External HDD shows in disk utility but not in Finder after Admin Username change.

[SpaceJam1123]

Hi everyone. So I have an iMac (27-inch, Late 2009), 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. I'm currently updated to OS X El Capitan 10.11.5.



My internal hard drive recently failed and I replaced it with a Samsung 850 Evo 500GB SSD. After replacing the hard drive and reinstalling the OS everything was working fine. I have a 3TB Toshiba external HDD that I have been using for years. It was working fine after replacing the internal drive and also after updating to 10.11.5. After a few days I decided to change my Admin Username through system preferences > Users and groups > Advanced Options and changed "full name." After this change, I received an error that said my external HDD could not be opened because it was un readable by the computer.


I can still see the EX. HDD in disk utility, but cannot see it in Finder.


- I checked finder preferences and EX. Drives is checked

- I tried unplugging the Ex HDD and reconnecting

- I tried plugging ex drive into another mac and received the same issue

- I tried "first aid" in disk utilities and received "operation complete" message


It appears that when I changed the admin username it repartitioned my ex HDD.


All of my content is still on the HDD and I would like to make it readable again without formatting.


I downloaded a trial of Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery program, ran scan, and I can see my files, but I don't want to pay $100 for the software to recover the files if I don't have to. Does anyone have suggestions?

 

[varian55zx]

You mentioned it all messed up after you changed your admin name, but we do not know the two are related.

I see no evidence in your post pointing to a necessary relation between the two.

If you're using an external spinning disk, those things fail all the time.

I'd recommend you consider that HDD just died on itself.

 

[SpaceJam1123]

I just mentioned that the problem occurred immediately after I changed the Admin name because I thought it may have caused the problem. The hard drive hasn't failed though. Disk utilities can see it, The mac just can't read it as if it's in a format that the computer doesn't understand.

 

[varian55zx]

I just mentioned that the problem occurred immediately after I changed the Admin name because I thought it may have caused the problem. The hard drive hasn't failed though. Disk utilities can see it, The mac just can't read it as if it's in a format that the computer doesn't understand.

It has to be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).