Fast file explorer app

[juanm]

Hi

So a friend of mine had some important work on his Windows 7 laptop, and the hard drive started failing. Of course, he didn't have a backup. First things first, I told him in a paternalistic tone he should have had a backup (people don't come to me to get moral support), so that’s out of the way, and next, comes the actual helping him out part.

I've put it in an external USB enclosure, and it kind of works, but as Finder keeps indexing it, eventually it stops working.

tl,dr: Is there any app that would just allow me to basically just list directories, without loading thumbnails, metadata, file sizes, etc.?

I know terminal does something similar, but I’m not really comfortable with it, so an app with a GUI and basic copy/past functionality would be great.

Thanks!

 

[casperes1996]

Hi

So a friend of mine had some important work on his Windows 7 laptop, and the hard drive started failing. Of course, he didn't have a backup. First things first, I told him in a paternalistic tone he should have had a backup (people don't come to me to get moral support), so that’s out of the way, and next, comes the actual helping him out part.

I've put it in an external USB enclosure, and it kind of works, but as Finder keeps indexing it, eventually it stops working.

tl,dr: Is there any app that would just allow me to basically just list directories, without loading thumbnails, metadata, file sizes, etc.?

I know terminal does something similar, but I’m not really comfortable with it, so an app with a GUI and basic copy/past functionality would be great.

Thanks!

For that I only know multi-thousand dollar apps, so I'd really recommend just getting used to the terminal. You only need two commands. ls for listing directories and files, and cp for copying. If you need any help with the Terminal you can just ask. If you PM me I'll usually respond really quickly

 

[MacGizmo]

You could try apps like Commander One or Forklift. Both are fairly inexpensive. But you could just set the standard Finder to not show thumbnails, etc.

That being said, if the problem is the hard drive, there's probably no software that's going to avoid the problem of a computer accessing the files causing it to fail.

 

[kohlson]

but as Finder keeps indexing it,

It may be Spotlight that's indexing it. Try going to SysPrefs Spotlight, Privacy tab, and then the "+" button, and add the whole drive or essential folders.

Also, consider downloading the free 30-day trial of Carbon Copy Cloner and see if you can clone this thing to another drive.

 

[juanm]

Thanks guys.

I was recommended DDRescue and I'll be give it a try as soon as I receive my PC (easier to manage hard drive cloning than from a laptop)

Cheers.

 

[casperes1996]

I was recommended DDRescue and I'll be give it a try as soon as I receive my PC (easier to manage hard drive cloning than from a laptop)

DDRescue is your best bet for data recovery, but it's as far as I know only available as a command line tool. You can check QuidsUp for a tutorial on YouTube.