Diskwarrior alternatives?

[allen-uk]

Mac Mini, i5, late 2014, SSD, FileVault on.

Had a seizure the other day - booted, but nothing would move once screen came up. Mouse would move, but wouldn't activate any menu. Command/option/escape wouldn't work. Retried booting several times. Removed all USB connections.

Rebooted with command/r/ - then changed start-up disc to my SuperDuper external drive.

Booted (sooo slowly), but booted. Tried DiskUtility, no great results (i.e. didn't find much wrong).

Tried DiskWarrior5 (previously installed onto my applications) - wouldn't run on my 'duff' hard drive, at all.

Eventually got round the problem by installing High Sierra (over existing El Capitan). Then all fine.

Tried rebooting again from back-up, tried DiskWarrior again - still won't recognise my Hard Drive.

Is it because it's an SSD, or because of the FileVault?

Either way, any recommendations for an alternative to DiskWarrior?

Thanks.

Allen.

 

[IWT]

Hi Allen.

According to this article, DiskWarrior will work with File Vault encrypted drives, though you will need to give it password access -
https://www.macworld.com/article/28...tenance-and-repair-tool-gets-even-better.html

Alternatives to DiskWarrior include Data Rescue, latest version.

BUT - NB Data recovery from an SSD is very difficult by any method. This is well recognised. It’s not a bug or problem in itself but related to how SSDs work.

That’s why backups (plural) are critical if you have an SSD.

Ian

 

[chscag]

Agree with Ian. Restoring data or trying to recover from a SSD that's corrupt is very difficult, if not impossible, if TRIM is turned on. The folks at Data Rescue have information regarding data recovery from a SSD with TRIM. Worth reading on their site.

That’s why backups (plural) are critical if you have an SSD.

+1!

 

[allen-uk]

Thanks for the link, Ian, which was interesting, and as usual prompted me to read the instructions rather than diving in.

My hard drive is APFS, which DiskWarrior doesn't recognise, at least not without a Security Extension being in place. I've been on to Alsoft asking how/where to get this necessary extension, and then (hopefully) I'll be able to run a DiskWarrior on my wobbly hard drive.

Just out of interest, why TWO back ups? Is it just in case one fails?

Allen.

 

[MacInWin]

Yes, backups can fail. I have had both an internal drive and my backup fail at the same time, so I now have two backups, one from TM one from CCC. And the really critical files are also backed up to a third drive that is in a different location.

As for your original problem, installing HS changed the format on the SSD, so the problem you are trying to chase down with Disk Warrior may well be overwritten totally by that new format structure. If Disk Utility reports the drive as ok when you run First Aid, I wouldn't worry about it at this point. There is nothing there for DW to find.

 

[IWT]

Just out of interest, why TWO back ups? Is it just in case one fails?

Many of us would advise two backups in all cases: Time Machine to cover inadvertent deletions or recovery of previous versions- and a bootable backup in the form of a clone. Examples being Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!

This becomes all the more important with Solid State Drives because:

Unlike spinning hard drives which often give notice of failure and allow for backup and retrieval, SSDs may fail without warning and, as you’ve read above, are highly resistant to data recovery.

Best therefore, to have both forms of backup as mentioned above. I also backup Documents, iTunes, Photos library and the like to an EHD as well.

My philosophy is that a SSD is either working fine or dead - no in between. And prepare for this in advance.

Ian

 

[allen-uk]

Alsoft confirm that I'm barking up the wrong tree. APFS disks (which High Sierra now seems to produce by default) are not recognised or rebuilt by DiskWarrior. They write:

• What you need to know

1) DiskWarrior Recovery Maker 1.1 is compatible with macOS 10.13 High Sierra when the High Sierra startup (boot) disk is formatted as Mac OS Extended (HFS Plus). Creating a 10.13 recovery flash drive will not allow DiskWarrior to rebuild APFS disks.

2) DiskWarrior Recovery Maker 1.1 is not compatible with macOS 10.13 High Sierra when the High Sierra startup (boot) disk is formatted as Apple File System (APFS). The APFS Recovery Disk is not recognized and will not show as a source from which to build a recovery disk.

• What can you expect soon

DiskWarrior Recovery Maker 1.2 will be released soon. It will be compatible with both HFS Plus and APFS startup disks.

So fingers crossed for this 1.2 upgrade.

Allen

 

[IWT]

Very useful information, Allen.

Thank you.

Of course, even when available, the gritty question of Data Recovery from an SSD remains.

As mentioned elsewhere above, virtually all MacBooks have an SSD and Desktops have either Fusion Drives or SSDs.

macOS High Sierra automatically converts all SSDs to Apple File System (APFS) with no exceptions, arguably, adding to the well recognised difficulty of retrieving data from them.

Thanks for your post.

Ian

 

[MacInWin]

macOS High Sierra automatically converts all SSDs to Apple File System (APFS) with no exceptions

I think it only converts the internal and any external boot drive. I have two external SSD drives happily being used with HS and formatted HFS+.

 

[IWT]

You are correct, Jake.

That's what I meant. The MacBook's Internal HD. (And any bootable EHD, I think).

Ian