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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Consumer Hardware & Components > External Hard Drive woes

External Hard Drive woes
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Riyuu
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Jan 10, 2005, 08:52 PM
 
I purchased a Maxtor OneTouch 250GB Firewire/USB external hard drive about six months ago. It worked perfectly on both my OS 10.3 system, as well as a friend's PC, until just a few weeks ago. Now whenever I plug it into my computer, it says the drive is unreadable, and asks me if I want to initialize it etc. I've tried using DiskWarrior to fix it, but it won't even recognize the drive, and although Disk Utility can see it, it won't let me use any of the repair functions on the external HD.

I don't really know what to do at this point, I tried using the demo of Prosoft's 'DataRescue' to see if I could recover some of the files, but it only saw small data and text files for recovery after a lengthy scan. I had some very important, and somewhat irreplaceable files on the drive, so if anyone has any suggestions on how to fix the drive, or at least recover the files to a different drive, it would be greatly appreciated.
     
Buck_Naked
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Jan 11, 2005, 08:50 AM
 
Have you tried to take the drive out of the enclosure and mount it internaly?
Maybe the maxtor enclosure is fried.
You could also try to salvage your files onto your friends computer.
     
f1000
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Jan 15, 2005, 07:17 AM
 
Originally posted by Buck_Naked:
Have you tried to take the drive out of the enclosure and mount it internaly?
Maybe the maxtor enclosure is fried.
You could also try to salvage your files onto your friends computer.
Since he can see a few files, I seriously doubt the enclosure is fried.

DiskWarrior might help, but I doubt that it can do any better than Data Rescue.
     
Buck_Naked
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Jan 15, 2005, 10:30 AM
 
Originally posted by f1000:
Since he can see a few files, I seriously doubt the enclosure is fried.

DiskWarrior might help, but I doubt that it can do any better than Data Rescue.
The files the program could see are probably the directory files.
Plus, what is the harm in moving the drive to a new location??
     
Riyuu  (op)
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Jan 16, 2005, 03:59 PM
 
Yes, I have already tried Diskwarrior, and it would not even recognize the drive. The Data Rescue demo was able to see more than just directory files - it picked up "read me" files from games and programs, and other small data files, however, it didn't seem to be able to see any files over 1 mb, which makes recovery pretty much useless for me if that's all it can recover.

Unfortunately, I cannot mount the drive internally, as I own an imac (*hits self*).

So is the drive pretty much toast? If I wipe it, will it still have the same problems under Panther, or will I want to get a brand new one?

A friend of mine said that file system on the drive might corrupt, causing the problem. Any truth to this, or how I would fix it if this is the problem?

Thank you for your help.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Jan 16, 2005, 06:49 PM
 
Originally posted by Riyuu:
A friend of mine said that file system on the drive might corrupt, causing the problem. Any truth to this, or how I would fix it if this is the problem?
That is precisely what DiskWarrior would try to fix.
     
f1000
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Jan 16, 2005, 07:00 PM
 
Originally posted by Riyuu:
The Data Rescue demo was able to see more than just directory files - it picked up "read me" files from games and programs, and other small data files, however, it didn't seem to be able to see any files over 1 mb, which makes recovery pretty much useless for me if that's all it can recover.
Have you tried running a "Thorough Scan" + "Contect Search" using Data Rescue X?
     
medmuse
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Jan 17, 2005, 12:48 AM
 
Do you have access to OS 9? Perhaps you could use USB or Firewire there. I have a USB external HD ALi chipset that stopped working around OS X 3.5 or so but still mounts fine under OS 9.
Just a thought.
"If I was educated I would be a damn fool."
Bob Marley
     
buzzkill
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Jan 17, 2005, 03:54 AM
 
There's been numerous problems with firewire on OSX even as current as 10.3.7 - did you try the USB connection?
     
   
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