I'm on the verge of losing 40GB+ of my stuff.

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I have an external harddisk. i stored 40GB+ of my songs, pictures, videos....etc.



now when i plug it. i can see it on my desktop. i can access it and go through my folders, BUT i can't play a song from there.. so i drag a song or a folder to my desktop and when its on my desktop i try to double click it but nothing happens.. sometimes Quicktime opens but nothing plays and my Quicktime freezes or it directly freeze when i double click the song. it shows me this tiny circle with the rainbowish color.(whenever i try to relaunch finder nothing happens except the whole finder freezes!) and stays like this forever......



i went to an apple store (but stupid me didn't bring my laptop & harddisk).. he told me to restart my pb and keep (apple+alt+P+R) pressed. and then hopefuly everythings gonna work... but nothing happened!







HELP!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    bergzbergz Posts: 1,045member
    What kind of external is it? USB 2? Firewire?



    Also, when you "drag to the desktop" do you see a little green "+" sign next to the cursor? If not, try dragging to the desktop with Option pressed before you let go. You should see the "+" and that will try to copy whatever file it is to your PB. Otherwise, if I'm not mistaken, you're dragging them to the desktop folder of your external.



    Or you could just drag it to a local folder, and it'll copy automatically.



    Hope that helps.



    --B
  • Reply 2 of 17
    tofachinotofachino Posts: 69member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by bergz

    What kind of external is it? USB 2? Firewire?



    Also, when you "drag to the desktop" do you see a little green "+" sign next to the cursor? If not, try dragging to the desktop with Option pressed before you let go. You should see the "+" and that will try to copy whatever file it is to your PB. Otherwise, if I'm not mistaken, you're dragging them to the desktop folder of your external.



    Or you could just drag it to a local folder, and it'll copy automatically.



    Hope that helps.



    --B




    its USB 2.

    there is a green(+) on the cursor when i drag and drop. Now i tried to drop it in a local folder. the file is MP3.. when i dropped it, the file looked like a blank white paper.. (u know not like my other MP3s which have the quicktime logo)..



    i'm still clueless... thanks for the help though!
  • Reply 3 of 17
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    #1) run disk utility and try to repair the drive. There may be problems.

    #2) Get info on one of your songs both on the desktop and external. They should match.

    #3) Make a disk image if you can. That should back things up (and any errors) if you need to reformat.



    I once had problem where a disk error corrupted the files I tried to backup. That soon left me with a reformatted drive and backup files that didn't work.
  • Reply 4 of 17
    bergzbergz Posts: 1,045member
    Have you tried using Disk Utility or Disk Warrior to check/repair the disk? Doesn't sound that far gone. You could also try an "Open With" after copying a song to your PB to see if it's just looking for an app that's not there.



    --B
  • Reply 5 of 17
    slugheadslughead Posts: 1,169member
    Try using a different PSU for the drive.



    Here's what I did.
  • Reply 6 of 17
    tofachinotofachino Posts: 69member
    I've tried disk utility and warrior.. but nothing happened...



    there is an update .. i just dragged an MP3 to my local folder and as usual the finder froze (sp?). i just opened Safari and surfed for about 30 min. then i removed the drive and some window poped that says something along the lines ( u have unplunged the drive and u stopped the operation ... blah blah) i went to my local folder and found the mp3 .. played it and it played for 5 sec! and then got cut off... which means that the tranfering did work but with a turtle speed! (30 mins for just about 0.5% of the mp3)





    so any ideas?

    sorry about my english guys!





    P.S. to slughead: ????
  • Reply 7 of 17
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    OK, now that doesn't sound like a power problem to me at all. It sounds like the disk is failing. That 0.5% probably did not take a ling time, it was all that the drive transfered before something happened. If your drive is communicating with the computer yet no data is being transferred, my next guess would be a mechanical problem. (READ: dying/dead drive) Check the S.M.A.R.T. status ASAP! (In disk utility) You may be be using a zombie drive. Get it, Undead. Oh, yea I should be a comedian. Maybe get my own show, something like "Everybody loves Ebby."
  • Reply 8 of 17
    messiahmessiah Posts: 1,689member
    I had exectly the same problem with a USB drive.



    I was able to browse the top level of folders, but as soon as I went to a file, or a group of files, the beachball appeared.



    I removed the hard drive mechanism from the USB enclosure and popped it in to a FireWire enclosure and it has been working perfectly ever since.



    Hope this helps!
  • Reply 9 of 17
    slugheadslughead Posts: 1,169member
    OK I had the same problem with my external drives, all I did was replace the power supply and it started working.
  • Reply 10 of 17
    tofachinotofachino Posts: 69member
    ok i don't know where the S.M.A.R.T. is? i looked in the disk utility but there is nothing called S.M.A.R.T. in there.

    i don't think i can change my drive to firewire... i don't know how.. i don't know where to go to make this happen.



    my drive doesn't have a power supply .. it uses my USB 2 power to opperate. (my USB wire has a 2 head end.. i plug them both in my pb.. if i plug 1 it won't work).





    I'm getting hopeless......... since I have no idea or background in these things.. and i'm somewhat still a newbie to Macs..





    Guys thanks a lot I really appreaciate ur help!
  • Reply 11 of 17
    messiahmessiah Posts: 1,689member
    Okay, first of all, as long as you don't attempt to reformat the drive, or initiate some sort of destructive recovery process, the situation won't get any worse - it's important to remember that. If the data's still on the drive, it's not going to disappear all by itself.



    I'm assuming from your description that you're using a 2.5" hard disk rather than a 3.5" hard disk. 2.5" hard disk drives are designed for use in laptops and unlike 3.5" hard disk drives they can be powered directly from a USB 2 port.



    So, it sounds like you have a standard 2.5" hard disk drive fitted to some sort of external USB enclosure. The good news is that you'll probably be able to (or pay someone to) remove the hard disk from the enclosure and fit it to a FireWire enclosure, at which point, there's a good chance you'll be able to access the files again.



    Can you give me some further information on the type of enclosure that you're using?
  • Reply 12 of 17
    tofachinotofachino Posts: 69member
    yeah its a 2.5" external harddisk. its Toshiba. and it is used in laptops.

    its 60GB in capacity. the cover is hardplastic, it feels like rubber. the usb wire attached to the HD is really tiny unlike the one in my pb. it has 5 pins.



    i think i'm gonna go to a computer shop to see if i can switch it to firewire.



    gosh its annoying! i mean i can see the files anf browse them but can't transfer them!!
  • Reply 13 of 17
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    S.M.A.R.T. Status

    EDIT: Sorry, but it looks like it doesn't work with Firewire/USB drives. I thought it did. I guess they have to be internal drives.
  • Reply 14 of 17
    tofachinotofachino Posts: 69member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ebby

    S.M.A.R.T. Status

    EDIT: Sorry, but it looks like it doesn't work with Firewire/USB drives. I thought it did. I guess they have to be internal drives.




    aaahh errr... i've found the S.M.A.R.T. thingy.. it says (not supported).
  • Reply 15 of 17
    messiahmessiah Posts: 1,689member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by TofaChino

    gosh its annoying! i mean i can see the files anf browse them but can't transfer them!!



    Yup!



    That's exactly the problem that I had with a USB drive. Switching it to a FireWire enclosure solved the problem - what a relief!



    Let us know how you get on!
  • Reply 16 of 17
    tofachinotofachino Posts: 69member
    WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!!



    I DID IT!!!!!!!! THANKYOU Messiah

    today i went and changed the cover to one that support USB & Firewire! and it worked with the firewire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



    THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU!!!!!!





    P.S: now everybody go to my other topic about iChat's audio conference and help me there!!! lol
  • Reply 17 of 17
    messiahmessiah Posts: 1,689member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by TofaChino

    WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!!



    I DID IT!!!!!!!! THANKYOU Messiah

    today i went and changed the cover to one that support USB & Firewire! and it worked with the firewire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



    THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU!!!!!!





    P.S: now everybody go to my other topic about iChat's audio conference and help me there!!! lol




    Yey!



    That's great news - and I'm glad to have been of some help!
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