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I made an external drive bootable - can't see files on it the same way anymore

S

spritle

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 10, 2019
59
196
I have an external drive that I used just for storage, but I recently made it bootable by installing 10.15.1 on it. I can boot from it now, but when I look on it, I no longer see the files I had previously stored on it.

I searched for a few file names I remembered were on there, and when I did I could see them and open them, but I can't find a way to view all of them the way they previously were. When I look at the path of where those files are, it says "[NAME OF EXTERNAL DRIVE] - Data", but I can't find that Data folder.

The only folders I can see now on the external drive are Applications, Library, Systems and Users, whereas before I installed 10.15.1, I saw all my stored files. I think all of them are still there, because not only can I still find and open some if I search for them by name, but the disk usage is the same as before I installed 10.15.1.

Does anyone know how to make all of my old stored files visible like they were previously? Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
No, I didn't create another partition for it - I installed it when I was updating to 10.15.1, and when the update restarted my computer, it said I didn't have enough space to update, but I got caught in a loop because I had to reinstall 10.15 in order for my computer to reboot at all, and my computer didn't have enough space. So I chose to install it on my external instead, which I read wouldn't erase my old files.

It doesn't seem to have, as I can still open the files when I search for them by name - and the drive still has over 3TB of data on it, but I just can't find the Data file where they're stored.
 
spritle said:
No, I didn't create another partition for it - I installed it when I was updating to 10.15.1, and when the update restarted my computer, it said I didn't have enough space to update, but I got caught in a loop because I had to reinstall 10.15 in order for my computer to reboot at all, and my computer didn't have enough space. So I chose to install it on my external instead, which I read wouldn't erase my old files.

It doesn't seem to have, as I can still open the files when I search for them by name - and the drive still has over 3TB of data on it, but I just can't find the Data file where they're stored.
Click to expand...
Have you allready looked into the Disk Utility? And selected on the left up under view -> Show all devices
 
Catalina creates two containers in your Macintosh HD: One is read only for system data, the other for your user data. Are you sure you're looking in the correct container (partition)?
 
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I do see two drives under Container disk3: one called "Untitled" (which has Used: 11.95GB, Other Volumes: 3.27TB, and Free: 720.63GB), and one called "Untitled - Data" (which has Used: 3.26TB, Other Volumes: 17.27GB, and Free: 720.63GB).

The data I could find when I search by filename is on "Untitled - Data", but I just don't know how to view the "Untitled - Data" folder by itself.
 
spritle said:
I do see two drives under Container disk3: one called "Untitled" (which has Used: 11.95GB, Other Volumes: 3.27TB, and Free: 720.63GB), and one called "Untitled - Data" (which has Used: 3.26TB, Other Volumes: 17.27GB, and Free: 720.63GB).

The data I could find when I search by filename is on "Untitled - Data", but I just don't know how to view the "Untitled - Data" folder by itself.
Click to expand...

Look the path: Macintosh HD / System / Volumes /

from the drive mounted on your Desktop. (there are two Macintosh HD drives in Catalina)

Maybe there is your "Untitled - Data" folder stored?!
 
When my external drive is mounted, the only folders I see are Applications, Library, System and Users.

I just looked in the System / Volumes / Data folder there, but it's empty.

It seems like maybe I'm only seeing the folders in the "Untitled" container and not in the "Untitled - Data" container?
 
spritle said:
When my external drive is mounted, the only folders I see are Applications, Library, System and Users.

I just looked in the System / Volumes / Data folder there, but it's empty.

It seems like maybe I'm only seeing the folders in the "Untitled" container and not in the "Untitled - Data" container?
Click to expand...

Right you can find it by Spotlight and open it?
So you can open a picture with "Preview" from this mystery folder and make a right click on the filename shown top in the middle. Normaly there should the path also be shown.

Like going backwards from your file.

Bildschirmfoto 2019-11-10 um 19.35.10.png
 
Yes, I can find files and open them when I search by name in Spotlight. The path just says "Untitled - Data" (I didn't name my external drive, so it's just called "Untitled"). I just can't find the "Untitled - Data" folder anywhere.
 
spritle said:
Yes, I can find files and open them when I search by name in Spotlight. The path just says "Untitled - Data" (I didn't name my external drive, so it's just called "Untitled"). I just can't find the "Untitled - Data" folder anywhere.
Click to expand...

The next possibility is to show all hidden files.

  1. Open Terminal.app
  2. In Terminal, paste the following: "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES"
  3. Press return.
  4. Restart the Finder. Apple --> Force Quit ->Finder -> relaunch (or faster with: CMD + Option + ESC)

  6. To stop this view type NO instead of YES and relaunch Finder again.
 
xserveLuke said:
The next possibility is to show all hidden files.

  1. Open Terminal.app
  2. In Terminal, paste the following: "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES"
  3. Press return.
  4. Restart the Finder. Apple --> Force Quit ->Finder -> relaunch (or faster with: CMD + Option + ESC)

  6. To stop this view type NO instead of YES and relaunch Finder again.
Click to expand...

Thanks very much - I can now find the "Untitled - Data" volume and view it after I showed hidden files (I used the CMD + SHIFT + . shortcut instead of going into Terminal).

Thanks chscag for your help too.
 
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xserveLuke said:
In wich directory have you found it - for future troubleshootings?

Thanks too.
Click to expand...
After I showed all hidden files, there is now a Volumes folder, which contains "Macintosh HD", "Macintosh HD - Data" and "Untitled" (which is my external drive). When I double click on "Untitled", I can now see the "Untitled - Data" drive, and when I double click on that, I can see all my files like I used to be able to.
 
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