External Drive suddenly 'Untitled'?

[plumpjack]

An external HDD of mine is showing as ‘Untitled’ everywhere from Devices to the ‘top’ of the computer [Command - Shift - C]. I don’t know why. It’s a Freecom 56068 3TB Quattro eSATA/FireWire800/USB 3.0 3.5 Inch Drive [one of three]. It gives available space as '3TB' when there is actually only about 270 GB left.

I've checked, unchecked and re-checked Finder preferences. I've re-started the computer several times. Nothing seems to restore the disk name. Can anyone tell me what's happened and whether it can be salvaged? The data is duplicated elsewhere but transferring 2.7Tb would be a nightmare.

Thanks.

 

[Slydude]

It sounds like something in the drive has gotten scrambled a bit. That may or may not suggest that the drive is failing.

Try running Disk Utility (in the Utilities folder) and letting it repair the drive if any errors are found. Repair the drive itself. Don't worry about the drive permissions for now.

 

[plumpjack]

It sounds like something in the drive has gotten scrambled a bit. That may or may not suggest that the drive is failing.

Try running Disk Utility (in the Utilities folder) and letting it repair the drive if any errors are found. Repair the drive itself. Don't worry about the drive permissions for now.

Thanks for this. I'm running Disk Utility on another task just now. That won't be finished until the morning. I'll try your suggestion then and come back to you in the next 24 hours. I appreciate your reply.

 

[plumpjack]

It sounds like something in the drive has gotten scrambled a bit. That may or may not suggest that the drive is failing.

Try running Disk Utility (in the Utilities folder) and letting it repair the drive if any errors are found. Repair the drive itself. Don't worry about the drive permissions for now.

Okay I stopped the other task to follow up on your advice. I ran 'Repair Disk'. The outcome reads [in green]: 'The volume 'Untitled' appears to be OK'.

______________________________________________________________________________

Verify and Repair volume “Untitled”
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking catalog hierarchy.
Checking extended attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
The volume Untitled appears to be OK.
Volume repair complete.Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.

_____________________________________________________________________________

What next? If it's still referring to it as 'untitled' we're no farther on are we? Sorry but I'm not very computer savvy.

 

[pigoo3]

What next? If it's still referring to it as 'untitled' we're no farther on are we? Sorry but I'm not very computer savvy.

Is the only problem with this drive that the former name changed to "Untitled"? What happens if you click on the name "Untitled" (on the HD icon on the desktop)…and change it?

Does it stay changed? If so…what happens if you restart the computer? Does the new name remain?

- Nick

 

[plumpjack]

Is the only problem with this drive that the former name changed to "Untitled"? What happens if you click on the name "Untitled" (on the HD icon on the desktop)…and change it?

Does it stay changed? If so…what happens if you restart the computer? Does the new name remain?

- Nick

If I click on the volume name in Devices I just get a blank Finder window and '3TB available' at the bottom. Also in 'Get Info' it says 'created today at 12.51' when in fact it's been in use eighteen months. That could be the date and time of the 'glitch' of course and might mean nothing, but anyway I thought changing the name back to what it was might actually compound the problem in some way so I haven't. Is that what I should do? I wouldn't have thought it would be something so obvious and so simple really.

 

[plumpjack]

Is the only problem with this drive that the former name changed to "Untitled"? What happens if you click on the name "Untitled" (on the HD icon on the desktop)…and change it?

Does it stay changed? If so…what happens if you restart the computer? Does the new name remain?

- Nick

Okay Nick I changed the name. Yes it stays after re-boot but there's still nothing visible on the disk, which remains empty to all intents and purposes. In case anyone suggests verifying disk permissions by the way I should point out that I can't. ‘Not available because the selected disk is set to ‘ignore ownership’ is what it says. I’ve changed the setting but it made no difference. ‘Verify Disk Permissions’ remains greyed out.

 

[pigoo3]

Okay Nick I changed the name. Yes it stays after re-boot…

Ok that's good to hear.

...but there's still nothing visible on the disk, which remains empty to all intents and purposes.

Just to be 100% clear. Did this external drive have items (files, data, applications, etc. on it previously)…or was it empty? And…are you also saying that all indications now are that it's 100% empty?

- Nick

 

[plumpjack]

Just to be 100% clear. Did this external drive have items (files, data, applications, etc. on it previously)…or was it empty? And…are you also saying that all indications now are that it's 100% empty?

- Nick

Yes. As I said in the OP it's a 3TB disk and it's telling me 3TB are available when there should be only around 270GB. If I click on the volume in Devices I just get a blank Finder window. 2.7 TB of films, software and text documents were there a few hours ago. Now there's no sign of them [I'm guessing they're still there, just unrecognized because of the technical hiccup that resulted in renaming the disk 'Untitled'].

 

[pigoo3]

Yes. As I said in the OP it's a 3TB disk and it's telling me 3TB are available when there should be only around 270GB. If I click on the volume in Devices I just get a blank Finder window. 2.7 TB of films, software and text documents were there a few hours ago. Now there's no sign of them [I'm guessing they're still there, just unrecognized because of the technical hiccup that resulted in renaming the disk 'Untitled'].

Ok…thanks for clarifying everything. Since this is an external hard drive...one thing that is very important when the external hard drive is disconnected from the computer…it should always be done properly. Properly means ejecting it properly. This is usually done by dragging the external hard drives icon to the trash can to "eject" it. If this isn't done (and the cable is just pulled out)…there's a chance that the hard drive can become damaged or files corrupted. If this does happen…usually it is self-correctable by rebooting the computer. But sometimes it isn't.

I don't know if this is what happened in this case. Just wanted to mention it just in case.

Also…if this drive did have a bunch of stuff on it (which it sounds like it did). And if nothing changes or improves…or no better ideas are suggested by other members. It may be time to think about purchasing a file recovery program like DiskWarrior. This app isn't inexpensive (about $119 US). But there may not be any other options if this info is important.

- Nick

 

[plumpjack]

Ok…thanks for clarifying everything. Since this is an external hard drive...one thing that is very important when the external hard drive is disconnected from the computer…it should always be done properly. Properly means ejecting it properly. This is usually done by dragging the external hard drives icon to the trash can to "eject" it. If this isn't done (and the cable is just pulled out)…there's a chance that the hard drive can become damaged or files corrupted. If this does happen…usually it is self-correctable by rebooting the computer. But sometimes it isn't.

I don't know if this is what happened in this case. Just wanted to mention it just in case.

Also…if this drive did have a bunch of stuff on it (which it sounds like it did). And if nothing changes or improves…or no better ideas are suggested by other members. It may be time to think about purchasing a file recovery program like DiskWarrior. This app isn't inexpensive (about $119 US). But there may not be any other options if this info is important.

- Nick

I'm pretty careful to eject properly [I usually just right-click and use the context menu] so I'm confident it wasn't that. I'll bear in mind the mention you give to DiskWarrior. Wise to have file recovery software whatever the circumstances but I never got round to it somehow. As it is I'm hoping it won't be necessary, and that members might yet point the way. We'll see. Thanks for trying at any rate.

 

[pigoo3]

I'm pretty careful to eject properly [I usually just right-click and use the context menu] so I'm confident it wasn't that.

Good deal. Just wanted to mention that just in case. Some users don't always realize that external hard drives need to be ejected properly.

I'll bear in mind the mention you give to DiskWarrior. Wise to have file recovery software whatever the circumstances but I never got round to it somehow.

Not trying to be a wise guy or anything. But to be honest…what's even more important than having file recovery software…is having backups. If everyone maintained backups…the file recovery folks (for the most part) would probably go out of business.

Good luck.

- Nick

 

[plumpjack]

Not trying to be a wise guy or anything. But to be honest…what's even more important than having file recovery software…is having backups. If everyone maintained backups…the file recovery folks (for the most part) would probably go out of business.

Good luck.

- Nick

Agreed. As I say the data is actually duplicated on two other external Freecom disks attached via Firewire. It's transferring between them I want to avoid if I can.

 

[pigoo3]

Agreed. As I say the data is actually duplicated on two other external Freecom disks attached via Firewire. It's transferring between them I want to avoid if I can.

Sorry…I must have missed that detail. GREAT to hear you do have a backup!

- Ncik

 

[plumpjack]

Sorry…I must have missed that detail. GREAT to hear you do have a backup!

- Ncik

Footnote: by a miracle I spoke to my neighbour a while ago who runs the same OS and he had a Disk Warrior copy on CD. I ran it but, unfortunately, rebuilding the directories made no difference. Whereas my other two externals have around 500,000 files the temperamental one seems to have only about 164.

Back to the drawing board. Maybe someone will chip in over the weekend. Thanks again for your help Nick. Much appreciated.