LaCie hard drive "disappeared" media files - help???

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LaCie hard drive "disappeared" media files - help???

I am hoping that someone can help guide me through this. Posted already in the FCP forum, but think this one might be more appropriate.

System: I have a brand new 3TB LaCie D2 Quadra drive (format = Mac OS Extended (Journaled) that I am connecting via FW 800 to my iMac27 inch (2009) and my MacBook Pro. The iMac is running on OSX Lion 10.7.4 and the MacBook Pro is running on OSX 10.6.7.

Problem: This morning I backed up about 120G of media files from another drive to LaCie. I saw them transferred onto the LaCie and they were part of a folder named "2012 media files" Then, without warning, the entire folder disappeared and I haven't been able to find it since. The LaCie shows that only 1.37 TB is available which would suggest that the files are still on the drive. But where?

I've read elsewhere on the forum that others have had this problem at times with LaCie (and probably other) drives and that it can be a problem with the catalog that can sometimes be repaired with some sort of disk utility or software like Diskwarrier for Mac. I have not yet purchased DiskWarrior but am a little nervous about using it for fear of damaging files. Can anyone advise what next steps I should take to trouble shoot and whether I need outside help at this point. I am fairly new to resolving these kinds of problems. Oddly, though, this is the second drive IN A WEEK to fail (the other one was a G-Tech Mini 1 TB). So, I'm wondering if my iMac may have some virus causing the problem???

Any help appreciated.

Mo

iMac (27-inch Late 2009), Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Sep 6, 2012 8:23 PM

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Answer 1

den.thed

Level 10

91,672 points

Sep 6, 2012 11:03 PM in response to berkeley mo

Personally I hid most of my External HD's from having any kind of contact with Lion and happily now only boot into either Snow Leopard or Mountain Lion.

How is the Drive formatted (Mac OS Extended or FAT-32) and what size are the largest of those files?

Control click on the drive and select Get Info.

Also note that FAT-32 has a single file size limit of 4GB. If it is formatted FAT-32 and any of your files are over 4GB, then that could well be part of your problem, although at some point it should have been brought to your attention by an error?

If you still have and can account for all of your files, personally I'd copy everything else off the LaCie to another drive, erase and reformat it Mac OS Extended, then try recopying everything back onto it.

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

91,672 points

Sep 6, 2012 9:57 PM in response to berkeley mo

berkeley mo wrote:

Problem: This morning I backed up about 120G of media files from another drive to LaCie. I saw them transferred onto the LaCie and they were part of a folder named "2012 media files" Then, without warning, the entire folder disappeared and I haven't been able to find it since.

Hi Mo

When you say "backed up" can you please explain exactlly what you did and what backup software if any you used?

Also please keep in mind that files with like names can replace or refuse to replace old files with the same name.

It's totally up to you, but it might also be wise to move up from Lion to the more stable Mountain Lion operating system.

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Answer 3

berkeley mo Author

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5 points

Sep 6, 2012 10:18 PM in response to den.thed

Thanks for the response. I wasn't aware that Lion was unstable and that an upgrade might improve the situation. I have had nothing but trouble since I upgraded to Lion earlier in the summer.

What I meant by "back up" is copying media files from one external hard drive to another. I still have the files I transfered today, BUT the rest of the folder with all my 2012 media files is what disappeared.

I just downloaded and ran Disk Warrior but it failed to restore the missing files.

I guess my next step is to bring the drive to an independent recovery specialist.

I'm wondering whether there is some troubleshooting that I should do with Apple (I have AppleCare) and/or LaCie.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Mo

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Answer 4

berkeley mo Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 6, 2012 10:20 PM in response to den.thed

Thanks for the response. I wasn't aware that Lion was unstable and that an upgrade might improve the situation. I have had nothing but trouble since I upgraded to Lion earlier in the summer.

What I meant by "back up" is copying media files from one external hard drive to another. I still have the files I transfered today, BUT the rest of the folder with all my 2012 media files is what disappeared.

I just downloaded and ran Disk Warrior but it failed to restore the missing files.

I guess my next step is to bring the drive to an independent recovery specialist.

I'm wondering whether there is some troubleshooting that I should do with Apple (I have AppleCare) and/or LaCie.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Mo

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Answer 5

berkeley mo Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 6, 2012 11:21 PM in response to den.thed

Thanks again den.thed.

The Drive is formatted as you had suggested - Mac OS Extended - and the largest file size is approximately 5 GB.

I'm going to see if an IT repair person can find the missing files. But, first I will copy everything else off the LaCie onto another drive. I can't give up on those 600 GB of media files - It's all my shoots for documentary film for 2012. I have all RAW files archived (fortunately) but not all the transcoded files and it would take a lot of work to re-do the transcode and reconnect all up in FCP. Has me a more than a little freaked out.

But, thanks so much for the help. Let me know if you think of anything else.

Best,

Mo

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Answer 6

berkeley mo Author

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5 points

Sep 6, 2012 11:41 PM in response to den.thed

You were a big help, really. I feel better knowing that I have an archive of at least all the RAW files (I think). So, will just take it step by step.

I learned through the forums that many had had problems with LaCie d2 Quadra 3TB. Do you know anything about reliable external hard drives compatible with iMac 27"? How about G-Tech?

I had bought another LaCie 3TB and am going to return/exchange it tomorrow for something else.

Thanks again,

Mo

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Answer 7

den.thed

Level 10

91,672 points

Sep 7, 2012 12:36 AM in response to berkeley mo

That's truly beyond me, I'm still using three old Maxtor One Touch 3 FireWire enclosures fitted with larger WD Hard Drives that refuse to die.

You maybe better off looking for a couple of decent enclosures, a 2 or 4 bay docking station, and then throwing some bare drives at that.

Besides no one (LaCie, G-Tech, etc.) are ever going to convince me that one large drive is better than two, or even four because that is what it takes to have a double backup of everything.

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Answer 8

berkeley mo Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 7, 2012 12:36 AM in response to den.thed

I hate to be so dense, but could you explain what you mean by "throwing bare drives at a docking station"? And, "two or even four (drives) is better than one large drive". I just don't understand your remarks and it seems important.

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Answer 9

den.thed

Level 10

91,672 points

Sep 7, 2012 1:18 AM in response to berkeley mo

As in building your own more reliable external backup and storage.

for enclosure examples:

see > OWC OWCMEPQ946QL2K Mercury Elite Pro RAID Ready... in stock at OWC

and > Icy Dock MB662UEAB-2S Dual Bay FireWire 400/800 & USB 2.0 RAID Enclosure Hard Drive

for bare drives:

see > Internal Desktop Hard Drives | WD

or > Barracuda Specs | Seagate

While one large backup drive seems like a good idea, it is not because at some point sooner or later (most of the time sooner) it will let you down.

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Answer 10

Nov 18, 2012 9:10 AM in response to den.thed

I just came across this thread because I'm researching LaCie d2 3T drive problems, as I'm having one myself.

I got the drive last week, formatted it with the LaCie software that came with the drive, and did the firmware update as recommended.

Here's what's happening to me so far. I got Finder hangs with the drive on, had to force quit Finder, but Finder didn't come back. I had to then force quit the laptop, pull the power cord on the 3T, then restart. It would work for awhile. When doing large file transfers, the copy function would stop because the system "detected" the presence of .DS_Store files already in folders. I had to go to Terminal and stop the creation of .DS_Store files in order to proceed with transfers. From my research, it appears as if the Mac Finder was reading the drive-- from LaCie's formatting app-- as formatted for another platform, such as Windows or Linux. ...One problem after another.

I think I found a solution, but it's too early to tell for sure. What I did was back up all of my files onto another (earlier LaCie 2T that works fine) drive, then REFORMATTED the 3T with Disk Utility only. So far, that seems to be working.

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Answer 11

Sep 6, 2012 9:28 PM in response to berkeley mo

Your Mac comes with an app called Disk Utility for verifying and repairing disks. It's a good (and free) starting point that can fix most common problems.

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