Checking the previous state of a disk

[JoshJ]

Hey guys. I recently reformatted an external disk. Is it possible to locate the size of that disk before it was formatted, using Console (or another method)?

Would be able to search Console for previous "Get Info" actions where I checked the size of the disk?

 

[pigoo3]

What is your goal for doing this? Yes...there is usually a difference between the unformatted & formatted capacity of a hard drive. But it's usually the formatted capacity that is important. The unformatted capacity is usually not that helpful

Tell us what's up.

- Nick

 

[JoshJ]

Hey Nick. My external drive had issues. I had to delete & reformat it. Before doing so I made a copy of that drive onto another drive. I then reformatted the original drive so that data is gone.

For some reason when I checked the size of the copied data, it was significantly smaller than what I remembered the original data size to be.

I just want to be able to check the original size of the folders I copied (but those folder are now gone).
I was wondering whether the historic info of that drive might be stored anywhere on my mac for me to have a look at. (my past "Get Info" actions in the Console maybe - if there is such a thing??)

many thanks

 

[pigoo3]

Hey Nick. My external drive had issues. I had to delete & reformat it. Before doing so I made a copy of that drive onto another drive. I then reformatted the original drive so that data is gone.

Are these two drives the exact same size? If they aren't...this can account for some of the difference (due to formatting).

What size are the drives...and how much difference in the "Get Info" info are we talking about?

- Nick

 

[JoshJ]

Hey Nick. I have a Seagate 2TB (the one I had to reformat) & a WD 2TB (the backup drive). I had about 4 folders on my Seagate that I'm sure I remember amounting to around 700GB.
When I checked the copy of these folders on my WD they now amount to around 500GB.

I have just been checking through my data and cant seem to find one of my Logic tracks.
I am trying to define whether this may have been due to Lost+Found files created due to the original Seagate issue - See OP: http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/os-x-operating-system/320017-external-hardrive-not-mounting-2.html

PS, I copied the folders across manually, didn't use TM

 

[pigoo3]

PS, I copied the folders across manually, didn't use TM

Ahh. I guess I assumed (incorrectly)...that you used TM or another backup/copy method. Doing a "drag & drop" copy can result in differences like you are seeing. Unless the external drive was 100% data storage only.

- Nick