Mavericks corrupts external hard drive

RogerOut: It's your responsibility. Lost data is your fault.

I would highly disagree in this case. If lost data is just a random "oopsie," then yes. But when it happens because you trust an OS upgrade from one of the most successful computer manufacturers in the world, that transcends an "oopsie." That's why this thread exists in Apple's forum. When you have an auto maker screw up, there is a massive expensive recall and lawsuits and compensation. Not that you're going to be able to sue Apple, but defending them is pretty ridiculous at this point. Just hope that the problem doesn't continue to spread and mess up a lot of other people's lives. Maybe save your replys for useful and supportive information, not stomping on those that need to vent.

ofquiet wrote:

... Apple, but defending them is pretty ridiculous at this point. Just hope that the problem doesn't continue to spread and mess up a lot of other people's lives. Maybe save your replys for useful and supportive information, not stomping on those that need to vent.

I don't want to read someone's vent. I'm weary of users blaming others for their own mistakes.

I am not defending Apple - that's your inference only.

The point is, and it's the last time I'll say it: You must take complete responsibility for your data and decisions, because if you don't another update will come along and you will again be caught off-guard. Make backups, keep archives, and don't update an OS willy nilly without doing some research. If you do those simple things, you will never permanently lose data.

Yeah. But my backups are on the external drives that are just paperweights now beacuse I cant use the drives without risking that they get wiped. And installing a major update from a multi hundred billion dollar company thats been doing this for a few years isnt exactly "willy nilly."

jeffsphoto21 wrote:

Yeah. But my backups are on the external drives that are just paperweights now beacuse I cant use the drives without risking that they get wiped. And installing a major update from a multi hundred billion dollar company thats been doing this for a few years isnt exactly "willy nilly."

Questions:

• Do you check for firmware updates from Seagate and other hardware companies at least once a year?
• Did you check for a firmware update from Seagate before installing Mavericks?
• Did you check for any warnings from your vendors about installing Mavericks with their hardware?
• If you've installed any driver software, did you check for updates before installing Mavericks?
• Did you search the Internet for installation problems related to Mavericks?
• Did you make at least two backups of your data before doing the update?

If you do an OS update without performing those things, you're flying blind and that = willy nilly.

So, you're thinking that's too much work? Too bad. Being lazy won't protect your data.

I too installed Mavericks onto a brand new Mini 2.6GHz i7 that shipped with OS 8.3. However, I did use Migration Assistant to move my apps, accounts, configuration, etc., from a clone of my old Mac Pro HD. I have a WD My Book (Time Machine), OWC RAID for external data and a La Cie Big Disk for cloned backups of the RAID. I also upgraded my 2009 Mac Pro to Mavericks (3 internal drives) and my 2008 iMac with LaCie RAID. It's been 3 weeks and still no problems other than FW drives won't sleep. I didn't run WD uninstaller but manually removed WD software/drives from the Mac Pro last summer as they were creating lots of problems under OS 10.8x. I just now ran WD uninstaller just in case and found no removed files in the trash, so the Mini and Mac Pro were clean. Nevertheless, I'm paranoid and have an offsite backup of my data, albeit I update only every week or two.

All,

I have been following the discussion (and another one just like it) but have one question.

It appears the root issue is WD Software that is not Mavericks compatible. The software may wipe WD Drives as well as others.

My question: Has anyone participating in this discuss had a drive wiped WITHOUT the WD software installed?

One person (on this discussion or the other one) seemed to have a Seagate Drive wiped but did not think the WD software was installed...

Thanks,

Curt

Yup. My Seagate was originally formatted with Mac Disk Utility on my old MacBook Pro. I attached it to my new out of the box iMac and installed Mavericks. There was NO Seagate software on the iMac. I didn't migrate anything from my old Mac. I wanted to do a fresh clean new install. Then my Seagate drives started appearing and disappearing at random. At which point I should of detached everything, mea culpa, but the forums were only talking about WD having problems, and I could get them to remount by plugging and unpluggind them and/or restarting. Then one of the Seagates wouldn't mount permanently. When I reattached it to my old MacBook Pro running Mountain Lion it wouldn't mount on the desktop. But Disk Utility did recognize it (although Disk Warrior wouldn't). Disk Utility also said that it's Partition Scheme was now unformatted. And the Verify and Repair buttons were greyed out. Lots of stuff on that lost drive. Apple should immediately stop distributing Mavericks.

Ouch!

Did you speak with Apple? If so, what was their response?

I understand them punting on the WD Software issue but if this was a new drive, NO WD software and new Mavericks install then Apple needs to own and resolve (quickly).

Thanks,

Curt

Spoke with Apple. They were very nice. But all I got in response was a big "duh." I believe it's called sweet incompetence. Also spoke with Seagate and they said they think it might have to do with the size of the drive and/or block size. They're troubleshooting now. Why now and not prior to release? Dunno.

BTW - just spoke with Seagate and according to them I'm not the only one one with this issue.

Message was edited by: jeffsphoto21

Ouch! (again)

There apparently are two issues at play. One related to WD Software and one related to Mavericks.

Did they acknowledge your issue as independent from the WD Software one?

I hope they are tracking (and working) both independently.

I agree with your earlier statement that if a clean Mavericks install can wipe drives previously working with ML Apple should share this info before folks learn the hard way.

Curt

My issue involves Seagate not WD. This makes it even more of a generic Mavericks issue.

Understood, that is what worries me!

Please let me know how things progress.

I use Seagate drives and therefore am very interested.

Curt

jeffsphto21: You did not have some hidden partition by chance on your Seagate drive? I erased a drive once and thought it was clean but later found a small hidden partition with their software on it.

I had two drives connected with NO Drive software installed in either. The Firewire connected Seagate lost data. MyBook WD is fine.

The data is still there on the drive but all files say they are damaged when trying to open them.

My Seaagte drives were all connected with USB 3.0. The drive that went down was a 4TB. In regards to the Seagate tech's remark about possible incompatibility between Mavericks and drive size - what were anybody else's drive sizes that got wiped? I also had a 2TB and a 3TB Seagate attached. No apparent problem with them The other drive that seemed to appear and disappear from the desktop was a 4TB.