Can I salvage backups from failed external drive?

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Lucas1948 Author

Level 1

126 points

Can I salvage backups from failed external drive?

I've used my Seagate Backup Plus Slim since I bought in October 2015. (Yeah ... eight years.) It was humming along just fine till I hooked it to my new 14" MacBook Pro last week. A message box popped up a few days after I first connected it to ask whether I wanted my new MacBook to accept the backups on the external drive. Well, I'd used Migration Assistant to move my files to the new machine, so I figured the right answer was yes.

Then a few days later I got notice that the latest attempt to backup had failed. I decided to erase and reformat the drive, but Disk Utility advised that I run First Aid on the drive. First Aid has failed, twice. The external drive appears in Finder, but obviously something ain't right. FWIW, here's the text from my last First Aid run—

Running First Aid on “Seagate Backup Plus Drive” (disk5)

Verifying storage system

Performing fsck_cs -n -x --lv --uuid 8D56962E-CB55-4DC5-9D31-777E1B4F842E

Executing fsck_cs (version 559)

Checking volume

disk4s2: Scan for Volume Headers

disk4s2: Scan for Disk Labels

Logical Volume Group 8D56962E-CB55-4DC5-9D31-777E1B4F842E on 1 device

disk4s2: Scan for Metadata Volume

Logical Volume Group has a 24 MB Metadata Volume with double redundancy

Start scanning metadata for a valid checkpoint

Load and verify Segment Headers

Load and verify Checkpoint Payload

Load and verify Transaction Segment

Incorporate 0 newer non-checkpoint transactions

Load and verify Virtual Address Table

Load and verify Segment Usage Table

Load and verify Metadata Superblock

Load and verify Logical Volumes B-Trees

Logical Volume Group contains 1 Logical Volume

Load and verify 19B41FCA-7739-46E5-8FE0-2C3309FE23E4

Load and verify E65FADA4-88A8-41D9-96A1-7C0E834B96D2

Load and verify Freespace Summary

Load and verify Block Accounting

Load and verify Live Virtual Addresses

Newest transaction commit checkpoint is valid

Load and verify Segment Cleaning

The volume 8D56962E-CB55-4DC5-9D31-777E1B4F842E appears to be OK

Storage system check exit code is 0.

Checking file system and repairing if necessary and if possible.

Volume was successfully unmounted.

Performing fsck_hfs -fy -x /dev/rdisk5

Executing fsck_hfs (version hfs-650.0.2).

Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.

The volume name is Seagate Backup Plus Drive

Checking extents overflow file.

Checking catalog file.

Invalid sibling link

Rebuilding catalog B-tree.

Disk full error

The volume Seagate Backup Plus Drive could not be repaired.

File system check exit code is 8.

Restoring the original state found as mounted.

Problem -69842 occurred while restoring the original mount state.

File system verify or repair failed. : (-69845)

Operation failed…

That sounds pretty grim—"Drive could not be repaired." Where does this leave me? I subscribe to an online backup service, so this external drive is not my only fall-back. I suppose this eight-year-old drive is toast, but what can I do with it before I hand it over to, say, Best Buy to properly dispose of it? I'll appreciate any advice.

MacBook Pro 14″

Posted on Nov 3, 2023 8:28 AM

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Answer 1

Jeff

Level 6

12,372 points

Nov 3, 2023 11:19 AM in response to Lucas1948

Your Seagate backup drive likely doesn't have a hardware problem, but rather a corrupted directory, as indicated by "Checking extents overflow file > Checking catalog file > Invalid sibling link > Rebuilding catalog B-tree." In order to do that, the drive needs adequate space to create a repaired or new directory, but you also have a "Disk Full" error, which is likely preventing the repair. Back in the pre-OS X days, DiskWarrior was the best product for correcting that problem, because (according to them), it created a new directory, rather than repair the existing one. It seems as if you're backed into a corner, because you're not able to delete files to create available space for the repair to be done. If you're certain that all of the files on the drive are backed up elsewhere, you should be able to reformat the drive, which will create a new directory. The advisory about running First Aid prior to reformatting is given to determine whether the drive is physically healthy enough for continued use and reformatting, by checking in advance that the platter(s) have no surface damage from extensive wear. Even if the drive were completely dead, you don't need to turn it into Best Buy for recycling, since you really don't know where the drive would end up and/or whether someone would attempt to retrieve the files on it. Many of the manufacturers of small backup drives made enclosures that weren't meant to be opened without special tools, to prevent users from tampering with them while under warranty. If you were sure that the drive were completely dead/useless, you could always force the plastics apart to access the 2.5" laptop drive that I suspect is contained within. At that point, you could remove/open the drive for your own amusement and remove the platter(s). Small Torx screwdrivers are usually needed for disassembly. Even if you don't disassemble it, it's not a hazardous thing to retain, even as a paperweight.

A similar topic was posted in the Forums about 4 years ago, that you can check out here.

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Answer 2

Lucas1948 Author

Level 1

126 points

Nov 6, 2023 11:05 AM in response to Jeff

Re: "Your Seagate backup drive likely doesn't have a hardware problem ... ." You are quite right. This morning, I threw caution to the wind and erased that 8-year-old drive and told Time Machine to start over. It worked. It just now completed its "first" backup. That's cool. Over the weekend, I spent $140 on a new 5TB backup drive. I've yet to take it out of its package, but I'll keep it—perhaps for external storage or for a second backup drive.

Thanks again for your help!

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Answer 3

Lucas1948 Author

Level 1

126 points

Nov 4, 2023 2:36 PM in response to Jeff

Thank you very much, Jeff. I really appreciate your taking time to write that very thorough response. I've got my computer backed up online with one of those services. I've used it for years. I might try reformatting this drive, but for some reason it's no longer showing up in Finder. It's running—I can hear the little disk spinning when I pick it up, and the indicator light is glowing like it should.

I decided yesterday to get a new external drive—a 5TB model this time. I figure the old 2TB is eight years old, so it's had a good life, no?

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Can I salvage backups from failed external drive?

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