Hard drive faulty - can see files - but can't recover

Anything is worth a try, however, when a drive won't mount, it's very unlikely a Linux distro CD will be able to access the drive.

It would be interesting to know if anyone has used DiskWarrior in such a situation, and what it could possibly fix or at least maybe recover.

Check the OP's first post. He states he tried Tech Tool Pro, Disk Warrior, and Disk Drill. Sometimes you just can't raise the dead!

chscag said:

Check the OP's first post. He states he tried Tech Tool Pro, Disk Warrior, and Disk Drill. Sometimes you just can't raise the dead!

Click to expand...

Ooopps, sorry and thanks. I missed that and the other details it seems.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Disk Drill got me the closest I got to any success as it wouldn't rebuild the drive but it would let me make an image of the possibly recovered data.

Unfortunately the time it took to copy one 27mb using that system file made it unbearable to think how long it would take to copy two 550-odd gb iPhoto libraries!

Ok - so how would I use the Linux idea?

DC

Here is the link that should get you started:

How to create a bootable USB stick on OS X | Ubuntu

If you have a CD rom, burn the ISO and hit alt/option while rebooting and boot from it.

corbintech said:

Here is the link that should get you started:

How to create a bootable USB stick on OS X | Ubuntu

If you have a CD rom, burn the ISO and hit alt/option while rebooting and boot from it.

Click to expand...

Thank you.

Please pardon my ignorance here...what do I do once all that has started up and, also, how do I burn a 1gb image file to a CD?

I gather this all starts a version of Linux on my Mac, which will then allow me to (possibly) access the faulty hard drive...is this correct?

DC

digicrew said:

Thank you.

Please pardon my ignorance here...what do I do once all that has started up and, also, how do I burn a 1gb image file to a CD?

I gather this all starts a version of Linux on my Mac, which will then allow me to (possibly) access the faulty hard drive...is this correct?

DC

Click to expand...

Used to the one cd install lol. Use a dvd .

After you install the drive just very well might show up in the file browser. That would be the hope and if so you can transfer the files from there.

Ummm, if you INSTALL you wont have to worry about your files because they'll be GONE! Installing linux will wipe the drive, not to mention re-partitioning it.
Also, just booting into linux and using it in test mode may not work because you might not have access to the hfs specific utilities. I don't know about now but you used to have to install those into linux from online.

Although it still may not work the idea is to boot from another drive, not install another OS, in the hope it will see your Mac HD and enable you to repair it or access your files in the normal way (like a server). The problem is that your original drive may be past being accessible by anything.
If for example you knew someone with a Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper backup clone of their HD (the same OSX as you) you could try booting from that and if accessible your HD will show up in the finder. You may then access the files but still they may be damaged.
Or with an ethernet cable you could connect another computer, start yours up in Target Disk mode (restart and hold down the "T" key) and access your files that way. NB. this can be done via WiFi as well.
Plug an external into the other computer and drag your iPhoto libraries from your Macintosh HD to the to the portable.

cradom said:

Ummm, if you INSTALL you wont have to worry about your files because they'll be GONE! Installing linux will wipe the drive, not to mention re-partitioning it.
Also, just booting into linux and using it in test mode may not work because you might not have access to the hfs specific utilities. I don't know about now but you used to have to install those into linux from online.

Click to expand...

In my Linux experience (since 1999), you can "install" things from apt into memory from the live CD. It has always worked for me.

Rod Sprague said:

Although it still may not work the idea is to boot from another drive, not install another OS, in the hope it will see your Mac HD and enable you to repair it or access your files in the normal way (like a server). The problem is that your original drive may be past being accessible by anything.
If for example you knew someone with a Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper backup clone of their HD (the same OSX as you) you could try booting from that and if accessible your HD will show up in the finder. You may then access the files but still they may be damaged.
Or with an ethernet cable you could connect another computer, start yours up in Target Disk mode (restart and hold down the "T" key) and access your files that way. NB. this can be done via WiFi as well.
Plug an external into the other computer and drag your iPhoto libraries from your Macintosh HD to the to the portable.

Click to expand...

Thanks Rod,

I am currently booting from Yosemite on an external Thunderbolt drive and everything works fine and can see the faulty drive in the finder...and I can drag SOME files from the faulty drive to another...but the second I try to drag a damaged file to the new drive, the HD ejects itself and I have to re-boot the iMac to see the HD in the finder once again.

With two libraries both approx 550gb each, you could only imagine how many reboots this is going to need and how much time it is going to take.

The trick is to find the *really* important photos and try to save them before I click on a damaged file and have to reboot.

Video clips I have given up on as they are bigger and tend to "trip" the HD into eject mode.

The ejecting is the problem at the moment - as soon as I click on a bad file or try to drag one over, the HD packs it in.

By the way - Booting from the Linux DVD gave me the option to install Linux *alongside* the current operating system. But I was having to install that on the external current startup drive anyway as nothing will install to the faulty drive.

Cheers.

To save all the iMac reboots, try reconnecting the actual connection you use to access the faulty drive and use Disk Utility to select and hopefully Mount the drive when the re-connection is made.

Hopefully that might work…

I think you're at the point in time where you may have to think about getting your data off that drive professionally - which can be expensive. You just don't know that perhaps one more dismounting and rebooting of the drive will send it to la la land forever and your data along with it. The more you mess with that drive, the greater the chance of that happening.