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HELP with LACIE: External HD missing one of three partitions

R

robertdavid

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 26, 2014
8
0
HELP PLEASE. Working my brand new 5K Retina with latest Yosemite, and Lacie Rugged 1TB thunderbolt. It's been set up properly for a week, three partitions, 2 for backup (CCC and Time Machine) and a 3rd I call Lacie Windows which I use to put in data files. Out of nowhere I couldn't see my 3rd partition on my desktop and when I checked Disk Utility it says the partition is unmounted and will not remount. Repair doesn't work. It won't verify. I checked DiskUtil in Terminal and it shows as follows. Please help. It took me days to load my date into this partition and I don't want to lose it. Thanks.:

Last login: Fri Dec 26 18:23:57 on console
Roberts-iMac:~ Robert$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *121.3 GB disk0
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_CoreStorage 121.0 GB disk0s2
3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk0s3
/dev/disk1
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk1
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1
2: Apple_HFS Lacie CCC Backup 300.0 GB disk1s2
3: Apple_HFS Lacie TM Backup 375.0 GB disk1s3
4: Microsoft Basic Data 324.7 GB disk1s4
/dev/disk2
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk2
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk2s1
2: Apple_CoreStorage 999.3 GB disk2s2
3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk2s3
/dev/disk3
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD *1.1 TB disk3
Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk2s2
C00BC401-EA4B-495D-995D-35CAB0DCDFDA
Unencrypted Fusion Drive
Roberts-iMac:~ Robert$

----------

AND, when I try repair disk, this is the message: '

Verify and Repair volume “disk1s4”Repairing file system.** /dev/rdisk1s4
Invalid sector size: 0
File system check exit code is 8.Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
 
Can someone from MACRUMORS kindly offer some help here? I'd appreciate it very much....
 
Thanks Hologram. But the question I have is WHY WOULD THIS HAPPEN on a brand new Lacie Drive? AND, a brand new iMac 5K Retina. I've done nothing unusual in terms of copying files to the partition that's now AWOL. Geez and I frustrated. And I just plugged the Lacie into an old Powerbook g4 that I have and the same partition didn't show. Other than that expensive program, any other thoughts on this?
 
Let me guess, you formatted the Windows partition as ExFAT? And didn't keep a separate backup of your data? Recipe for disaster. :/
 
robertdavid said:
.... any other thoughts on this?
Click to expand...

Sooner or later, more likely than not, a removable/ portable drive will suffer a data corruption. When it happens you have two choices: try to recover data or not and reformat and continue to use the drive or not. It happens ......
 
robertdavid said:
Thanks Hologram. But the question I have is WHY WOULD THIS HAPPEN on a brand new Lacie Drive? AND, a brand new iMac 5K Retina. I've done nothing unusual in terms of copying files to the partition that's now AWOL. Geez and I frustrated. And I just plugged the Lacie into an old Powerbook g4 that I have and the same partition didn't show. Other than that expensive program, any other thoughts on this?
Click to expand...

File corruption can happen at any time, that's why it's important to have a backup of your important data. You need to figure out how to backup the Lacie if it storing stuff that's not save anywhere else. A cheap and cheerful USB 3.0 drive is one solution, a NAS or cloud backup is another.

I've never seen data recovery software work 100%, it's very hit & miss.
 
Thanks for responding, everyone.

Matreya -- THAT'S EXACTLY RIGHT. ExFAT. Because that's what an "expert" told me to do saying its best for non-Mac files, videos, music, photos and other data stuff. And no, i didn't consider i should back up my backup. Does it sound like the LaCie drive is a lemon? It's brand new and was hardly being overtaxed. All of a sudden, only 2 of the 3 partitions show on my desktop and as unmounted and repair disk doesn't work.

Tpadden -- "Sooner or later" ,maybe, but its brand new, and my whole system is brand new. BTW, I've been using windows PCs since their introduction, this is my first mac (iMAC 5K Retina, 27", which I upgraded to 32GB RAM, 4MHZ quad core) and 4GB Graphics), and I LOVE IT.

Spent a week setting this up, getting used to setting etc. Just this one problem.
 
robertdavid said:
-- THAT'S EXACTLY RIGHT. ExFAT. ....Spent a week setting this up, getting used to setting etc. Just this one problem.
Click to expand...
...... had a NTFS partition disappear just last week on a spinning external platter; one format may be less prone than another but it can happen to any of them (usually on connect/ disconnect) :eek:.
 
Hologram -- If Diskwarrior "repairs and replaces damaged directories", doesn't that mean it will wipe out all of my data in the partition? Which defeats the entire purpose for me of doing this.
 
robertdavid said:
Thanks for responding, everyone.

Matreya -- THAT'S EXACTLY RIGHT. ExFAT. Because that's what an "expert" told me to do saying its best for non-Mac files, videos, music, photos and other data stuff. And no, i didn't consider i should back up my backup. Does it sound like the LaCie drive is a lemon? It's brand new and was hardly being overtaxed. All of a sudden, only 2 of the 3 partitions show on my desktop and as unmounted and repair disk doesn't work.
Click to expand...

The only reason to use ExFAT is if you need to share files with a Windows machine. Even then ExFAT is not a reliable format, it's prone to corruption, especially if you unplug the hard drive before unmounting it properly.

If you need to share files with a Windows PC, you're better off downloading this:

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

and using the NTFS format.

As for repairing this partition, I'm not sure DiskWarrior can repair ExFAT volumes...
 
So you think it's a corrupt file versus a bad LaCie? As you're describing the mounting thing, I do note Ive pulled out the thunderbolt plug several times (I guess unmounting is the technical term) without properly "ejecting" via the software, and ur saying that could be a cause here? Ur saying when (if) I wipe and reformat this drive into 3 partitions, make them all the same as GUID journaling?????
 
OP wrote above:
[[ Matreya -- THAT'S EXACTLY RIGHT. ExFAT. Because that's what an "expert" told me to do saying its best for non-Mac files, videos, music, photos and other data stuff. ]]

Hard lesson to learn.

Recommendation:
From now on, if you have stuff from your Mac you want to keep on an external drive, MAKE SURE that the external drive is in "Mac format" ONLY. That is, whether it be one partition, or more than one partition, you should use HFS+, journaling enabled for ALL of them.

If you need to share data with a PC, DO NOT use your primary external storage device(s) for this purpose. Instead, use a "dedicated" cross-formatted drive of some sort, such as a USB flashdrive of sufficient capacity and speed.

OP also wrote above:
[[ I do note Ive pulled out the thunderbolt plug several times (I guess unmounting is the technical term) without properly "ejecting" via the software, and ur saying that could be a cause here? ]]

Uh oh.
That's something you SHOULD NEVER DO with a Mac -- that is, disconnect an external storage device WITHOUT first "unmounting" it from the desktop.

That's probably why the partition in question is no longer mountable.

Do not do this again!

I'm not going into the full details in this post, but there -are- ways to get data back from a "lost partition" that will no longer mount. I had that happen myself, and eventually got nearly 100% of the lost data back. But it was accomplished via a process that is not for the feint-of-heart!
 
Thank you fisherman. Yes, lessons learnING...this is my first Mac and I love it, but definitely in learning process. I guess my great concern is less having to wipe and redo the partitions and redo the data (which is scattered around but I can get to it) as opposed to knowing if the drive itself is no good. Oh, one more question for all of you: I did (and do) notice that the thunderbolt plug itself does not stay firmly planted in the port of my IMAC and if it's touched or if I jiggle it even slightly, the partitions leave my desktop in favor if IMAC error message about not ejecting properly. Before this major partition just happened, when all 3 partitions were properly working and showing as mounted on my desktop, this would happen on occasion. Is the port/plug connection typically this delicate or is this an indication that the Lacie hardware is defective?

Thanks all of u for this excellent help!! Rob
 
robertdavid said:
Hologram -- If Diskwarrior "repairs and replaces damaged directories", doesn't that mean it will wipe out all of my data in the partition?
Click to expand...

No, it doesn't touch your data. Sometimes the directory gets corrupted and that can have a number of bad consequences, including not being able to mount a drive, Disk warrior scans what's on your disk and builds a new directory.

It's like having a telephone book where, when one number is listed wrong it might make another one wrong and it cascades, or where the master number to your phone gets corrupted and you reach a wrong number, etc. Disk Warrior analyzes every phone and re-writes the phone book with all correct data.

If the data is still there, Disk Warrior will find it. It's no guarantee that it will work in your case, and if you're unsure whether it will repair an exFat volume, e-mail Alsoft tech support, describe your problem, and get an answer from the experts.
 
Thanks. And what about the loose plug issue I described? Is that typical? Does that mean I have a bad LaCie?
 
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