"The disk you inserted is not readable by this computer" <- Out of the blue...

[linkandzelda]

I've got a Buffalo 500GB External 3.5" drive which i've had for about a year now. It's been fine up until last night when i spotted the drive not being on my desktop. Thought it was odd, but unplugged the drive and in again. A message popped up saying "The disk you inserted is not readable by this computer". Gave me an option to initialise, ignore or cancel i think.

Well i tried repairing it using Disk Utility but it fails to fix it and gives errors on verifying. I was able to use stellar phoenix to find a lost volume on the drive, but it needs to copy the files to another drive in order to save them.

Does anyone know of a software or method to rebuild whatever lets you read and write files on the drive? Like some sort of partition scheme or something?

 

[Daffodil]

Partitioning isn't a good idea unless already in place, because the process erases stuff already on the disk. So yeah, I guess you could copy them to your computer temporarily, or another drive. But no quick fix that I'm aware of...

 

[Fishrrman]

"I was able to use stellar phoenix to find a lost volume on the drive, but it needs to copy the files to another drive in order to save them.
Does anyone know of a software or method to rebuild whatever lets you read and write files on the drive?"

If you already have Stellar Phoenix, then you already have the software you need to do the recovery work.

What you need next is HARDWARE that will be required in doing the job.

You don't have to spend a lot of money, and the money you do spend will be worth it.

First, get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0
(many items shown, they all work about the same, just pick one you like that's cheap)

Then, get a "bare" hard drive from the vendor of your choice (I like newegg.com).

Hook the dock to the Mac, put the bare drive in, use Disk Utility to initialize it.

You now have the "scratch drive" that a data recovery app (like Stellar Phoenix) needs to do its job.

NOTE: you will lose all folder and some (or most, or all) file names. This is because data recovery software "looks beyond" a bad directory (where folder and file names are kept), and goes "directly to the drive sectors" to scavenge data. That's "the breaks" with file recovery work.

Just wondering -- does Stellar Phoenix offer an option to re-construct a damaged partition map (which might be what you have)?

 

[samh]

I've got a Buffalo 500GB External 3.5" drive which i've had for about a year now. It's been fine up until last night when i spotted the drive not being on my desktop. Thought it was odd, but unplugged the drive and in again. A message popped up saying "The disk you inserted is not readable by this computer". Gave me an option to initialise, ignore or cancel i think.

Well i tried repairing it using Disk Utility but it fails to fix it and gives errors on verifying. I was able to use stellar phoenix to find a lost volume on the drive, but it needs to copy the files to another drive in order to save them.

Does anyone know of a software or method to rebuild whatever lets you read and write files on the drive? Like some sort of partition scheme or something?

You really can't trust that drive until you know what caused the corruption to the file system. If bad sectors are popping up in key areas... well, let's just drives usually don't collect FEWER bad sectors over time, know what I mean?

 

[linkandzelda]

"I was able to use stellar phoenix to find a lost volume on the drive, but it needs to copy the files to another drive in order to save them.
Does anyone know of a software or method to rebuild whatever lets you read and write files on the drive?"

If you already have Stellar Phoenix, then you already have the software you need to do the recovery work.

What you need next is HARDWARE that will be required in doing the job.

You don't have to spend a lot of money, and the money you do spend will be worth it.

First, get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0
(many items shown, they all work about the same, just pick one you like that's cheap)

Then, get a "bare" hard drive from the vendor of your choice (I like newegg.com).

Hook the dock to the Mac, put the bare drive in, use Disk Utility to initialize it.

You now have the "scratch drive" that a data recovery app (like Stellar Phoenix) needs to do its job.

NOTE: you will lose all folder and some (or most, or all) file names. This is because data recovery software "looks beyond" a bad directory (where folder and file names are kept), and goes "directly to the drive sectors" to scavenge data. That's "the breaks" with file recovery work.

Just wondering -- does Stellar Phoenix offer an option to re-construct a damaged partition map (which might be what you have)?

Thanks for this, I was looking into a 1TB drive and a data dock which totalled £65. In the end I went with a WD 2TB drive already with a box for £70.

I'm not sure what stella phoenix can do but i know it can do a lot. It would be good to reconstruct the partition scheme as the folders it finds are intact and i can even preview the data on the drive. The problem I was having though, the drive is clicking and shifting and making bad sounds while using stellar phoenix to copy the files over... Reconstructing would be an optimal plan.

 

[samh]

I'm not sure what stella phoenix can do but i know it can do a lot. It would be good to reconstruct the partition scheme as the folders it finds are intact and i can even preview the data on the drive. The problem I was having though, the drive is clicking and shifting and making bad sounds while using stellar phoenix to copy the files over... Reconstructing would be an optimal plan.

The clicking and shifting and bad noises are likely indications of failing hardware. Reconstructing in place is a bad move. Realistically, you should unplug and power down that drive until you're ready to recover files onto another medium (be it your internal drive or another external). Is the drive under warranty?

 

[linkandzelda]

The clicking and shifting and bad noises are likely indications of failing hardware. Reconstructing in place is a bad move. Realistically, you should unplug and power down that drive until you're ready to recover files onto another medium (be it your internal drive or another external). Is the drive under warranty?

The clicking and shifting happened when ti got stuck on so far 8 files in total. I've almost finished restoring everything off the drive now onto the new 2TB that i got. The drive is like 3 years old so I doubt it will have warranty. Either way I will probably use it as a SATA caddy from now on and chuck the old drive after doing a complete sector check on it when the files are safe.