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Ok, so I have a procedure for you on accessing your external HD through Terminal. Here are the commands you'll need:
cd (change directory)
cd .. (move back one directory)
ls (list)
open
1. Open Terminal.
2. Type cd /Volumes/ExternalHDName but replace ExternalHDName with the actual name of your external HD as it shows on the desktop. If the name has spaces in it, you'll need to type a back-slash before each space. For example, if your external HD is named Extra Storage, you'll need to enter it in Terminal as Extra\ Storage.
3. Now you can type ls and then hit Enter to list the contents of your external HD root directory. To navigate to a sub-directory, simply type cd followed by the directory name (remember to use back-slashes before spaces in directory names) then hit Enter. To move back to the previous directory, simply type cd .. then hit Enter.
For example, let's say you have a file named Bank Accounts.docx on your external HD that you have been unable to open using Finder. The drive structure is as follows:
Extra Storage
--Photos
--Music
--Important Files
----Banking
------Bank Accounts.docx
Here's how you would navigate to the directory that file is in and open it with Terminal (hit Enter after each line of command of course):
cd /Volumes/Extra\ Storage/Important\ Files/Banking
open Bank\ Accounts.docx
If you then want to navigate to the Photos directory, you would enter:
cd ../Photos
(moves you back to previous directory (the root directory in this case), then into the Photos sub-directory
If you then wanted to list all directories and files within the Photos directory, you would simply type ls then hit enter.
etc.
Give that a try to see if you can open a file that you have been unable to transfer or otherwise access. Hope that helps.
cd (change directory)
cd .. (move back one directory)
ls (list)
open
1. Open Terminal.
2. Type cd /Volumes/ExternalHDName but replace ExternalHDName with the actual name of your external HD as it shows on the desktop. If the name has spaces in it, you'll need to type a back-slash before each space. For example, if your external HD is named Extra Storage, you'll need to enter it in Terminal as Extra\ Storage.
3. Now you can type ls and then hit Enter to list the contents of your external HD root directory. To navigate to a sub-directory, simply type cd followed by the directory name (remember to use back-slashes before spaces in directory names) then hit Enter. To move back to the previous directory, simply type cd .. then hit Enter.
For example, let's say you have a file named Bank Accounts.docx on your external HD that you have been unable to open using Finder. The drive structure is as follows:
Extra Storage
--Photos
--Music
--Important Files
----Banking
------Bank Accounts.docx
Here's how you would navigate to the directory that file is in and open it with Terminal (hit Enter after each line of command of course):
cd /Volumes/Extra\ Storage/Important\ Files/Banking
open Bank\ Accounts.docx
If you then want to navigate to the Photos directory, you would enter:
cd ../Photos
(moves you back to previous directory (the root directory in this case), then into the Photos sub-directory
If you then wanted to list all directories and files within the Photos directory, you would simply type ls then hit enter.
etc.
Give that a try to see if you can open a file that you have been unable to transfer or otherwise access. Hope that helps.
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