External Harddrive won't boot

michaelblack · 06-10-2008, 7:28 AM

Ok. I have a 1TB MyBook which has decided that it no longer wants to work. When I plug it in to my Mac the following error message appears "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" Fortunately it does seem as if I can format the drive, however the data on the drive is more valuable to me than the drive itself.

The external drive is formatted using NTFS, and when I plug it in to a Vista machine nothing happens at all, you hear the new device sound, however it doesn't show any drive in my computer.

I have heard of software which could help, however as of now, haven't really been able to fix the problem.

I have an applecare membership.

And yes I'm another idiot who didn't backup

Tenex · 06-10-2008, 9:14 AM

Bad luck, do you have an Apple store nearby? If so take it in and see if they can mount it. Either way the only software that possibly can repair the drive is Tech Tools Pro or Disk Warrior but I'm not sure they support NTFS(?). You can buy both in the store or download. They aren't cheap and it isn't guaranteed. The aternative is give it to a specialist company but it will cost £££.

michaelblack · 06-10-2008, 9:51 AM

Very strange as it sees the drive as a 2TB...hmm...

Tenex · 06-10-2008, 9:54 AM

Don't despair - when my iMac wouldn't mount my 500Gb USB last week it managed to mount one partition and describe the whole HDD as 1Tb. The MacBook saw it without a problem. Honestly I don't think a Mac is the best vehicle for sorting out NTFS problems.

michaelblack · 06-10-2008, 9:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tenex

Bad luck, do you have an Apple store nearby? If so take it in and see if they can mount it. Either way the only software that possibly can repair the drive is Tech Tools Pro or Disk Warrior but I'm not sure they support NTFS(?). You can buy both in the store or download. They aren't cheap and it isn't guaranteed. The aternative is give it to a specialist company but it will cost £££.

Unfortunately I've not got a local apple store. nearest one is an easy hours drive. I do have a program called TechTool Deluxe, however I've not been able to make use of it. My friend sent me his file for DiskWarrior, however, I've been unable to make use of it, mainly as I've no idea what i have to do with it.Once I installed it I was only able to see the internal drive. I read somewhere that you have to make a bootable disk, however that seems unnecessary as I'm presuming that's if you wish to modify the internal drive. I do have DiskWarrior installed, so any tutorials would help. Thanks for the input Tenex.

Tenex · 06-10-2008, 10:01 AM

Sorry but I've used TTPro not Disk Warrior. Looking at the DW website it looks like it doesn't support NTFS volumes.

michaelblack · 06-10-2008, 10:05 AM

Ok thanks, that's probably why it's not recognizable it. I am a bit of a MacNoob, the reason the drive is NTFS is because the drive was initially purchased when I was on a windows machine. fortunately I have access to a windows machine at present, do you reckon I should try on there? I'm probably better to ask questions in a non-mac area.

Tenex · 06-10-2008, 10:13 AM

As I said above the Mac isn't really the platform to fix NTFS issues. You won't have been able to write to it on the Mac so the chances are probably pretty good that you can fix it with some Windows utilities (sorry its time out of mind for those now, but maybe a post on the PC forum here will help?).

When you have a chance stream the data off and write to DVD etc then to use the 1Tb with your Mac I'd strongly suggest reformatting to HFS+. If you need help with that post back here. Good luck.

michaelblack · 06-10-2008, 10:22 AM

Ok thanks for all the advice Tenex. I'll post a slightly altered question in the hard drive section.

michaelblack · 06-10-2008, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tenex

As I said above the Mac isn't really the platform to fix NTFS issues. You won't have been able to write to it on the Mac so the chances are probably pretty good that you can fix it with some Windows utilities (sorry its time out of mind for those now, but maybe a post on the PC forum here will help?).

When you have a chance stream the data off and write to DVD etc then to use the 1Tb with your Mac I'd strongly suggest reformatting to HFS+. If you need help with that post back here. Good luck.

Why would you recommend HFS+ over Journaled?

DJACID · 06-10-2008, 2:36 PM

in vista did you go into Disk Management

Tenex · 06-10-2008, 3:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lithane

Why would you recommend HFS+ over Journaled?

No that's it - HFS+ Journaled, sorry I left that off.

DJACID · 06-10-2008, 10:58 PM

if you format with fat32 then you could use it with ur mac and vista,

otherwise you will need to use some software (i use macdrive) to use a mac formatted drive to work with vista...

michaelblack · 07-10-2008, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJACID

if you format with fat32 then you could use it with ur mac and vista,

otherwise you will need to use some software (i use macdrive) to use a mac formatted drive to work with vista...

tbh, I hardly ever use my windows based machine. And I know of restrictions using FAT32.

michaelblack · 07-10-2008, 1:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJACID

in vista did you go into Disk Management

Yes, it shows the disk as unreadable.

DJACID · 07-10-2008, 1:39 PM

this can happen some times if you plug a ntfs drive into a mac and try reading from it,
also in disk management when you right click on the drive do you get a option which says initialize???

only other option will be this not sure if you want to try this or not,
to know 100% if it is the drive that is the problem and not OS(vista),
you will need to remove the drive from the enclosure and attach it direct to ur computer,
this way you will know if the harddrive is the actual problem or the enclosure it is in...

am not 100% if this will effect ur warranty or not so if you have a warranty tag on the side which is attach to where the case opens then leave it...

michaelblack · 07-10-2008, 2:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJACID

this can happen some times if you plug a ntfs drive into a mac and try reading from it,
also in disk management when you right click on the drive do you get a option which says initialize???

only other option will be this not sure if you want to try this or not,
to know 100% if it is the drive that is the problem and not OS(vista),
you will need to remove the drive from the enclosure and attach it direct to ur computer,
this way you will know if the harddrive is the actual problem or the enclosure it is in...

am not 100% if this will effect ur warranty or not so if you have a warranty tag on the side which is attach to where the case opens then leave it...

Yea I get the option to initialize on my mac, so formatting it wont be a problem. The drive is still sound. Also in regards to opening the caddy.

This is my post in the HDD section (yes i know i shouldn't have 2 threads, however I'm getting more help here than the one in the appropriate section)

"Ok so i removed hdd from caddy and connected it via an external hdd to laptop kit (something like this USB TO IDE 2,5" or 3.5" IDE-HDD ADAPTER PC OR LAPTOP on eBay, also, Adaptors, Cables Connectors, Computing (end time 08-Oct-08 13:00:00 BST))

However no change, so now i know, it's not a problem regarding the caddy. Also I never had to brake any stickers, so my warranty still looks intact also."

Heres a link to my thread in the HDD section.
http://www.avforums.com/forums/hard-...wont-boot.html

DJACID · 07-10-2008, 3:14 PM

no not from the mac,
am on about vista when you go into disk management do you get the
option to initialize the disk,

as its formatted in ntfs and you initialize the disk with ur mac it will format it,
but through vista you will have a choice not to format disk and hopefuly it might be readable....

michaelblack · 07-10-2008, 3:24 PM

ok i'm not 100% sure on how to do this. when i right click i don't get the option. Could you explain?

DJACID · 07-10-2008, 3:35 PM

read into the following software
all you need is a program which will rebuild parts of the drive so its readable again,

testdisk 6.9
TestDisk 6.9 Release - CGSecurity

SpinRite 6.0
GRC*|*Hard drive data recovery software**

now from ur screen shot,
right click on disk 1(unknown) and see if you get the option,
remember untick the box for formatting as you dont want to format the drive,

if no joy then you will need software read up on the above 2 if i think of any other then i'll let you know,
goodluck

michaelblack · 07-10-2008, 5:01 PM

thanks for all the advice, I'll spend a couple of hours trying to figure it out with the resources you've provided.

DJACID · 07-10-2008, 6:04 PM

also most data companies,
what there do if there cant rebuild the drive or read from it,
is do a very quick format the quicker the better and then use data recovery software to recover all the data,

i have tried this method in the past using easy recovery...

michaelblack · 07-10-2008, 6:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJACID

read into the following software
all you need is a program which will rebuild parts of the drive so its readable again,

testdisk 6.9
TestDisk 6.9 Release - CGSecurity

SpinRite 6.0
GRC*|*Hard drive data recovery software**

now from ur screen shot,
right click on disk 1(unknown) and see if you get the option,
remember untick the box for formatting as you dont want to format the drive,

if no joy then you will need software read up on the above 2 if i think of any other then i'll let you know,
goodluck

Unfortunately i wasn't able to initialize the disk, and also testdisk couldn't find the external hdd. the SpinRite6.0, don't fancy paying all that money just in case it didn't resolve my problem.

DJACID · 07-10-2008, 8:23 PM

i might have some software which i can upload will search now and see,

is it really important data in the drive,
what sort of data is it????

also do you know of anyone with winxp on there computer/laptops,
vista is known for issues with external drives if not ejected properly,
but theres a 50/50 chance the drive might still be readable in windowsXp...

Moosh · 07-10-2008, 9:39 PM

Maybe someone here may be able to help?

Cheers
Moosh

michaelblack · 07-10-2008, 10:02 PM

I do the paperwork for a small local business, and yea lets just say for one, they wont be so happy if I’ve lost it, I wouldn’t really feel comfortable sending the drive to a professional for confidentially reasons. I’ve also got lots of personal data, it's just all near and dear to me, as it's a 1TB drive friends and family use it as well for holiday vids/ pics, also got all my old college projects on it, oh I don't wont to think what other important stuff may be lost

. it's got 600-700Gigs of stuff on it. I should be able to get a hold of a xp machine by the weekend.
A major lesson learned for me, back up your backup

DJACID · 08-10-2008, 11:47 AM

the other method will be to do a really light format(quick format) and then recover the data,
but this can take time recovering as it is a big drive,
also it is only a 75% chance you will get all ur pictures/documents back,
stuff like music and video's will only be a 40% chance

michaelblack · 09-10-2008, 9:10 AM

Thanks for the advice, I'll leave it until the weekend and post back once I've inserted into a Windows XP machine, sorry about duration between post, work related.