can't eject external HD

[oceangirl10]

I just recovered an old internal HD that is now in an enclosure to an external HD. It took about 48 hours and I used photorec. The recovery folder in the external HD has dozens of folders, each containing what seems to be miscellaneous recovered files, about 275,000 files altogether - jpegs, txt, mp3 etc. Is there some kind of sorting program so I can get all the photos in one folder etc. It would take next to forever to do this manually and I'm looking for a few specific files.

Also, the enclosure ejected normally when it was finished, but the external HD will not eject. The message is attached. I don't want to force eject in case it wrecks the data.

 

[SteveJUAE]

What about just shutting down ?

Can you not just do a search for all jpg's and then select all, then C&P in to a new folder ?

 

[maflynn]

Do you have any apps open, it seems OS X seems to think that you have an app accessing it. Close everything down and try to eject it.

 

[Fishrrman]

As stated above, shut down -- ALL THE WAY OFF.
Then, unplug the drive in question.
Finally, reboot.

The "jumble" of files you're seeing after recovery is not unusual, kind of "par for the course" after data recovery. Remember that previous folder hierarchies were from the old drive directory, which probably got damaged somehow, hence the need for data recovery in the first place.

It can be bewildering.

Things to try:
For mp3's:
You might create an entirely NEW iTunes library. Then, "dump" all the mp3 files into it. iTunes -might- be able to read the metadata associated with each file, and "re-group" the files into proper albums, artists, etc.

For jpg's:
I'd try the same thing with iPhoto or Photos. Create a new library, and then import all the jpg files. At least this might help you group files together.

 

[oceangirl10]

What about just shutting down ?

Can you not just do a search for all jpg's and then select all, then C&P in to a new folder ?

I just recovered an old internal HD that is now in an enclosure to an external HD. It took about 48 hours and I used photorec. The recovery folder in the external HD has dozens of folders, each containing what seems to be miscellaneous recovered files, about 275,000 files altogether - jpegs, txt, mp3 etc. Is there some kind of sorting program so I can get all the photos in one folder etc. It would take next to forever to do this manually and I'm looking for a few specific files.

Also, the enclosure ejected normally when it was finished, but the external HD will not eject. The message is attached. I don't want to force eject in case it wrecks the data.

If I shut down, will that not be the equivalent of not ejecting properly?

Do you have any apps open, it seems OS X seems to think that you have an app accessing it. Close everything down and try to eject it.

I already force quit everything I could. Is there a way to see if other apps are running?
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As stated above, shut down -- ALL THE WAY OFF.
Then, unplug the drive in question.
Finally, reboot.

The "jumble" of files you're seeing after recovery is not unusual, kind of "par for the course" after data recovery. Remember that previous folder hierarchies were from the old drive directory, which probably got damaged somehow, hence the need for data recovery in the first place.

It can be bewildering.

Things to try:
For mp3's:
You might create an entirely NEW iTunes library. Then, "dump" all the mp3 files into it. iTunes -might- be able to read the metadata associated with each file, and "re-group" the files into proper albums, artists, etc.

For jpg's:
I'd try the same thing with iPhoto or Photos. Create a new library, and then import all the jpg files. At least this might help you group files together.

Will shutting down not be the equivalent of not ejecting properly and risk damaging data?

 

[Sanpete]

I don't understand. The enclosure ejected but the drive in it didn't?

 

[oceangirl10]

I don't understand. The enclosure ejected but the drive in it didn't?

No, the enclosure with internal HD ejected, but the external HD to which the recovery went would not eject.