Q: Mavericks corrupts external hard drive

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.

Same here after upgrading to OS X Mavericks all 3 WD external drives and its all connected to my MacPro Desktop, after a succesful upgrade I was terribly shock when all the files from the 3 external HD can't be access. tried to shift to another mac still all files can't be accessed.

Tried WD Raid Manager disk utility checked that HD is 100% working.

Again I also upgraded to Mavericks. Lost access to a 3tb of data on aWD external drive (partition map error)

Today bought a brand new 3 tb seagate drive, formatted it, attempted to clone the WD drive onto it before data recovery, and within 2 hours OSX Mavericks destroyed the new seagate drive with the same error, right before my eyes!

Im shuting down until an update comes out

Points we have noted when problem solving whether or not we should "free upgrade?" to mav.  At this point it is unlikely we will upgrade - this is what we have found so far that may help others problem solve.

Before installing the new "WD_Software_Uninstaller_1_0_0_8.zip"

1     On 10.8.5 - each time our WD 2.0T MyBook drives are mounted the VCD appears

2     70% of the time the VCD says "The disk you inserted was not readable on this computer" ignore/eject

3     30% of the time the VCD  is readable and clicking allows access to the drive contents

4     Within the VCD contents there is an original WD Software Uninstaller app that opens and runs

5     The dialog box informs that "there is no WD software installed on this computer"

6     After using the recent WD Software Uninstall v1.0.0.8 Nov 4/13 4.2MB it runs and uninstalls the following:

7     "WD Smartware - WD Drive Manager has been uninstalled" and then a Quit option dialog

8     This can be run over and over and does not note that "there is no WD software installed on this computer"

9     Each time it runs and it appears as though it is uninstalling something again and again - this is odd

10   After using the zip the following has been left as a launchdaemon plist on the HD:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">

<dict>

  <key>Disabled</key>

  <true/>

  <key>Label</key>

          <string>com.westerndigital.WD-Software-Uninstaller</string>

  <key>OnDemand</key>

  <true/>

          <key>ProgramArguments</key>

  <array>

                    <string>/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.westerndigital.WD-Software-Uninstaller</string>

  </array>

          <key>ServiceIPC</key>

  <true/>

  <key>Sockets</key>

  <dict>

                    <key>MasterSocket</key>

  <dict>

                              <key>SockFamily</key>

  <string>Unix</string>

                              <key>SockPathMode</key>

  <integer>438</integer>

                              <key>SockPathName</key>

                              <string>/var/run/com.westerndigital.WD-Software-Uninstaller.socket</string>

                              <key>SockType</key>

  <string>Stream</string>

  </dict>

  </dict>

</dict>

</plist>

11     Also the following has been left as a privlegdedhelpertools exec file on the HD:

Last login: Mon Nov 11 11:41:34 on console

xxx:~ v$ /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.westerndigital.WD-Software-Uninstaller ; exit;

Nov 11 13:13:37 xxx.local com.westerndigital.WD-Software-Uninstaller[994] <Info>: Starting up

Nov 11 13:13:37 xxx.local com.westerndigital.WD-Software-Uninstaller[994] <Error>: Error checking in: %m

Nov 11 13:13:37 xxx.local com.westerndigital.WD-Software-Uninstaller[994] <Info>: Shutting down

logout

[Process completed]

12     Have not done much further on this and will probably leave these new files on the HD for now

13     When the external drives are connected again direct or daisy chained the following appears for the VCD:

14     "The disk you inserted was not readable on this computer" ignore/eject

15     Only one time we did again have access to the VCD contents and original uninstaller app

16     Using a computer with 10.5.8 the original WD Software Uninstaller app opens and runs consistently

17     The dialog box informs that "there is no WD software installed on this computer"

18     Seems like the current zip is a preventative measure WD has taken for 10.8.6 and up

We feel for all those that lost data.....

Will263,

Do you know if you have any Western Digital Software installed?  It could have been installed silently in the past...

Thanks,

Curt

No. This was a fresh system install with a brand new iMac. And no migration. Used only Seagate drives with no drive software from Seagate or any other mfg. The Segate drives were originally formatted with Mac Disk Utility on a MacBook Pro with Mountain Lion.

There has to be a common denominator here. I have no WD or any other External Drive Brand's software. But my WD hard drives plugged straight in without any loss of data whatever, and beleive me, after backing them up onto other drives I gave them a pretty decent workout and nothing was lost. Time Machine still worked fine and past backups were in workable order.

I am certainly not being smug here whatsoever, as my worse nightmare is loosing data. But I can't figure out why some are having such disasters with external drives and others are having not a hiccup.

Whatever is causing it needs to be addressed by all parties ASAP. The loss of data, when not caused by the user, is unacceptable. And the time-consuming chore (and often the high-cost) of retreiving data can not be justified.

Good Luck

Pete

PeterMac87,

Be careful...some drives worked perfectly for a few days and then the issue occurred.

Curt

Chastings wrote:

 

PeterMac87,

 

Be careful...some drives worked perfectly for a few days and then the issue occurred.

 

Curt

As I said, I have backed them up again on other drives. Can never be too cautious. Mine have been running now for two weeks, since the day Mavericks was released.

But thanks for the warning.

Cheers

Pete

ofquiet Brooklyn, NY 

I would highly disagree in this case (data loss responsibility)

Disagree or not is utterly irrelevant here.  

Upon ANY OS upgrade (not exclusive to Apple by any means either) you must agree to a TOS (terms of service) in which .......  "not responsible for loss of data"

I'm sure you disagree, and data loss is a bad thing, but the point is if you installed any OS, or if you turned on your new notebook and set it up....., you DID AGREE to a use agreement which includes  "....not responsible for loss of data..."

All those who thought ANY singular backup or archive was "good enough" have, given time, always come to regret that decision,....always.

The one place in life where paranoia is BOTH realistic AND advocated is digital data where making MANY multiple redundant copies is "always encouraged and good advice from any professional"

Chastings 

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

There is greatly mounting evidence from some contacts I have made that the answer to that is YES.

There is statistically large and important information from multiple sources that those WITHOUT WD software and who have experienced data corruption are all running 2+ Terabyte drives.

causation as per this is yet indeterminate of course however.

This may be why after much testing myself I could not cause a fault with any Seagate or other drive since they were all 1TB or less drives, Ill try both WD software installed and NOT installed on some blank 3TB HD with some junk testing data on a boot clone sandbox of Mavericks.

Mmm. If I buy a new car I expect the brakes to work properly. If I crash because there was a mfg. defect, even if I drove very gingerly and carefully because I'm not sure how the new car works exactly, it's still the fault of the car maker. And what if all my data backups are on the very external drives that are at risk for being wiped if I use them? At this stage in the development of the personal computer - particularly Apple - I think it's ethically (if not legally) indefensible for them to be off the hook by selling you a computer and then simply washing their hands of any responsibility by simply stating, in effect, "buyer beware."

petermac87 wrote:

 

There has to be a common denominator here.

Let's step through this.  There are three suspect sources.

• Mavericks driver software
• A third party driver
• Disk firmware

My sense is that Mavericks is ok in this regard.  Although I'm still experiencing improper disk ejections with 10.8.5 with my USB 3 drives (the drives attached via Thunderbolt are fine) and Apple has not fixed that.  So my trust in Apple's disk handling is not very high at the moment.

We know that WD's drivers are to blame for their problems.  As for Seagate, it can only be firmware.  These cheap USB drives almost always include encryption firmware in the controller.  Why? I don't know.  It seems silly to me to have proprietary encryption on board, it's just another layer that can go wrong.  Also, if you remove a disk from a WD USB enclosure and plug it into another, like from Seagate, it won't work unless you reformat it - that's another problem with the encryption layer.  A few years ago, after an OS update, I had to update the firmware on some older USB2 drives because they suddenly got wonky and would self-eject without warning. 

So, it's driver software for WD and firmware (my guess) for Seagate.  I've not heard of any trends with other vendor drives.   ???

jeffsphoto21 

And what if all my data backups are on the very external drives that are at risk for being wiped

All hard drives, at ALL times are at "risk". This is the "carved in stone" law of computers and digital data, regardless of OS, PC or Mac.   

Apple doesnt mfg. HD or SSD, and never has. Digital data permanence is as volatile as a campfire inside a fireworks factory, always has been.

Even if the HD mechanism is perfect, the ferromagnetic read/write surface of the platter inside the HD will entropy to the point of no return for data extraction. HD life varies, but barring mechanical failure, 3-8 years typically for ferromagnetic entropy/depolarization to the point of data-extraction uselessness

You must have an understanding the fragility of any and all HD & ferromagnetic storage, and that vital data needs to be “frozen” on unassailable redundancies across multiple storage platforms including multiple HD, online backup, archival DVD burns comprising at the very minimum triple platform redundancy of data you have been working on for years or decades that cannot be replaced.

There are only two kinds of hard drives, those that have failed, and those that will fail, regardless of quality of manufacture.

If you want data permanence, invest in DVD archival storage.  Realistically ANY one-way data storage device (which cannot be erased or corrupted outside of physical damage) is a "necessity" for vital data.

Investigate one-way (write-once) data storage solutions.

I know, PlotinusVeritas, that's why I'm not advocating any sort of class action lawsuit. Apple, like all computer manufacturers, is quick to cover their ***. I am stating that Apple has compromised a lot of people's faith in their company and has greatly tarnished their reputation. They can stick their head in the sand all they want, it doesn't make it go away. All great companies eventually fall, usually slowly, and often by getting sloppy (which is how I would characterize this issue).

ofquiet wrote:

 

I know, PlotinusVeritas, that's why I'm not advocating any sort of class action lawsuit. Apple, like all computer manufacturers, is quick to cover their ***. I am stating that Apple has compromised a lot of people's faith in their company and has greatly tarnished their reputation. They can stick their head in the sand all they want, it doesn't make it go away. All great companies eventually fall, usually slowly, and often by getting sloppy (which is how I would characterize this issue).

Why is it Apple's fault that other companies Hardware are failing for some?

Pete