External HD: First Aid Failed

[spellflower]

I have a 2TB Western Digital My Passport Ultra that I've used for Time Machine backups among other things for several years. Last night I connected it and it was working fine. I left it connected while I did some other things, and put the computer to sleep. When I went back to it, the drive showed on the desktop, but all that I got when I clicked on it was a "loading" message. It wouldn't eject so I finally used Force Eject. But remounting only resulted in more of the same, even after a restart, and using a different USB cable.

I tried running First Aid, but got this message:

After some time, the drive suddenly displayed all the folders, but when I went inside, they had zero items. Now they've disappeared again, and it shows zero items when I click on the drive icon. But Disk Utility still says there's 1.77 TB used on the drive.

Is there any way to recover the data on this drive?

And how should I eject it at this point (it's still saying 1 or more programs may be using it; they're not.)?

 

[JohnMaldaner]

I have the same HD and had the same issue with my first drive. I contacted their customer service and they walked me through some tests. Finally I had to return the HD to them for a replacement. Hopefully, your experience will be better. But, I suggest you get in touch with them ASAP.

 

[spellflower]

I have the same HD and had the same issue with my first drive. I contacted their customer service and they walked me through some tests. Finally I had to return the HD to them for a replacement. Hopefully, your experience will be better. But, I suggest you get in touch with them ASAP.

Oh dear, that doesn’t sound promising.
Does anyone know if it’s worth trying a third party recovery application?

 

[Fishrrman]

Other than the time machine backup, what was on it?

Stuff that is irreplaceable?
Or... stuff that -could be- replaced (even if that involves time and effort)?

As far as the time machine backup goes, I'd just "let that go" and start over.
The Mac's internal drive is still working, right?
A backup is... a backup. If lost or unreadable, just create a NEW "backup".

You could try a 3rd party recovery app.
But be aware that you could pay the registration fee and then... still not get back the stuff you wanted to get back.

Before you give up completely, try this (pay attention to the order presented):
1. Power down the Mac.
2. Disconnect the drive with the problem. I'd disconnect all other drives as well (if there are others attached).
3. Power on the Mac and get to the finder
4. Now, connect the problem drive, and...
5. Just let it "sit there a while".
6. How long? I'd give it a few hours.

WHY I'm asking you to do this:
The finder may try to repair the problems with the drive, and it may take some time.
No promises.
But it has worked for me with problem USB drives that refused to mount after connecting them to the Mac...

 

[spellflower]

Other than the time machine backup, what was on it?

Stuff that is irreplaceable?
Or... stuff that -could be- replaced (even if that involves time and effort)?

As far as the time machine backup goes, I'd just "let that go" and start over.
The Mac's internal drive is still working, right?
A backup is... a backup. If lost or unreadable, just create a NEW "backup".

You could try a 3rd party recovery app.
But be aware that you could pay the registration fee and then... still not get back the stuff you wanted to get back.

Before you give up completely, try this (pay attention to the order presented):
1. Power down the Mac.
2. Disconnect the drive with the problem. I'd disconnect all other drives as well (if there are others attached).
3. Power on the Mac and get to the finder
4. Now, connect the problem drive, and...
5. Just let it "sit there a while".
6. How long? I'd give it a few hours.

WHY I'm asking you to do this:
The finder may try to repair the problems with the drive, and it may take some time.
No promises.
But it has worked for me with problem USB drives that refused to mount after connecting them to the Mac...

Thanks, I’ll try that when I get home today.

This drive also had my most up-to-date iTunes library. I *think* a lot of those files are still on older drives, but I’m not sure. It also has various other stuff that would be hard or impossible to replace, like old file backups (not in TM) and stuff I can’t remember now and might never miss, but might regret not trying to recover.