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net500cg · Mar 2, 2005, 03:13 AM

I had a problem with my OS X boot drive that seems to be related to a number of posts on this and other sites: I was getting PERMISSIONS warnings and finally it just would not reboot anymore.

I attempted a REPAIR of PERMISSIONS .. no success. The report said there were 'damaged' sections of the Volume on which the OS X was installed.

I then re-installed OS X onto another Volume .. actually the former OS 9 Volume - so I no longer have OS 9 access on that machine.

The Volume OSX still has the intallation of the OS and all my applications and some data I would dearly like to recover .. but --

When I run Disk Utility - I see the OSX Volume, but it is GREYED OUT and cannot be mounted.

Is the ANY WAY to GET TO that Volume and recover the data?

I've looked at Disk Warrior - it 'seems' like an answer - but I really cannot tell.

I've been reading this site and a dozen others trying to find a thread that will help .. and I cannot find one that gives me a direction on this problem.

Help .. yes, that would be VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!

Stuck 'n Wandering in GreyedOut-Volume-Land ...

net500cg

alphasubzero949 · Mar 2, 2005, 03:16 AM

Get DiskWarrior.

net500cg · Mar 2, 2005, 03:20 AM

OK .. is this a 'real live' comment or just 'party line' dictation? I've seen DW mentioned like and alixer on here. I don't mind purchasing a good program - that I probably already should have - but I also don't like to shed $80 for the heck of it, either.

The reply and input is welcome .. I'd just like to know if this is an honest reply and not just 'pat answer'.

net500cg

Randman · Mar 2, 2005, 03:23 AM

Get DiskWarrior.

And also, look at the threads on backups. Helps in times like you're having.

net500cg · Mar 2, 2005, 03:40 AM

Thank you. Have been and will continue the reading and I will purchase Disk Warrior.

Still Wandering -but now Hopeful in Greyed-Out-Volume-Land

net500cg

net500cg · 05:02 AM

OK .. I'm back AGAIN. I've not gotten the Disk Warrior yet, but I've read hundreds of posts & replies on the topic of backup. And I've YET to find anything that deals with the problem I need help with.

* My old OS X install failed.
* I could not VERIFY or REPAIR with Disk Utility
* I reinstalled - in a different Volume - a new OS X installation
* The +OLD+ OSX Volume is visible as a GREYED-OUT ICON using Disk Utility
* I CANNOT mount this Volume
* INFO on the Grey Volume states:
** PERMISSIONs Enabled = NO
** Can TURN OFF Permissions = YES
** Journaled = NO
** Bootable = YES
** Formatable = YES
** Writable = YES
** File System = Mac OS Extended

*** The QUESTION of MY HOUR ***
Will Disk Warrior MOUNT this disk and/or some other manner allow me access to the Volume and thereby allow me to recover data???

Thanks .. Frustrated and Sweating in Greyed-Out-Volume-Land

net500cg

Moose · Mar 2, 2005, 09:07 AM

Originally posted by net500cg:
Will Disk Warrior MOUNT this disk and/or some other manner allow me access to the Volume and thereby allow me to recover data???

Nobody smart will allow himself to be painted in a corner with a categorical "Yes, DiskWarrior will fix your volume AND have your children" guarantee.

BUT:

DiskWarrior is more likely to help you than any other software I've seen. I've seen it do amazing things.

net500cg · Mar 2, 2005, 11:57 AM

Well, Moose and others ... I'm not looking for a 100% escape proof guarantee .. besides, I'm done having kids

. I just wanted to hear that the DW mantra was genuine and not just the 'easy thing' to say.

Despite sounding skeptic .. I am very grateful for all input received.

I'll fork the $80 over today. I'll run the necessary path and report back to the MacNN forum what happens: Good - Bad - Ugly or OTHER.

Hopeful and Harried while still limbic in Greyed-Out-Volume-Land

net500cg

tooki · Mar 2, 2005, 12:46 PM

The reason DiskWarrior is mentioned all the time is that it works. If it's a reparable disk corruption, DiskWarrior is going to do a better job fixing than any other utility out there, in probably 99.9% of cases.

tooki

cpac · Mar 2, 2005, 01:20 PM

(1) Your problem was that your disk got corrupted in one way or another.

(2) You said you tried to repair the disk using disk utility, but this didn't work.

(3) Disk Warrior is like disk utility on steroids - it can sometimes fix things that disk utiilty cannot.

(4) If the corruption that has afflicted your drive is something Disk Warrior can fix, it should allow you to recover your data. It's possible, however, that the corruption will be of a type that Disk Warrior cannot fix, in which case you can either pay a professional data recovery service, or cut your losses.

(5) In any case, you now know why it's important to back-up your important data in the future.

Millennium · Mar 2, 2005, 01:38 PM

Originally posted by net500cg:
OK .. is this a 'real live' comment or just 'party line' dictation? I've seen DW mentioned like and alixer on here. I don't mind purchasing a good program - that I probably already should have - but I also don't like to shed $80 for the heck of it, either.

DiskWarrior has an extremely good reputation when it comes to repairing damaged HFS+ volumes. Mind you, this is all it's made for; it can sometimes help undelete files, but it wasn't designed to do this and so it can't be easily controlled. It will grab any file that it believes can be recovered; no more, no less.

However, if your goal is to restore a damaged volume, then there's nothing better than DiskWarrior short of actually sending your drive into DriveSavers, which incurs a lot of time and expense. DW can't work miracles, but it comes pretty close.

net500cg · Mar 2, 2005, 02:18 PM

Thanks both cpac and Millenium for your comments and directions. Yes, backing up cannot be stressed enough! I've been at this a LONG TIME and DO backup regularly ... but as you all know .. every now and then you caught with your shorts down .. and you're just left emBAREASSED!

Been on the phone with the folks at DW .. great folks and helpful .. right now in the stage of seeing if OS 9 will 'see' the greyed out volume and going from there.

So a collective .. FINGERS CROSSED and Prayers for the Hopeful and Harried in Greyed-Out-Volume-Land would be MOST Welcome ..

net500cg

tooki · Mar 2, 2005, 05:01 PM

Originally posted by Millennium:
However, if your goal is to restore a damaged volume, then there's nothing better than DiskWarrior short of actually sending your drive into DriveSavers, which incurs a lot of time and expense. DW can't work miracles, but it comes pretty close.

Well actually, the data recovery services never repair or restore the original disk, they always send you the recovered data on a new disk.

DiskWarrior repairs the disk in question; data recovery apps (like Data Rescue X) always copy to a different disk.

tooki

Appleman · Mar 2, 2005, 05:45 PM

DiskWarrior is the way to go imho as well.

Detrius · Mar 2, 2005, 06:57 PM

Originally posted by tooki:
Well actually, the data recovery services never repair or restore the original disk, they always send you the recovered data on a new disk.

DiskWarrior repairs the disk in question; data recovery apps (like Data Rescue X) always copy to a different disk.

tooki

Also Data Rescue X is far better for data recovery than Disk Warrior, but it makes no attempts to fix the damaged directory structure. Data Rescue X is built under the assumption that the hardware may be failing. Disk Warrior is built under the assumption that the hardware is good.

That's the key detail in this discussion. If the hard drive passes a surface scan (Drive Setup Utility in OS 9 is good for running a surface scan), the Disk Warrior is the tool to get. If it doesn't, pass a surface scan, then you should be getting Disk Warrior and a new hard drive. If you don't have any luck getting data off the drive with Disk Warrior's virtual disk, then Data Rescue is the next step.

The bottom line from me: run a surface scan and get Disk Warrior.