Member Avatar for crystalrod00

Hi Im Crystal

I just saw that ALL, EVERYTHING, on my external hard drive is gone! wiped out!!
I am a photographer so, all my images were on there :(

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP! CAN I FIX THIS?? CAN I GET THEM BACK?

It is a Seagate - FreeAgent GoFlex 500GB External USB 2.0/3.0 Portable Hard Drive - Black.
And it was plugged into my Mac.

  • 5 Contributors
  • 8 Replies
  • 1K Views
  • 3 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by firdousahmad

Dani AI

Generated

Brief, practical follow-up that builds on points from , and : stop any further writes to the FreeAgent (do not open, copy to, or initialize it). Because already took the drive in for analysis, require the shop to perform a non‑destructive, bit‑for‑bit image first and give a written estimate before they do any repair that writes to the disk.

Safe, standard workflow for technically comfortable users:

  1. Identify and unmount the external device on macOS (use diskutil list and diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN).
  2. Create a forensic image on a different, larger drive (prefer GNU ddrescue when there are read errors; dd is usable but less flexible). Example dd pattern (replace N and paths appropriately):
sudo diskutil list
sudo diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN
sudo dd if=/dev/rdiskN of=/Volumes/Backup/external.img bs=1m conv=sync,noerror
  1. Run recovery tools only against that image (not the original). Use TestDisk to attempt partition/table recovery and PhotoRec for file-carving (PhotoRec often recovers many photo/RAW formats but usually loses original filenames and folder structure). Commercial tools exist that may preserve filenames, but results vary by filesystem and what was overwritten.

If the drive exhibits mechanical symptoms (clicking, not spinning, not recognized), stop and escalate to a specialist lab—as suggested—because continued DIY work can make recovery harder and more expensive. Ask any shop for: (a) an image-first policy, (b) an itemized quote, and (c) cutoff approval before invasive work.

Recommended Answers

All 8 Replies

Member Avatar for JorgeM

No backup? If not, I would suggest that you get in contact with a tech at the Apple store to see if they have software you can load to view the files that are marked as deleted on that drive.

When you delete a file, or format a drive, the data is not overwritten. The "table of contents" are mearly wiped, so it appears that the drive is empty. As long as you do not try to save anything on the disk, the data should be recoverable.

If they are unable to assist you and this data is very, very important, there are companies that specialize in retrieving data, even on damaged drives.

Again, depending on how important this data is to you, you may want to skip the Apple store, and engage with a company that specializes in data recovery.

Member Avatar for firdousahmad

havent u stored something new on ur drive if yes then it is impossible otherwise u can get them back

Member Avatar for itdata

Unplug it from it's power source so that nothing else writes to it. Then you have a few choices as far as data recovery goes. Here's a good article about data recovery options that helps explains your options. I hope that helps, good luck!

Member Avatar for rubberman

Worst case? Send it to a certified data recovery firm. It will cost you (possibly as much as $1000). The actual cost will be determined whether they can access the data without disassembling the drive and using specialized equipment to read the data from the platters directly. I mention $1000 because that is what I was quoted to get back the data from a 2TB array that died when the cooling fan failed over a weekend when I was away. So, a single 500GB drive should be a LOT less than that.

Member Avatar for crystalrod00

I had a back up of almost every folder in the hard drive, EXCEPT for the one that i really need now. I know, stupid of me. Very stupid. But i learned from my mistake.

I took it to a place that said they were gonna analyze it to see if it was even possible to recover all my files first. And if it is indeed possible then they were gonna start working on it.

No, i haven't stored anything new to the hard drive.

Thanks for the article!!!

I was looking online for data recovery place like that and yes i saw their prices!
but o'well i NEED that file back asap. So hopefully its not TOO expensive

Member Avatar for itdata

No problem. Just make sure that they don't go cowboy on your drive. If it needs extensive recovery work, be sure they know when to stop and get it sent out to one of the three major labs in the US (drivesavers, gillware or ontrack). Good luck and let us all know how it turns out, I'm subscribed to this thread :)

Member Avatar for crystalrod00

ok i will thank you!

Member Avatar for firdousahmad

mark it as solved

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.