Next step - Disk Warrior?

[cdenis]

I have been using an OWC Mercury Elite -AL Pro 1.5TB external hard drive with my Macbook Pro (2011, 2.3GHz, intel core i7, osx 10.6.8). Tonight while I was using it, I accidentally bumped my computer which caused a cable to come loose and disconnect the drive without being properly ejected. After that, I wasn't able to mount the drive. I attempted to validate the drive using Disk Utility and got the error "invalid node structure". Attempted to repair it using disk utility, but it wasn't able to. The lights on the drive are still both blue which according to the manual indicates normal functioning. It says that if the drive has failed, one or both lights will be red. I connected the drive with various cables (FW800, eSata, usb2.0) and it made no difference - disk utility was still unable to repair it.

From my research online it seems like I may need to either use Disk Warrior in an attempt to repair the drive and/or DataRescue 3 to try to recover files if Disk Warrior is unsuccessful. Before I spend money on either of these programs, I just want to make sure this is the proper strategy. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Obviously, it's a gamble to try DiskWarrior on the drive...but only a money gamble as I'm pretty sure using it won't hurt the drive.

DW has repaired many drives for me in the past, but I don't recall having to use it in the last couple of years.

Definitely try DW first. DataRescue, even if it works, doesn't necessarily recover file names.

 

[bcburrows]

I can only say good things about DiskWarrior. I used it when nothing else worked. It sorted out my hard drive just enough to get all, and I mean all, of my data off, the drive was clearly dying as evidence by the horrific transfer rates and the information from various disk admin tools. The drive was then thrown away, but all data saved.

Dont know how it works, cant say it will work for you, but to me the 40--50 it cost to buy was easily outweighed by the salvaging of data. Since then I have always had 2 running backups of my data - excessive sure, essential you betcha!

 

[cdenis]

Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately it's $99.95 now (as opposed to 40 or 50) so I'm not thrilled about the possibility of throwing away 100 bucks if it doesn't work, but it looks like DW is my best bet at this point. I checked the OWC website and the data recovery service they recommend STARTS at $500 so I suppose this is a relative bargain (if it works). Fingers crossed...

 

[davidlv]

Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately it's $99.95 now (as opposed to 40 or 50) so I'm not thrilled about the possibility of throwing away 100 bucks if it doesn't work, but it looks like DW is my best bet at this point. I checked the OWC website and the data recovery service they recommend STARTS at $500 so I suppose this is a relative bargain (if it works). Fingers crossed...

How much is your data worth, to you?
Not only for this case, a rare emergency, but as an ordinary "preventive" strategy, running DW will keep drives humming along longer, fixing lots of little stuff before it piles up and gets serious. It also optimizes the directory to keep your seek times minimized. For repairs to damaged directories, the most common errors by far, nothing excels beyond what DW is capable of repairing, it is by far the best in the industry. It also works fine on SSDs and the new Fusion Drives, anything that uses the HSF+ format. Many out there who maintain HDs swear by it. So i consider it a 100 bucks well spent in any case. It has saved my bacon several times, hope it works for you this time too. DW