HELP! Dual G5 Hard Drive won't mount

[rwk001]

Tech Tools Pro thinks it's the allocation file but can't repair it, and it's slowly sifting thru my HD for directory information under the data recovery tool. But at this rate, it might take a month before it gets thru all of it. Will it work when it finally does? Disk Warrior hung on the getting directory information part for 16 hours, and said that the speed was "inhibited by a disk malfunction." I had no idea what was going on, so I cancelled it. Any suggestions?

 

[TMA]

How important is the data on that hard disk to you?

If slightly-moderately: Give in and try reformatting. It may be a hardware fault so don't depend on that drive ever again.

Very important: Try more utilities on it but probably very little chance of success. If imperative then consider a data recovery specialist (four or five figure costs involved)

I'd give up with Tech Tool if it's going to take that long, it probably wont work.

 

[MacsRgr8]

The best way to get hold of the files on that disk, is to use a util that can try to read the data, and not try to repair it.

I recommend Data Rescue X.
It has saved many a file for many a person!

 

[rwk001]

Any experience with Data Rescue?

The best way to get hold of the files on that disk, is to use a util that can try to read the data, and not try to repair it.

I recommend Data Rescue X.
It has saved many a file for many a person!

Does this work differently than Disk Warrior and Tech Tools Pro? Do you have any personal experience with this?

Also, any rec's on what brand of HD to get now?

 

[rwk001]

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

The best way to get hold of the files on that disk, is to use a util that can try to read the data, and not try to repair it.

I recommend Data Rescue X.
It has saved many a file for many a person!

You have my undying gratitude. I downloaded the demo of Data Rescue II, and it saw my files! So I bought the serial#, and I'm in the process of recovering all my stuff, and I promise myself to backup religiously from hereon out. Thanks so much.

If you have any rec's on what brand of HD to get now, I'd love to hear it.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Glad I could help

Data Rescue X is super software!

Regarding brand of HDs.... I have different experiences with most brands I have used.
I now have 2 Western Digital WDC WD2500JS 250 GB drives in my G5. One was the stock 250 GB, and I just added a second identical drive, and they seem to be working fine.

Every once in a while I do perform a routine File System Check.
I weekly boot the Mac in Single User mode (boot with <COMMAND <S> pressed, until you get the command line interface), and do the "fsck -fy".

Usually you should get the "The volume <YOUR_HD> appears to be ok", and simply type "reboot", followed by <ENTER>.

If there are some repairs performed, just repeat the whole process, until it "appears to be ok".

This way I remain pretty certain there isn't anything wrong with the File System, and if something does go wrong, I would be right there when it first occurs.

 

[rwk001]

Thanks

Glad I could help

Data Rescue X is super software!

Regarding brand of HDs.... I have different experiences with most brands I have used.
I now have 2 Western Digital WDC WD2500JS 250 GB drives in my G5. One was the stock 250 GB, and I just added a second identical drive, and they seem to be working fine.

Every once in a while I do perform a routine File System Check.
I weekly boot the Mac in Single User mode (boot with <COMMAND <S> pressed, until you get the command line interface), and do the "fsck -fy".

Usually you should get the "The volume <YOUR_HD> appears to be ok", and simply type "reboot", followed by <ENTER>.

If there are some repairs performed, just repeat the whole process, until it "appears to be ok".

This way I remain pretty certain there isn't anything wrong with the File System, and if something does go wrong, I would be right there when it first occurs.

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep better track of my volume. I was considering shelling out $500 to $1500 for data recovery, or else deal with all sorts of lost documents and putting in many hours recreating data, so this was great. I have a full suite of disk management software now, so I'll put it to good use.

 

[rwk001]

Footnote

For those who are still reading, just a quick note as to what finally happened…

I recovered my unbacked up files with Data Rescue II, but then still had the problem that I couldn't do an "erase & install" of the system onto the HD b/c it simply wasn't mounting. So I put in the install disk, selected Disk Utility, and did an erase disk. I thought it was hanging at one point and stopped the process, but apparently that was enough to get the HD to mount. I wonder if some corrupted data at the beginning of the disk was causing a failure to mount, much like the garbage date that CD makers sometimes put at the front of their CD's to prevent computers from reading them (and you can use tape or a wax pencil to cover it up and thus allow the disk to mount).

Did a complete reinstall, restored all my files, and all diagnostics look fine. Thanks for everyone's help.