Have I lost my external hard drive data forever?

Get yourself a terabyte drive or whatever is needed to contain the old
drive.

Use diskutil (of the dd line command) to make a bloc by block image copy
of the bad drive. Disconnect the bad drive and then "play" with the copy
to try to restore it.

You don't want some utility to worsen the situation and not being able
to go back.

J.J. O'Shea wrote:
> I hope you have the original discs and LPs and whatnot from which you got
> that music, 'cause if DW can't fix it then you have two choices:
>
> 1 send the drive to Drive Savers or equivalent, and be prepared to spend at
> least $200 to recover your data (plus the price of either a new drive or
> enough DVDs to hold the data)
>
> 2 get out the original data and start the process of building the database
> over again.

3. Buy SpinRite from GRC.com (or one of the others J.J. mentioned)
and do it yourself for $60 (plus you get to keep SpinRite for
next time)

--
Wes Groleau

New Worksheets: Blue Butterfly and War of the Worlds
http://Ideas.Lang-Learn.us/russell?itemid=1598

On 2009-11-01 16:19:49 -0500, Jolly Roger <> said:

> In article <00e6f4f5$0$23370$>,
> Gary <> wrote:
>
>> I'm using OS X Leopard. I was running an update overnight against my
>> music database located on an external Seagate Freeagent drive; in the
>> morning when I went to check, the entire external drive appeared to be
>> still formatted but empty.
>>
>> This database has taken me years to accumulate, and is too big or me to
>> have a backup.
>>
>> Can anyone suggest what program might have the best chance of restoring
>> the data that used to be on this disk?
>
> What sort of database was it exactly?

The drive had a structure:
_mp3
Whitburn
19xx
and then, in the 19xx folder, individual mp3 files... about 37,000 of
them. There were other _mp3 subdirectories including Books, Classical,
OldTimeRadio, etc., but they didn't figure in the update.

>
> How were you updating it exactly?

A very powerful program, SuperFlexikbleSynchronizer was configured to
go through a folder of update mp3 files and copy them to the external
hard drive (database) if (1) the update file name wasn't already in the
database, or (2) the update file name was in the database and the
update file was larger than the one already there.

>
>
> Is this drive connected via USB?

The database external hard disk drive was connected via USB. It is a
Seagate FreeAgent 1.5TB drive, about half full.

>
> Was the USB bus its sole source of power? If so, very bad idea!!

The Seagate drive had a power cord and a USB cable going to it, as do
all my external drives.

Just a few other comments:

1- I used DiskWarrior without success ... it wasn't a directory failure.
2- The drive was formatted as Journalled HFS Plus.
3- I tried the OS X Disk Utility, and it also didn't discover anything
except what looked like a brand new drive, formatted. I tried to
Verify and to Repair without success.

Gary <> wrote:

> On 2009-11-01 16:19:49 -0500, Jolly Roger <> said:
>
> > In article <00e6f4f5$0$23370$>,
> > Gary <> wrote:
> >
> >> I'm using OS X Leopard. I was running an update overnight against my
> >> music database located on an external Seagate Freeagent drive; in the
> >> morning when I went to check, the entire external drive appeared to be
> >> still formatted but empty.
> >>
> >> This database has taken me years to accumulate, and is too big or me to
> >> have a backup.
> >>
> >> Can anyone suggest what program might have the best chance of restoring
> >> the data that used to be on this disk?
> >
> > What sort of database was it exactly?
>
> The drive had a structure:
> _mp3
> Whitburn
> 19xx
> and then, in the 19xx folder, individual mp3 files... about 37,000 of
> them. There were other _mp3 subdirectories including Books, Classical,
> OldTimeRadio, etc., but they didn't figure in the update.

[snip]

> Just a few other comments:
>
> 1- I used DiskWarrior without success ... it wasn't a directory failure.
> 2- The drive was formatted as Journalled HFS Plus.
> 3- I tried the OS X Disk Utility, and it also didn't discover anything
> except what looked like a brand new drive, formatted. I tried to
> Verify and to Repair without success.

Use Data Rescue. It will search the entire drive to locate identifiable
files based on their content.

As long as the MP3 data has not been overwritten, it should be able to
recover most of the files. It probably won't know what they are called,
or where they were located, but as long as the files contain reasonable
ID3 tags, you should be possible to generate sensible names for them
again.

You can download a free trial of Data Rescue which will do a search
without recovering anything, but it will tell you what it found. If the
results look promising, you can buy it and it will proceed to do the
recovery.

Note that in order to recover anything with Data Rescue, you will need
another hard drive which has sufficient free space to hold all the
recovered files. It will NOT modify the drive being rescued in any way.

--
David Empson

In article <006a120c$0$23677$>,
Gary <> wrote:

> A very powerful program, SuperFlexikbleSynchronizer was configured to
> go through a folder of update mp3 files and copy them to the external
> hard drive (database) if (1) the update file name wasn't already in the
> database, or (2) the update file name was in the database and the
> update file was larger than the one already there.

That's by far your most likely culprit.


Steve

In article <006a120c$0$23677$>,
Gary <> wrote:

> On 2009-11-01 16:19:49 -0500, Jolly Roger <>
> said:
>
> > In article <00e6f4f5$0$23370$>,
> > Gary <> wrote:
> >
> >> I'm using OS X Leopard. I was running an update overnight against
> >> my music database located on an external Seagate Freeagent drive;
> >> in the morning when I went to check, the entire external drive
> >> appeared to be still formatted but empty.
> >>
> >> This database has taken me years to accumulate, and is too big or
> >> me to have a backup.
> >>
> >> Can anyone suggest what program might have the best chance of
> >> restoring the data that used to be on this disk?
> >
> > What sort of database was it exactly?
>
> The drive had a structure: _mp3
> Whitburn
> 19xx
> and then, in the 19xx folder, individual mp3 files... about 37,000 of
> them. There were other _mp3 subdirectories including Books,
> Classical, OldTimeRadio, etc., but they didn't figure in the update.
>
> >
> > How were you updating it exactly?
>
> A very powerful program, SuperFlexikbleSynchronizer was configured to
> go through a folder of update mp3 files and copy them to the external
> hard drive (database) if (1) the update file name wasn't already in
> the database, or (2) the update file name was in the database and the
> update file was larger than the one already there.

Correct me if my reading is wrong, but it sounds like what you were
doing was making a backup and your "SuperFelixibleSynchronizer" and that
the data exists on your internal drive.

Also, it helps a lot if you use standard terminology rather than
misusing "database" which has a specific set of meanings.

On 2009-11-02 00:20:54 -0500, Tim McNamara <> said:

> In article <006a120c$0$23677$>,
> Gary <> wrote:
>
>> On 2009-11-01 16:19:49 -0500, Jolly Roger <>
>> said:
>>
>>> In article <00e6f4f5$0$23370$>,
>>> Gary <> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm using OS X Leopard. I was running an update overnight against
>>>> my music database located on an external Seagate Freeagent drive;
>>>> in the morning when I went to check, the entire external drive
>>>> appeared to be still formatted but empty.
>>>>
>>>> This database has taken me years to accumulate, and is too big or
>>>> me to have a backup.
>>>>
>>>> Can anyone suggest what program might have the best chance of
>>>> restoring the data that used to be on this disk?
>>>
>>> What sort of database was it exactly?
>>
>> The drive had a structure: _mp3
>> Whitburn
>> 19xx
>> and then, in the 19xx folder, individual mp3 files... about 37,000 of
>> them. There were other _mp3 subdirectories including Books,
>> Classical, OldTimeRadio, etc., but they didn't figure in the update.
>>
>>>
>>> How were you updating it exactly?
>>
>> A very powerful program, SuperFlexikbleSynchronizer was configured to
>> go through a folder of update mp3 files and copy them to the external
>> hard drive (database) if (1) the update file name wasn't already in
>> the database, or (2) the update file name was in the database and the
>> update file was larger than the one already there.
>
> Correct me if my reading is wrong, but it sounds like what you were
> doing was making a backup and your "SuperFelixibleSynchronizer" and that
> the data exists on your internal drive.

I wish! SuperFlexibleSynchronizer <sorry for the typing error> moved
about 2,000 recently downloaded files from my internal hard drive to
the music-collection on my external hard drive. When it completed, I
erased the files on the internal drive.

My process had too many places where I could have been the culprit if I
wasn't thinking.

>
> Also, it helps a lot if you use standard terminology rather than
> misusing "database" which has a specific set of meanings.

What do I call it? What is the standard terminology?

Gary <> wrote:

> On 2009-11-02 00:20:54 -0500, Tim McNamara <> said:
> >
> > Also, it helps a lot if you use standard terminology rather than
> > misusing "database" which has a specific set of meanings.
>
> What do I call it? What is the standard terminology?

Just plain "data" would do fine in the context. One could argue that
"database" isn't necessarily technically incorrect, but it does tend to
make people think of something different.

As long as I'm posting, I'l add my voice to the chorus about backup. The
notion of "too large to backup" is exactly backwards. In general, the
larger the amount of data is, the more important it is to back up.

--
Richard Maine | Good judgment comes from experience;
email: last name at domain . net | experience comes from bad judgment.
domain: summertriangle | -- Mark Twain

On Sun, 1 Nov 2009 21:01:07 -0500, Gary wrote
(in article <006a120c$0$23677$>):

> A very powerful program, SuperFlexikbleSynchronizer

My guess: SuperFlexible somehow got pointed to a blank master
directory and did it's dirty work. Now you have a perfect copy of that
blank directory.

I use FileSynch myself and have been looking around for a replacement
because sometimes it seems to scroggle the master. Guess I won't be
switching to SuperCalafragillisticExpialodocious anytime soon.

--
Nelson

In article <006aa03b$0$26921$>,
Gary <> wrote:

> On 2009-11-02 00:20:54 -0500, Tim McNamara <>
> said:
>
> > In article <006a120c$0$23677$>,
> > Gary <> wrote:
> >
> >> On 2009-11-01 16:19:49 -0500, Jolly Roger <>
> >> said:
> >>
> >>> In article <00e6f4f5$0$23370$>, Gary
> >>> <> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> I'm using OS X Leopard. I was running an update overnight
> >>>> against my music database located on an external Seagate
> >>>> Freeagent drive; in the morning when I went to check, the entire
> >>>> external drive appeared to be still formatted but empty.
> >>>>
> >>>> This database has taken me years to accumulate, and is too big
> >>>> or me to have a backup.
> >>>>
> >>>> Can anyone suggest what program might have the best chance of
> >>>> restoring the data that used to be on this disk?
> >>>
> >>> What sort of database was it exactly?
> >>
> >> The drive had a structure: _mp3 Whitburn 19xx and then, in the
> >> 19xx folder, individual mp3 files... about 37,000 of them. There
> >> were other _mp3 subdirectories including Books, Classical,
> >> OldTimeRadio, etc., but they didn't figure in the update.
> >>
> >>>
> >>> How were you updating it exactly?
> >>
> >> A very powerful program, SuperFlexikbleSynchronizer was configured
> >> to go through a folder of update mp3 files and copy them to the
> >> external hard drive (database) if (1) the update file name wasn't
> >> already in the database, or (2) the update file name was in the
> >> database and the update file was larger than the one already
> >> there.
> >
> > Correct me if my reading is wrong, but it sounds like what you were
> > doing was making a backup and your "SuperFelixibleSynchronizer" and
> > that the data exists on your internal drive.
>
> I wish! SuperFlexibleSynchronizer <sorry for the typing error> moved
> about 2,000 recently downloaded files from my internal hard drive to
> the music-collection on my external hard drive. When it completed, I
> erased the files on the internal drive.

Ouch. It almost sounds as though it reformatted the external drive.

> My process had too many places where I could have been the culprit if
> I wasn't thinking.

This is all too often the case. My mechanic has pointed out that most
of the car problems he fixes are caused by a loose nut- the one behind
the steering wheel. Maybe he's trying to tell me something...

> > Also, it helps a lot if you use standard terminology rather than
> > misusing "database" which has a specific set of meanings.
>
> What do I call it? What is the standard terminology?

Your description indicates that it is a "file directory." In MacSpeak
this is usually called a "folder." Well, actually you had a hierarchy
of folders several layers deep. In common usage, a database is a
searchable file format for storing data and recalling it in various
configurations, used by a database application (such as MySQL or
FileMaker Pro, etc.).

As others have pointed out, there are file recovery programs that maybe
able to retrieve something for you. "Data Rescue" is one I looked at
when my wife accidentally erased hundreds of files from her hard drive
(I ended up using one designed specifically to recover Office files,
"Office Rescue" IIRC from the same company, and it worked well although
not perfectly as she had overwritten some of the files after the
deletion happened). Someone here wrote me a very helpful shell script
to sort through the files and to help with naming them.