive could all result in a False Mount’s creation.

In my case, I have dedicated drives for Photos, Music, Movies, etc and over time from forced restarts to improper dismounts, I had been collecting quite a few False Mounts.

How do I determine if I have any False Mounts?

In the MacOS Finder, press Shift+Cmd+G (⇧⌘G)

Then type "/Volumes" (without the quotations) into the Go to pane.

Press Return key

Look for folders with names which match an external drive or network volume. Such as if you have an external attached drive entitled LaCie and in the /Volumes list you see:

LaCie

LaCie 1

That LaCie 1 is a false mount (unless you also have a drive named LaCie 1)

In my case you see multiple False Mounts listed in orange highlighter here:

This is my discussion thread here at LR Community before I discovered what False Mounts were.

Ghost devices showing up and confusing LR

How to remove False Mounts

Once you have your /Volumes folder open and indeed have False Mounts, all you have to do is move them to the desktop, look inside to make sure there isnt any data that has been copied to the False Mount, and if it is safe, drag it to the trash and empty the trash.

Other solutions that I have not tried:

Go into MacOS Preferences

Open Sharing,

Click "off" File Sharing and then turn "on" File Sharing.

Command line to remove a false mounted device:

sudo rm -rf Lacie 1

(where Lacie 1 is replaced with the name of your false mount)

Other info on False Mounts

White paper on what they are and how to remove

Issues I have had over the years that are a result of False Mounts

Figuring out importation issues overview

Beach Ball on import?

EXT HDD permissions not sticking

Lightroom not seeing library after MacOS sierra update

LR 6.10.1 new computer new install crashes on import?

[Just Shoot Me]

Thanks for posting this.

I hope you aren't suggesting this is an Adobe problem. It is clearly a problem with OS X, at least to me.

[silsurf@me.com]

Certainly not an Adobe Problem at all, but one that I have been trying to figure out for a LONG time and imagne other folks have had/are having issues relating to False Mounts.

Very surprised how little info there was out there on it to be honest.

Henry

[Jao vdL]

This is a bug in Mac OS X that has annoyed me for years. Easiest solution is to simply reboot once in a while and the ghost drives will all be gone.

[silsurf@me.com]

Rebooting does not always remove the False Mounts. I dont know why. But I had several false mounts and rebooted 5-6 times over the course of a few days without any change in the status of the false mounts. Better to use the approach outlined above and be sure.

[Just Shoot Me]

Hank did you shut down then restart or just select restart from the Apple menu?

[silsurf@me.com]

I usually use the restart, but not always. Next time a False Mount shows up I will try the "shut down" technique. As you can see I have had this issue for many years and even though I tend to leave my machine on, I have certainly performed "shut downs" many many times while this was an issue.

I have had three Adobe Support Remote sessions and no one ever looked at the /Volumes folder and in those we did many shutdowns and restarts in order to try and solve the problem.

Just very happy I have a solution