Suddently, my hard drive disappeared

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Level 1

24 points

Suddently, my hard drive disappeared

Here's a good one, I think.

I have 3 partitions on a single drive.
One partition has disappeared from the desktop and the Finder's sidebar
I CAN access all the data from Spotlight.
The partition is in good condition in Disk Utility
When I'm using Spotlight to find a folder on that partition, I can see all the path and the Hard Drive's icon is grayed out

So after a lot of time spend to find a solution, I've decided to format, install a brand new fresh install of OSX 10.8.2

I did it.

Strangely, the problem still there. Something prevents the partition to showing up but I can access all the content through Spotlight.

(Finder preferences is not the issue 😉 )

Any ideas?

24-inch 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Posted on Jan 3, 2013 4:20 PM

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Answer 1

pberk

Level 2

321 points

Jan 3, 2013 4:31 PM in response to GigzHD

Can you mount the drive via Disk Utility?

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Answer 2

GigzHD Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 3, 2013 4:50 PM in response to pberk

Yes, the drive is mount.

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Answer 3

pberk

Level 2

321 points

Jan 3, 2013 5:03 PM in response to GigzHD

Is the drive actually mounted (you would see it in the finder) or are you just seeing it in Disk Utility's sidebar?

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Answer 4

GigzHD Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 3, 2013 5:29 PM in response to pberk

The missing drive is actually mounted and I can see it in the Disk Utility Sidebar.

However I can't see it the Finder's Sidebar nor the Desktop. I can even find folders from that drive through Spotlight.

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Answer 5

Jan 3, 2013 5:41 PM in response to GigzHD

Just because a drive is visible in disk utility does not mean that it is mounted. If you can see the partition, you should see a device tree under the device name.

Select the subclass of that tree (int he example, Macintosh HD). Then look at the buttons along the top of the screen:

if the drive actually is mounted, you should see an option labled Unmount. If not, the button will instead say "Mount"

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Answer 6

GigzHD Author

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24 points

Jan 3, 2013 5:48 PM in response to GigzHD

Remember, I format and start a fresh install of OSX. 😟

Here is a look if I search a folder wwithin that drive with Spotlight and ⌘ click on it. The drive named "Data HD" is grayed out but I can access the content.

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Answer 7

GigzHD Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 3, 2013 5:53 PM in response to ComputerFixer

Thanks, but the drive is definitely mount. 😉

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Answer 8

pberk

Level 2

321 points

Jan 3, 2013 6:00 PM in response to GigzHD

I dont think the disk is mounted - in Disk Utility select the disk, then at the top of the window, does the icon say Mount or Unmount???

If the former, try and mount it that way

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Answer 9

GigzHD Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 3, 2013 6:10 PM in response to pberk

It's the "Unmount" icon because the drive is mount. To be clear, the missing drive is a partition. And I can browse the grayed out "Data HD" partition with Spotlight.

I told you it was a good one! 😀

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Answer 10

Jan 3, 2013 6:14 PM in response to GigzHD

now that certainly is strange.... This is being used as a boot partition? do any of the other boot partitions work?

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Answer 11

GigzHD Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 3, 2013 6:27 PM in response to ComputerFixer

This is very strange! All partitions works as usual.

If I open a new window from the Finder, the partition is missing.

But if I do a search from Spotlight, it finds files and folders from the missing partition.

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Answer 12

Jan 3, 2013 6:29 PM in response to GigzHD

so what happens if you backup the drive, then just junk the drive, repartition a new partition, and then install the OS to it again?

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Answer 13

GigzHD Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 4, 2013 11:18 AM in response to ComputerFixer

First, I've started a backup of the invisible partion named "Data HD". After the backup done, I looked into the backup drive to see the files and folder backed up and guess what!

All the backed up files and folders are invisible but searchable with Spotlight only. Same things happen!

I try to think that I did a wrong combination shortcuts to hide the partition and it's content, but which one?

I'm not sure but it could be a possibility.

So delete the partition is a tragic solution if with a simple command it resolves.

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Answer 14

Jan 4, 2013 2:04 PM in response to GigzHD

Ok. ive been doing quite a bit of research and testing using a small flash drive and I was able to reproduce the problem using a terminal command "chflags hidden /Volumes/USB16GB" this hid the entire partition named USB16GB.

Perhaps you could try the opposite of this... Open terminal and type "chflags nohidden /Volumes/Data\ HD" exactly as it appears, with no quotes. If you are uncomfortable typing it, just copy and paste everything inside the quotes. If it does not imediatly reappear, try to restart your machine. Then see if it appears.

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Answer 15

GigzHD Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 4, 2013 2:17 PM in response to GigzHD

I Finally resolve this with a simple terminal command:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA25203?viewlocale=en_US

*** This is the first thing I tried but the solution is missing a very important point, YOU MUST BE IN THE ROOT DIECTORY OF THE INVISIBLE PARTITION to apply the command *** If not, the terminal won't recognize the directory.

Here is what I did step by step:

Open terminal
Going into the invisible partition with this command: cd /Volumes/"Data HD"
Then unhide the partition: chflags nohidden /Volumes/"Data HD"

Voilà!

Thanks!

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