NTFS Formatted External HDD, Repair Disk, and now unreadable, but data still there?

[Shmifyy]

Hi All:

I've been Googling this one all day, and have had a couple of runs at the Forum Search tool here and so far I've seen nothing that addresses my problem specifically, So here's my issue.

I've a Toshiba External 1.5 TB HDD that holds my Aperture Library, and backups of assorted project folders and files. I was trying to resolve the issue of the Trash Can on my Macbook appearing filled whenever it was attached and like an idiot went ahead and followed some forum advice from somewhere suggesting I try a run of the Disk Repair utility. I did this, forgetting of course that it's an NTFS Formatted Drive, and at the end of Disk Utilities run, it decided it could go no further, and gave me a red warning that i should backup the data and reformat it.

The problem I now have as a result of that is that I cannot now access the drive in either OSX 10.8.3 or in Windows 7. The drive mounts properly, but appears empty in OSX, and in W7, it mounts but declares it needs a format to be used successfully.

When using 'Get Info' on the drive in OSX, the Macbook knows it's a 1.5Tb Drive it's looking at (no surprise there), and it can see that 784Gb of space has been used, it can also see that it's an NTFS drive, which leads me to believe that there must be some way of recovering that data.

I've tried running Disk Drill on it, but all that seems to have done is recovered an old iTunes Library that was on the disk and deleted some time ago, although fair play to DD, it's done a great job of it!

So...

My question to you knowledgeable folk here is what can I do to gain access to the drive again? If the worst comes to the worst, as long as I can get the Aperture Library off of it I'll be happy, but obviously the more I can get at the better.

I'm a mid-level Mac user, and happy to delve about in the machine with some confidence, but Terminal Commands other than a cut and paste set of options are probably a bit beyond me, although nothing i'm not willing to try! I'm also willing to purchase software if there's a high chance it will work.

Many thanks in advance, and here's hoping someone can help!

Cheers

Smiffy


PS: Sorry if this is in the wrong Forum. It seemed like the most logical place to put it...

 

[oldscribe]

Re: NTFS Formatted External HDD, Repair Disk, and now unreadable, but data still ther

Hi Smiffy and welcome,

I've a Toshiba External 1.5 TB HDD that holds my Aperture Library, and backups of assorted project folders and files

This would be to me most important as photos are life memory's. So personally I would take the drive into a Apple Care Centre and pay for there service, as it is to precious to loos.

 

[JamesA]

If you could recover something then that's a positive sign. Your situation is complicated to just try online data recovery. What you can do is go to Mac official website and find their email and see if they will give you a reputable recovery plan from a good source. Or you can seek help physically at a recovery point in your area. If you would like to see more about software for recovery of data check here http://www.techyv.com/questions/format-and-repair-hard-drive

 

[Kaveman]

I've a Toshiba External 1.5 TB HDD that holds my Aperture Library, and backups of assorted project folders and files. I was trying to resolve the issue of the Trash Can on my Macbook appearing filled whenever it was attached and like an idiot went ahead and followed some forum advice from somewhere suggesting I try a run of the Disk Repair utility. I did this, forgetting of course that it's an NTFS Formatted Drive, and at the end of Disk Utilities run, it decided it could go no further, and gave me a red warning that i should backup the data and reformat it.

This doesn't add up, you must be using other software.
1. Macs can't write to NTFS without additional software
2. Disk Utility will do nothing to a NTFS drive

I think the 3rd party software you were using messed with your drive.