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gerlep

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 14, 2013
3
0
Hi first post here. Just needed some clarity as have been getting different reports. My external drive recently packed it in. It was a LACIE 1tb (enclosed with two separate 500GB IDE Barracuda drives.) I bought an enclosure and the first instruction i get for both when I connect it to my MAC, gives me the option to INITIALIZE, IGNORE or EJECT. If I initialize the drive will that make it impossible to retrieve my data? Should I hit ignore then run a DATA retrieval app? Thx in advance....
 

flynz4

macrumors 68040
Aug 9, 2009
3,242
126
Portland, OR
Hi first post here. Just needed some clarity as have been getting different reports. My external drive recently packed it in. It was a LACIE 1tb (enclosed with two separate 500GB IDE Barracuda drives.) I bought an enclosure and the first instruction i get for both when I connect it to my MAC, gives me the option to INITIALIZE, IGNORE or EJECT. If I initialize the drive will that make it impossible to retrieve my data? Should I hit ignore then run a DATA retrieval app? Thx in advance....

I believe the Lacie drive uses both drives in a RAID 0 configuration. If I am correct, you cannot just put the individual drives in another enclosure.

Assuming that both HDDs are OK (and the enclosure is broken)... then you would need to put them in a a new Lacie enclosure. If either of the HDDs is broken... then you would have lost your data.

If on the other hand... Lacie uses JBOD or Spanning... then it is possible that you have 1/2 of your data even if one HDD failed (and not the enclosure).

In any case... I would probably restore from backup rather than trying to fix the broken drive(s).

To directly answer your question. Do NOT initialize.

/Jim
 

gerlep

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 14, 2013
3
0
I believe the Lacie drive uses both drives in a RAID 0 configuration. If I am correct, you cannot just put the individual drives in another enclosure.

Assuming that both HDDs are OK (and the enclosure is broken)... then you would need to put them in a a new Lacie enclosure. If either of the HDDs is broken... then you would have lost your data.

If on the other hand... Lacie uses JBOD or Spanning... then it is possible that you have 1/2 of your data even if one HDD failed (and not the enclosure).

In any case... I would probably restore from backup rather than trying to fix the broken drive(s).

To directly answer your question. Do NOT initialize.

/Jim
Thanks for your quick response, I will try and get the same Lacie enclosure and see how I go. Another q, can you tell me what you mean when you say, "I would probably restore from backup rather than trying to fix the broken drive" Thanks so much.
 

flynz4

macrumors 68040
Aug 9, 2009
3,242
126
Portland, OR
Thanks for your quick response, I will try and get the same Lacie enclosure and see how I go. Another q, can you tell me what you mean when you say, "I would probably restore from backup rather than trying to fix the broken drive" Thanks so much.

I have little faith in drives that have failed. HDDs are so inexpensive now (under $100 for a 2 or 3 TB drive)... that I would just replace it. Then, I would restore from Time Machine... or whatever program you have been using to backup your data.

/Jim
 

gerlep

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 14, 2013
3
0
I have little faith in drives that have failed. HDDs are so inexpensive now (under $100 for a 2 or 3 TB drive)... that I would just replace it. Then, I would restore from Time Machine... or whatever program you have been using to backup your data.

/Jim
Copy that. It's a bit of a catch 22. The HDD that failed had the Time Machine back ups on it...
Thanks for helping with my issue.
 

LaCieTech

macrumors member
Jul 18, 2012
80
1
Hi first post here. Just needed some clarity as have been getting different reports. My external drive recently packed it in. It was a LACIE 1tb (enclosed with two separate 500GB IDE Barracuda drives.) I bought an enclosure and the first instruction i get for both when I connect it to my MAC, gives me the option to INITIALIZE, IGNORE or EJECT. If I initialize the drive will that make it impossible to retrieve my data? Should I hit ignore then run a DATA retrieval app? Thx in advance....

Hi,

This is not likely a damaged case scenario. That error message is typical of volume corruption and not damaged hardware.

Repair programs like Disk Warrior can sometimes repair the damaged volume, but if not, you will need to seek recovery options.

Moving the disks will not work unless you get the exact same model of enclosure. It sounds like you have a Big Disk, which used concatenated RAID between the disks. This means that neither drive will function independently or with a 3rd party RAID controller.

If you need more information, please call our technicians at 503.844.4500 (USA) or send us a ticket at http://www.lacie.com/mystuff

~mn, LaCie
 
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