Best utility to use when Disk Utility won't see the disk?

Walter Bushell

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Jul 13, 2009, 11:51:13 PM7/13/09

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I can hear and feel the head moving, but no joy.

Mike Rosenberg

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Jul 14, 2009, 8:56:33 AM7/14/09

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Walter Bushell <pr...@panix.com> wrote:

> Best utility to use when Disk Utility won't see the disk?
>
> I can hear and feel the head moving, but no joy.

I've used Data Rescue II to get data from several drives when Disk
Utility and Disk Warrior couldn't help. You can download and run the
trial version to see if there's any hope, then pay for it if and when it
tells you it can salvage things.

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Fred McKenzie

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Jul 14, 2009, 12:09:23 PM7/14/09

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In article <proto-699F74....@news.panix.com>,
Walter Bushell <pr...@panix.com> wrote:

> Best utility to use when Disk Utility won't see the disk?
>
> I can hear and feel the head moving, but no joy.

Walter-

I recently had a HD that was giving me problems. I tried moving it to
two other enclosures that had both FireWire and USB interfaces.

The USB interface appeared to be the most promising. Disk Utility can
see one of two partitions, but can't do anything with it. Disk Utility
can't even reformat the drive. The drive apparently has an undefined
hardware problem.

I tried Data Rescue II version 1.0.1, with no luck. I tried Disk
Warrior version 4, and was able to recover both partitions one at a
time. It is good to have more than one tool in your kit. You never
know which one will work on a particular problem.

Fred

Mike Rosenberg

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Jul 14, 2009, 1:38:40 PM7/14/09

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Fred McKenzie <fm...@aol.com> wrote:

> I tried Data Rescue II version 1.0.1, with no luck. I tried Disk
> Warrior version 4, and was able to recover both partitions one at a
> time. It is good to have more than one tool in your kit. You never
> know which one will work on a particular problem.

I wonder if the current version of Data Rescue II, 1.2.1, would have
worked. Anyway, the OP can try that for free, then pay if it works.
He'll have to buy DW to try it, not that having it is a bad idea.

Walter Bushell

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Jul 14, 2009, 1:57:40 PM7/14/09

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In article <fmmck-C6B698....@nntp.aioe.org>,
Fred McKenzie <fm...@aol.com> wrote:

Thanks to you and Mike. I ran DR II and got a scan time of looping
between 1 and 3+ days. But it loaded one of my volumes, not the Time
Machine one however, that may be DR does not understand, the
documentation seems to be *old*. For example, no mention of Intel
hardware.

Howard S Shubs

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Jul 15, 2009, 2:13:33 AM7/15/09

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In article <fmmck-C6B698....@nntp.aioe.org>,
Fred McKenzie <fm...@aol.com> wrote:

> I tried Data Rescue II version 1.0.1, with no luck. I tried Disk
> Warrior version 4, and was able to recover both partitions one at a
> time. It is good to have more than one tool in your kit. You never
> know which one will work on a particular problem.

Generally speaking, when these utilities start not seeing drives,
replace them. My rule is simple: has the drive's behavoir changed?
Increased noise/heat? Failure to mount? Increase (at ALL!) of bad
blocks? Give it last rites (read: a final backup) and replace it
soonest.

--
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Life is 100% fatal. Ban it.

Shane Badham

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Jul 19, 2009, 2:56:06 PM7/19/09

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Fred McKenzie <fm...@aol.com> wrote:

I've got Techtool Delux, which I got when I took out an exdended,
warrentee for my iBook. I have found that if Disk Utility can't hack it,
then Techtool does it (YMMV)!

--
Thanks and regards, Shane.
"A closed mouth gathers no feet!"
Email: Beware the invalid word! shane at wonk dot demon dot co dot uk
Website: http://www.wonk.demon.co.uk/