Power failure, now all my files/folders are mixed up! HELP! :(

[Gravydog316]

Hi, i had my iMac on with my external drive connected & both turned on,
our power went out,
now the files/folders on my external drive are mixed up: if i search for a folder, it will be found, but it's a file, like an image.
Just tried Disk Utility, which shows my external drive as 2 disks:


I tried First Aid on the FreeAgent GoFlex volume, which said it couldn't be unmounted,
so I tried First Aid on Seagate GoFlex, & First Aid was competed, & no errors found.

but, searching for items displays them as found, but its also showing a different file.

what do i do now??


example: my file "SDO=info.Pages" file is link/showing my "2005=Ford GT coupe1.JPG file"

anyone know how to rebuild/fix this

I have an new 4TB hardrive that I can transfer my files/folders to, then rebuild this scrambled 3TB one,
but there's no point if they are mixed up
omg

 

[Brian33]

I'm not sure, but it's possible that only the Spotlight indexing is messed up, as that's what Finder's search uses. If you actually open (double-click) 'SDO=info.pages', does it open a Pages document or does it open the jpeg image?

It's not difficult to rebuild the Spotlight index, though it may take some time to complete. There's a command-line tool, 'mdutil', but I believe you can erase the current index by adding the volume to System Preferences-->Spotlight-->Privacy by clicking the + button. I'd wait a moment or two to be sure the index was erased, and then use the '-' button to remove the volume from the Privacy list. Spotlight should then start re-indexing the volume.

 

[chscag]

It's also possible the power outage occurred while the drive was accessing files. The sudden shutdown could have scrambled the file table. If what @Brian33 suggested doesn't work out, you might try using something like Disk Warrior to see if it can make corrections.

 

[Gravydog316]

I'm not sure, but it's possible that only the Spotlight indexing is messed up, as that's what Finder's search uses. If you actually open (double-click) 'SDO=info.pages', does it open a Pages document or does it open the jpeg image?

It's not difficult to rebuild the Spotlight index, though it may take some time to complete. There's a command-line tool, 'mdutil', but I believe you can erase the current index by adding the volume to System Preferences-->Spotlight-->Privacy by clicking the + button. I'd wait a moment or two to be sure the index was erased, and then use the '-' button to remove the volume from the Privacy list. Spotlight should then start re-indexing the volume.

it opens the .jpg image... same with other files: it opens whatever the Previewed file is, not the filename

 

[Gravydog316]

@Brian33 @chscag ...rebuilding Spotlight seemed to fix it!! thank uuuu!!! whew! ♥️

 

[chscag]

Good show. Always great to hear when something works right. Maybe you can buy @Brian33 a beer when all this pandemic is over.