I just accidentally unplugged my external HDD and some errors popped up. Since this has a happened a few times before in the past, I ran Disk Utilities and tried to verify and repair the disk, but now I don’t see any files. The harddrive still shows that there is a good chunk of the disk being used.
Does anyone know what has gone wrong? (on Mac)
Is there any place in Taipei I could go to get them back? and how much would it cost? I used this external HDD as a backup for all my photos and I’m trying really hard not to freak out right now.
Thank you guys so much. Any help is extremely appreciated!
I don’t know about how Macs work, but I think that, in normal conditions, you should be able to see everything but the file you were writing to at the moment.
Before going to a data restoration center (they usually are quite expensive), try looking into the disk from another OS. The best you can do is download a live CD/DVD/USB of some linux distro like Ubuntu, start from the CD/USB and enter the OS (do NOT install it, just select “try it”). From there, you may be able to access your data (at least, the one that is not corrupt).
If you don’t want/know to try this, you can go to a data restoration center. I’m sure that you can find one in taipei quite easily, for example: werecoverdata.com/hard-drive-data-recovery/
I would echo the above. Unless you chose to wipe or format the disk then the data should be ok. As suggested just try plugging the drive into any other computer and see if it is ok. If you don’t have another computer do as suggested and run linux from a usb pen drive. don’t worry it’s very easy to do. Try ubuntu. Lifehacker.com has plenty of guides on it in plain english
I had a similar issue before and used a program called disc recovery ( can’t find the www though) - to buy online for a few bucks.
It repaired whatever root got lost and all files became visible again. Good thing is you still see a part of the partition being filled with files so, it should work out.
Do compare the price of the soft with Balque’s proposal , thus know that most data recovery centers use simply the same software to be found online. Success to you.
[quote=“sunsetglow”] I used this external HDD as a backup for all my photos and I’m trying really hard not to freak out right now.
Thank you guys so much. Any help is extremely appreciated![/quote]
Worst case scenario, you could just go back to the original photos and create a new backup on another drive.
You likely corrupted the file that lets the OS know what is where. The files are absolutely still there. If it were a PC, I could point you to a program that would work. That said, I’m sure there is a Mac program that can recover files as well, probably even free. I can take a look for one, but cannot vouch whether or not it works. You’re better off asking a Mac guy, so I won’t put forth any suggestions at this point.
But don’t worry - and don’t copy any new files to the drive! Don’t do anything with it until you run a file/partition recovery program! (Doesn’t need to be on your computer, btw)
what does the disk utility show? Is the drive mounted or unmounted? Did you try a “repair” via disk utility?