I accidentally deleted my sparse image that mounted a disk on my hard drive where I keep important documents. I know the password, but I don't know how to access the volume disk without the sparse image. I am running Mavericks and am on a 2010 MacBook Pro. Any advice? I really need to regain access to this disk.
MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2), MacBook was just serviced at Apple
Assuming this was an encrypted image made from a disk drive you no longer have or has been erased, then you are SOL.
The information is contained on my MacBook, I just don't know how to remount the volume without the sparse image - if that makes sense. My MacBook works fine and I have access to that, just can't access the part that I partitioned. Please be kind - not savvy with tech lingo.
flaghand wrote:
The information is contained on my MacBook, I just don't know how to remount the volume without the sparse image - if that makes sense. My MacBook works fine and I have access to that, just can't access the part that I partitioned. Please be kind - not savvy with tech lingo.
If the sparse image is gone, then the disk is gone. The “disk” is encoded within the Sparse Image.
You need to restore the sparse image from your backup.
So, just to be clear. Once the sparse image file was deleted, all of the contents were too? And there is no longer a way to access those files that were on my hard drive? Are they still there but somehow hidden? I do still have the files on an external drive, but now this is a memory question. Are the files that were connected to my sparse image still using memory on my laptop?
Imagine a single file that is all of your important documents all connected together. That is a sparse image file. If you deleted the sparse image file, you deleted the embedded files. However you may be able to recover the sparse image file using file recovery software. I’ve never used any so I can’t recommend them.
If the sparse image was stored on your external, they were never using storage on your internal. If it was on your internal, but deleted, then no it is not using storage, but they may still exist. Again, you’d need data recovery software to recover them. As previously mentioned, if they were encrypted, then they likely cannot be recovered.
I think Barney has just told you the same thing that I did. Unless the files are on the disk from which you made the image file they are not recoverable when you have deleted the sparse image. And, yes, the contents of the sparse image were deleted along with the sparse image file itself.
I know this won't make you feel any better, but you should consider a backup strategy. Backups can prevent these mistakes from becoming disasters. I would consider having a backup strategy.
I also would question the purpose of the sparse image file in the first place. Are you using it to prevent others from accessing certain data? If so, then I assume the image was encrypted. I would suggest that an alternative is to take advantage of full disk encryption provided in Mavericks if you truly have sensitive data that needs to be protected. This could be implemented on an external drive that can also be disconnected and locked up in a fireproof safe.
Thanks for the help, Kappy. I do have everything backed up on both my iMac and MacBook. I kept a sparse image file on my MacBook with important documents that are already backed up elsewhere. I just didn't understand that if the sparse image was deleted, it deleted everything else connected to that file and I was simply trying to figure out a way to re-create that sparse image so that I could access the files that I *thought* were still on my MacBook.
Now that I understand it doesn't work that way, the problem is solved (thanks to you and the other user's feedback).
I'll just build a new file from my backups. Thanks.
However, if you could point me to a place to read up about disk encryption with Mavericks that would be great!
It is part of FileVault 2. See OS X- About FileVault 2.
If you just want to do something similar to what you were doing with the sparse image, see here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1578
I would suggest using a Sparse Bundle Disk Image as it is more efficient for Time Machine to backup.
Accidentally Deleted Sparse Image
