First Aid can't fix corrupted USB disk.

Question

Level 1

27 points

First Aid can't fix corrupted USB disk.

Hi, I'm trying to restore my WD Elements 4Gb USB drive, but it looks to be seriously corrupted. I'm looking for advice on tools or terminal commands that may help me out.

Here's what's happening: Disk shows up in Disk Utility. First Aid exits with an error and the disk won't mount. The same happens with running Disk Utility while in recovery mode.

Techtool seems like the gold standard for fixing something like this, but it also runs $130. iBoysoft Data Recovery comes in at $70. This is a fix-it-if-I-can situation and don't want to invest that much. Are there some trusted lower priced or per-use options?

I'm hoping I may be able to do something via command line and/or a package manager (Homebrew). Is there anything like this around?

This was my Time Machine disk. It is 4Gb WD Elements USB drive, about 15 months old and out of warranty. Any advice on getting this working again so I don't lose my Time Machine archive?

Thank You!

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 4, 2020 3:31 PM

Reply

Answer 1

steve359

Level 6

17,187 points

Jan 4, 2020 3:43 PM in response to chasc

I do not know about the tools to recover corruption, but I have some advice on backups.

I use an external enclosure from OWC (macsales.com). It is a high-quality enclosure, and I can swap any number of high-quality 2.5 in disks. They also sell enclosure that take larger-format drives (4 TB drives are cheaper in the larger format than in 2.5 format).

On WD all-in-one ... I had one, once. Then the interface card died, and the drive could not be extracted and read because it *needed* the WD interface card. The drive could be reformatted later, though.

Multiple backup drives is a good idea. I also use CarbonCopyCloner ($40ish, bombich.com) as a second backup method. Makes bootable clones of a drive that can be used to "clone back" to internal drive if the system ever needs replacement.

Reply

First Aid can't fix corrupted USB disk.

Similar questions