Please help restore DMG missing partition and access file vault.

plesehelpme wrote:

. . .

My computer was downloading movies which filled up the 130GB partition, most of the 130GB is contained in my personal filevault user directory, my computer became very slow and unresponsive and i tried to free up space by deleting files which i no longer needed.

Unfortunately, on "legacy" File Vault, that doesn't gain any space until you log out, and OSX "recovers" the empty space in the sparse bundle. It will, however, re-use the vacated space if there's enough.

Have you tried to run Repair Disk on either the original or copied partition?

If that doesn't help, this might: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/fixfilevault.html

Having the copy in a disk image may prevent that, however. You can't boot from a disk image.

I just noticed that you have Time Machine, backup, and restore listed in the categories and tags.

Do you have Time Machine backups? If so, you should be able to restore them to the original partition. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #14.

If not, well, pardon me for rubbing it in, but once you get this sorted out, that might be worth considering.

This is a very long shot. It may not work so don't get your hopes up.

1. Install OS X on your external HD.

2. Run OS X there, by Restart+Option and selecting the external HD version

3. Set up a new user there, with exactly the same names and password as your old FV account.

4. FileVault this new account.

5. Log out and Restart your machine normally.

6. From here, you need advice from other users as it will probably require Terminal commands. But basically, you want to overwrite the new FV account's sparse bundle on the eHDD with one of the recovered sparse bundles. (That's why it needs the same usernames and password).

Once you've done that, then

7. Restart+Option again to run OS X on the eHDD. Once in, see if you can login to the FV account, and if you can, see if your files are there. If they are, start copying them to another device - a flash drive, or another eHDD, or another partition on the same HD, or a DVD - just back them up any which way you can, in case you can't get back in to the FV account.

plesehelpme wrote:

Is there anyway to recover the larger partition ? In disk utility i made the mistake of pressing the - button which has left me with the following:

[NO NAME] - is currently where i have installed OSX temporarily.

And the grey space which contains my previous operating system and all my information which i desperately need to retrieve.

. . .

Is there anyway to restore and boot the missing partition ?

Probably not. 😟 You've now deleted the partition. It was probably useless anyway, though.

When i run disk drill or other disk recovery tools i am able to see the partition including including the files and my personal sparsebundle.

But you can't open the sparse bundle, much less see any of the files inside it, right?

Since you've already recovered the (probably-damaged) sparse bundle containing your encrypted home folder, you'll have to work with it.

I'd strongly recommend making another copy of that on another external HD and putting that "on the shelf" before doing anything else to it. I suspect you have little chance of recovery, but don't take the risk of further damage.

You haven't answered my earlier questions:

Have you tried to run Repair Disk on either the original or copied partition?

If that doesn't help, this might: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/fixfilevault.html

Do you have Time Machine backups?

Obviously, now that the partition has been deleted, you can't run repair disk on it, but try it on the recovered disk image.

You need more expertise than either Christopher or I have. Since Apple no longer uses "legacy" File Vault, it will be more difficult for them to help, too.

Is your Mac covered by AppleCare? If so, give them a call.

If not, your nearest Apple Store Genius Bar might be able to help: http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

Or check for an Apple Authorized Service Provider: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1434?viewlocale=en_US

If not, one of them may know of an outside service than can help. That will be quite expensive.

Wow! Terrific! I'm amazed! 🙂

Good for you.