Re: Access to an external HD
Hello again Keith
I’m not sure if it’s worth mentioning to you, but in years gone by I have successfully used this product:-
(I’m not on commission!)
Kind regards, David
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On 28 Feb 2025, at 09:21, Keith Parr via groups.io <kg.parr@...> wrote:
This is a rotating platter HFS+ disc.? I have not bothered to reformat my old drives.? I already have DW from the days when it was my go-to repair mechanism after a crash / accident / whatever.? It's really sad that Alsoft still has insufficient information on APFS to be able to release an APFS version.
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Keith
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Re: Access to an external HD
Thanks for these ideas, Tod.
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I'm familiar with the sort of SATA drives you picture and I have the necessary interface device for them, but this is not one of them.? It's a type I haven't seen before.? Have a look at to see what I have.
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The interface looks like:?
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I'd be interested if anyone has seen an adapter to fit such a connector.
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Keith
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Re: Access to an external HD
This is a rotating platter HFS+ disc.? I have not bothered to reformat my old drives.? I already have DW from the days when it was my go-to repair mechanism after a crash / accident / whatever.? It's really sad that Alsoft still has insufficient information on APFS to be able to release an APFS version.
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Keith
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Connectology in home entertainment
This may not be the appropriate place to ask for help on this topic, but it involves Apple hardware (a 4K Apple TV).
There’s an “enhanced” version of ARC HDMI (labeled eARC, for "enhanced audio return channel”) which is supposed to automate interoperability among remote controls for your TV, Sound Bar, DVD player, set-top box, and streaming box (like the Apple TV). For me, it appears the Apple TV is the “villain” which screws up everything else. So, I’m wondering if anyone here has fallen victim to such issues, and if so, what they’ve tried and how well it helped).
Corollary question (just about the Apple TV, and of course I know I can experiment, but it’s a JUNGLE back there behind the wall-mounted 4K OLED). One suggestion is that I probably don’t NEED the HDMI cable that connects my Apple TV to my LG 4K OLED TV, because they’re also connected by Ethernet.
And one suggestion regarding how to make all these boxes synchronize correctly has been to power off everything, then REMOVE everything from a/c power for a few minutes, then reconnect everything and permit the boxes to greet each other again. Sounds like witchcraft to me, but my spouse refuses to juggle remotes for video input source, sound output destination, and power on/off commands.
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Jim Robertson
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Re: Access to an external HD
It might help to have more pictures. Typically in an external HDD (spinning disk), the USB interface and power are part of the case which, in turn, is connected to a standard internal drive with a SATA interface. In external drives, most of the time the failure is the USB circuitry or power supply. If the drive is USB powered, then these are the same circuitry. It is likely that USB back plate can be disconnected from the internal drive, exposing a SATA connection.?
I have on rare occasions seen drive where this circuitry was hardwired to the internal, but that’s rare. The trick is usually figuring out how to get the case/USB port disconnected to get at the SATA port. If you can get to the SATA port, then there are $20 USB to SATA adapters you can use to reconnect the drive to your computer.
In short, there is probably a way to expose the USB to SATA connection and connect the drive via SATA directly, but it’s not clear from your photo how that might be done.
If this is stumping you, start with your local indecent computer repair shop. This is their bread and butter. It won’t matter what language they speak. If the failure is in the external circuitry, they can expose the SATA port quickly and check the drive even if it means direct wiring. If there is drive corruption, they will have recovery software and can fairly quickly tell you how bad it is.?
Datasavers is only necessary for internal failure of the internal drive, which is serious and almost always results in significant corruption making the data not useful to a lay persons. Also very expensive. It is typically more like $600-1000 depending on how corrupt and how much you need, and there is no guarantee they can recover what you want. That said, if you are desperate and have the money, they are good at what they do.
The first pictures shows what the SATA connection should look like when exposed, though you may only be able to the end, not the whole circuit board. The second picture is the connecting cable like you might see on an adapter.,
And finally, if this is an external spinning disk, it should not be APFS formatted. APFS is for SSDs. ?Spinning disks should be formatted HFS+ (or ExFAT or another Windows format).?
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Cheers,
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? tod
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Re: Access to an external HD
On Feb 26, 2025, at 3:57 AM, Keith Parr via groups.io <kg.parr@...> wrote:
I had rather hoped that there might be a low level access to the drive so that I could use Disk Warrior to do my own recovery. It seems that might be a forlorn hope. Unless you have a hard drive that has been in use for many years now, it is formatted as APFS. There are NO disk utilities (Disk Warrior included) for the Macintosh that can repair your drive’s directory (other than Apple’s own Disk Utility/First Aid). (Note that some legacy disk repair utilities have Web sites that will lead you to believe that they CAN repair an APFS disk…they can’t.) Also note that even if your hard drive is still formatted as HFS+, Disk Warrior is now $120. Add that to the cost of a drive dock/adapter, and you are getting very close to the cost of having a professional do your recovery for you. (Assuming that you aren’t foolish enough to pay Drive Savers prices.) __________________________________________________ Randy B. Singer Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions) Essential But Hard To Find Macintosh Software and Advice __________________________________________________
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Re: Duplicate file finder
The best and not presently available for modern OS'es was FileBuddy which give multiple methods to search and compare drives, folders, etc. ?
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Re: Access to an external HD
I've had many externals of different brands "die" and by removing the drives from the cases found the drives themselves were perfectly fine and gave years more service. ?The cases are not made to be opened so you will destroy them in the process but the data and drive will be fine. ?
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Re: Charging anomalie after 15.3 update
On Feb 26, 2025, at 4:00 AM, Keith Parr via groups.io <kg.parr@...> wrote:
I was puzzled, tho', that the OS is claiming that the battery condition was "normal”. The OS isn’t very accurate in this regard. That’s why Coconut Battery exists and is so often recommended. Coconut Barrery is highly accurate. __________________________________________________ Randy B. Singer Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions) Essential But Hard To Find Macintosh Software and Advice __________________________________________________
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Re: Charging anomalie after 15.3 update
Point taken, Randy.? I was puzzled, tho', that the OS is claiming that the battery condition was "normal".
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Keith
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Re: Access to an external HD
Thanks to everybody for their thoughts.
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I think I'm going to try WD as my first stop.? I live in France, so using recovery services in the US might be problematic - as well as expensive!? The disc contains stuff of sentimental value rather than mission critical data.
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I had rather hoped that there might be a low level access to the drive so that I could use Disk Warrior to do my own recovery.? It seems that might be a forlorn hope.
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Keith
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Re: Access to an external HD
On Feb 25, 2025, at 4:13 PM, Paul via groups.io <paul@...> wrote:
If the data is really important companies DriveSavers can open the case and extract from internal platters.
If you decide to that route, I have a 10% coupon code you can use. The aren’t cheap - $800 - $3000 depending upon how mach labor is involved. My last client paid $1300 for her pictures recovery. That is a freaking insane amount of money to pay for a data recovery. After you have paid that much you should contact the police, because you’ve been raped.
I think Randy has posted another hard drive recovery service to the group a few years back.
"$300 Drive Recovery" It's important to note that their name "$300 Drive Recovery" isn't a guaranty that the recovery of your drive will always only cost $300. A difficult recovery will cost more. However, in every case that I've heard of, the final cost for the recovery was drastically cheaper than any other quote that the user got from any other drive recovery service. THEY HAVE A $500 CAP ON LABOR CHARGES! All of their fees and charges are determined UP FRONT! (Some other hard drive recovery places will charge you over $3,000 for a simple recovery such as yours.) "$300 Drive Recovery” Rate calculator: ? They are in Los Angeles, California. You can have them do the job completely by mail. They can recover an SSD! Five stars from Yelp: __________________________________________________ Randy B. Singer Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions) Essential But Hard To Find Macintosh Software and Advice __________________________________________________
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Re: Access to an external HD
HI
If the data is really important companies DriveSavers can open the case and extract from internal platters.
If you decide to that route, I have a 10% coupon code you can use. The aren’t cheap - $800 - $3000 depending upon how mach labor is involved. My last client paid $1300 for her pictures recovery.
I think Randy has posted another hard drive recovery service to the group a few years back.
Paul
++++++++++++++++++++++++ Helping Los Angeles area computer users since 1988?
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On Feb 25, 2025, at 5:57?AM, Keith Parr via groups.io <kg.parr@...> wrote:
I have a WD Elements SE HD which has failed.? The way it has failed leads me to suspect that it's the electronics (USB interface?) rather than the platter / mechanism which has failed.
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Inside the case there appears to be a set of six contacts next to the USB socket.? Might these give some sort of low level access to the drive?
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<IMG_1567 crop.jpg>
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I know there are drives, does anyone know whether similar devices are available for WD drives?
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Keith
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Re: Access to an external HD
That is a set of contacts that I have not seen before.?
I believe the recessed part in the middle are the data and data instruction contacts. Usually there are 2 rows of 4 pins, along side the data for power and motor operation. I have not seen those large flat contact pads before.?
If you had another enclosure or a dock, I would suggest trying that. Davis’s suggestion if contacting WD is how I would proceed.?
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On Feb 25, 2025, at 05:57, Keith Parr via groups.io <kg.parr@...> wrote:
? I have a WD Elements SE HD which has failed.? The way it has failed leads me to suspect that it's the electronics (USB interface?) rather than the platter / mechanism which has failed.
?
Inside the case there appears to be a set of six contacts next to the USB socket.? Might these give some sort of low level access to the drive?
?
?
I know there are drives, does anyone know whether similar devices are available for WD drives?
?
Keith
?
?
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Re: Charging anomalie after 15.3 update
On Feb 7, 2025, at 7:27 AM, Keith Parr via groups.io <kg.parr@...> wrote:
Coconut Battery tells me that battery health is 80%… Please forgive me for being the bearer of bad news, but when your laptop battery is at 80%. generally it is considered to be end of life. Of course, if you are still getting good run time from a charge, and things aren’t acting flaky, then there is no harm in waiting until those things start being a problem. __________________________________________________ Randy B. Singer Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions) Essential But Hard To Find Macintosh Software and Advice __________________________________________________
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Re: Access to an external HD
I do not know the answer to your question, Keith, but I’d like to suggest that you ask Western Digital. They once replaced a MyBook product which failed after nearly 5 years. All I had to pay was the postage. They also replaced my 1TB for a 2TB with no extra cost.
Just a thought!
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On 25 Feb 2025, at 13:57, Keith Parr via groups.io <kg.parr@...> wrote:
I have a WD Elements SE HD which has failed.? The way it has failed leads me to suspect that it's the electronics (USB interface?) rather than the platter / mechanism which has failed.
?
Inside the case there appears to be a set of six contacts next to the USB socket.? Might these give some sort of low level access to the drive?
?
<IMG_1567 crop.jpg>
?
I know there are drives, does anyone know whether similar devices are available for WD drives?
?
Keith
?
?
?
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I have a WD Elements SE HD which has failed.? The way it has failed leads me to suspect that it's the electronics (USB interface?) rather than the platter / mechanism which has failed.
?
Inside the case there appears to be a set of six contacts next to the USB socket.? Might these give some sort of low level access to the drive?
?
?
I know there are drives, does anyone know whether similar devices are available for WD drives?
?
Keith
?
?
?
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Re: Charging anomalie after 15.3 update
It turns out that the 15.3.1 update seems to have fixed the problem.? For the moment all I can say is that since I did that update the problem has not recurred (yet?).? But taken with the fact that the problem started with 15.3, it looks as if it was a bug.
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Thanks for helping.
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Keith
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Re: Duplicate file finder
Not sure if this will do what you want. ?I have documents in three different places that get edited independently and so get out of sync. ?To get the same set of docs in all three places, and all the same versions, I use FreeFileSync. ?With the free version, ?you do it in pairs. You can tell it to make one of the two sources complete, or to mirror the pairs, so they are both complete. ?All it is doing is looking at the names of the files in the two locations and keeping the most recent of each file. ?There is a Terminal command that does the same thing if you are confident enough to use it. ?
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Re: Duplicate file finder
On Feb 22, 2025, at 12:33 PM, Steve Parmley via groups.io <rushtofire@...> wrote:
Can someone please point me in the direction of a software utility that can compare files over multiple drives so they can be consolidated onto one computer? I don’t know if this program has all of the functionality that you need. But because it is free, it might be worth checking out: DupeGuru (free) (Finds duplicate files by either name or content. Also works with music and photos. Uses fuzzy logic to find duplicates that don’t have precisely the same name.) __________________________________________________ Randy B. Singer Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions) Essential But Hard To Find Macintosh Software and Advice __________________________________________________
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David G Brooks
todhop
Paul
Brent