Big trouble? Help please

[trellaine]

Is it possible that you have multiple partitions (or in APFS speak: volumes, but it seems that your external SSD is HFS+-formatted) on that external drive? You say you never really used the OS installed on this drive but rather utilized it for storing data. It's feasible that you have a separate partition that you will have to repair and then mount manually since it might have become corrupted.

Kind of technical for me but I did use the OS on the external drive a few times. After this I think I had the Mac set to boot up to the internal drive. I always leave the Mac on so rarely did I have to reboot.

The Samsung does show 286gb used and 213gb Free. And right now I know for sure I can’t “see” anywhere near 286 gb.

I also found this re. The ST_M13FQBL a media. “is usually an indication of a fault caused by bad sectors on the drive”

 

[mj_]

And where exactly did you save those files on the external drive? I don't believe they're gone. I believe you're simply looking in the wrong place.

 

[trellaine]

And where exactly did you save those files on the external drive? I don't believe they're gone. I believe you're simply looking in the wrong place.

 

[trellaine]

Awww your right! To be honest I’m not sure how I found them. I did go into finder preferences/sidebar and show items in the sidebar. I selected all of them. And voila I see all the files. Thank u for guidance. I was almost going to give up. I’m glad at least my external drive appears fine!

 

[trellaine]

So I’ve been thinking about having an authorized Apple technician install a 1TB SSD onto my mid2011 iMac. Any thoughts? I forget how much RAM I have but I think 16gb currently. I don’t have the tools etc to do the work so I’ll get someone else.

Thanks

I have tried everything and my iMac doesnt recognize the internal drive. The only way I boot up is thru the external SSD.

 

[Fishrrman]

Sounds like the internal drive has died on you.

But... I WOULD NOT pay to have the internal replaced, unless the cost was relatively low (less than $200US, including the drive and labor). Not worth it on a 9-year-old machine.

You'd do better to get one of the brand-new M1 Minis. It won't cost an exorbitant amount of money, and it will run much faster...