All mounted volumes erased when system crashed during XCode install
Curious to learn just how this could happen, as it did to me. I decided to download the XCode from App Store when Apple offered cheaply to non-registered people. I was running install in background when Safari crashed (I am completely up to date on OS/app releases, running Mac Mini). I quit everything but installer. After a couple hours where the progress bar didn't move, I manually powered down and restarted. When next I got rebooted (had to use a DVD, Snow Leopard) ALL of my mounted volumes -- internal, external Firewire (3) and 1 USB -- were empty of files. Partitions were there, but no data at all. Even my Windows partition (on internal) was erased. The only one that survived was an unmounted tech drive that I use when defragging, etc.
Fortunately my techie here says he can recover, I hope he's right, as this was the source files and backups for everything that was erased. I have way too much data to consider using iDisk or cloud (nearly two terabytes counting duplicate backups), but figured all source files were on external drives, plus backups of these on external, plus two external backups of the internal system drive, I was safe from hard drive failures. NOT SO! How could this happen during an install? What was XCode doing? TIA for any and all help...
Mac Mini,
Mac OS X (10.6.6),
installing latest XCode
junglepayne@mac.com wrote: When next I got rebooted (had to use a DVD, Snow Leopard) ALL of my mounted volumes -- internal, external Firewire (3) and 1 USB -- were empty of files. Partitions were there, but no data at all.
Do those drives show as free space the entire capacity of each drive? If not, I'd try running a Disk Utility "repair disk" operation on them.
Yes the free space is nearly the entire volume capacity. I did run repair disk on a couple of the partitions but no effect. Also used Tech Tool Pro to try and recover one volume, which recovered a few 'lost and found' files that had no identity (ie, filename, application type, etc.)
Exact same thing happened to me. Took me a few erases to catch it (I have backup disk images). Booting into disk utility showed that I lost all data on all mounted drives. Had to restore from image and set boot disk. Then I ran the Xcode installer again and same thing happened.
Same Exact issue here. All hard drives, internal and external were vaporized... I'm using recovery software to get back my iTunes library and others but I lost a lot of data and hours of time.
It seems that xcode overwrote all of the file allocation tables on every drive that was connected to my CPU... Unthinkable! This is a huge burn since that included my time machine backup & sereval RAID 1 drives. I've never heard of a Mac deleting connected volumes before...
I tried connecting them to my laptop and still nothing on them. The entire amount of free space shows blank. Very scary stuff.
Same thing happened here. XCode was installing and in the midst of the install everything started disappearing from the Desktop and I watched Applications dissappear one by one from the Applications folder.
Add me to the list of victims to this great Xcode disaster. I had three drives attached to my iMac and all three now show absolutely nothing on them, and of course the internal drive was wiped clean. I am in the process of running Data Rescue and it is showing some signs of success. None of the recovered files have recognizable names and it will take months if not years to try to figure out what is what. I have learned, the hard way, how important it is to unmount your backup drives before installing new software. What a mess.
Excuse me now, I am feeling sooooo sick, I need to go throw up.
Add me to the list. Erased my MacBook Snow Leopard partition, corrupted my Boot Camp partition, and erased (2) external hard drives. Unbelievable. Xcode install hung halfway through.
I was able to resolve this issue, but I can't say for certain which of the 2 things I did differently solved the issue.
1. Replaced the hardware: Because of the disk errors I was getting in the disk utility after the drive was deleted, I took the MacBook Pro back to the Apple Store and had it replaced.
2. I downloaded and installed XCode 4 from the developer site (costs $100 if you're not already a developer).
I suspect that the issue was solved by installing the developer site XCode download because it's a .pkg file, rather than an .app file. I think because the app is installed in the Applications directory, that it had different privileges and path than the .pkg install.
the same thing happened to me twice. I thought I had corrupt files but not I know its Xcode. Installed on my Macintosh HD and I watched as all the files starting deleting themselves. ***!!
Same thing happened to me, too. Hard drive totally swiped clean. Fortunately, I have a bootable clone for backup.
I saw your notes and spent the $100 to access xcode from the developer site, then installed the .pkg file.... same problem.. installer stalls half-way through and hard drive wiped clean. Reinstall again.
I got to the point that I avoided the issue just to keep the stress level down.
Finally, I tried installing xcode on my 100% stock iMac and everything went off without a hitch.
So, one thing I'm wondering about now is whether there is something to your comment about the hard drive itself. Mine, in my laptop, is not the original that came with the unit... is it possible that is part of this problem? That if your hardware is not stock, it gets erased?
I know that sounds ludicrous, but this problem is also ludicrous.
I saw your notes and spent the $100 to access xcode from the developer site, then installed the .pkg file.... same problem.. installer stalls half-way through and hard drive wiped clean. Reinstall again.
So much for trying to install the developers' download. Thanks for saving me the time & effort.
Same problem here. Installing Xcode from the Mac app store and it wiped my hard drive. Everything is gone. On top of that the HD in my time capsule died a few days ago. This is unbelievable. Any idea how to restore the data?
Data Rescue 3 recovered lots of files, no directories, most using default filenames, eg, file001.eps, file002.eps. So some help but lots of work to get a few useful files.