Latest security update and the disappearance of my external drive

Question

I'm sure you're going to tell me that one has nothing to do with the other, but after running the latest security update, the Iomega MiniMax external drive that's been connected to my TiBook for the last 3 years has all of a sudden disappeared from my desktop.
System profiler sees it, Disk Utilities sees it. But there are a couple of things bugging me:
- I'd never paid attention before, but both the System profiler and DU indicated that SMART is not supported
- When I ran DU (off the OSX install disk) to try to repair the HD, I got the following message:
+Invalid node structre+
+Volume check failed+
(these 2 lines in red type)
+Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit+
(this in bold, red type)
+1 HFS volume checked+
+1 volume could not be repaired because of an error+
I think that was in red, too, but can't swear to it, as I'm totally rattled by now.
Now, there is no system on the Iomega, nothing but precious photos and music (since the original HD on this TiBook could only hold 30 Gb), and I'm at a loss as to why all of a sudden I can't access it. Whenever I've come back from a trip, I just plug the external back in (via firewire and usb), and it would just show up, as if nothing had happened.
Any ideas, any help would be, as usual, most appreciated.
Thank you all.
Message was edited by: DesigningWoman

Answer 1

DesigningWoman wrote:
I realize I'm getting 'way off this thread, but wanted to post back. I brought the Iomega to work, plugged it into my iMac and… nothing. Running DU gave me the same results as posted above. Then, for want of a better idea, I pulled out the install disk for the iMac, started up off that and ran DU.
Guess what? It went through its verifications, came up with problems and then proceeded to repair the external. And that wonderful little orange icon was there on my desktop at startup!
There shouldn't be any difference; my guess is it just happened to pick that time to mount. Sometimes a HD with issues will not mount 10+ times in a row, then, for whatever reason, it does on the eleventh try.
There's a new folder in the Iomega now, called "lost+found", weighing in at a little over a Mb and full of files ending with ".nib". Any idea what those are and if I need to keep them?
Hmmm, Google search turns up this from wiki:
Interface Builder is a software development application for Apple's Mac OS X operating system. It is part of Xcode (formerly Project Builder), the Apple Developer Connection developer's toolset. Interface Builder allows Cocoa and Carbon developers to create interfaces for applications using a graphical user interface. The resulting interface is stored as a .nib file, short for NeXT Interface Builder, or more recently, as a .xib file.
Do you use Xcode?
Another hit mentions iPhone, and another Corel. Don't know what to make of it in your case. Can you open any of the files? Any have same name as your data? Creation dates?
I shall now proceed to back up before reformatting.
Good plan.
And check out the cost of a replacement here (they're a good bit higher than in the States.
Ask yourself what your data is worth, and after it's gone, what you would have spent to have retained it. My guess is the answer would be a lot more than the cost of a HD.
Do I want a SATA?
Nope, TiBook doesn't have that interface.
I liked this model because it also worked as a hub… There are so many flavors out there now!
Indeed.
er, ahem, that's a sheepish "yes".
'Nuff said.
A while back, thanks to you and other forum members, I'd gathered up the courage to swap out the original HD for the biggest one the PB could take, and had always meant to to a "backward" backup of the stuff that was on the external — or copying photos onto CDs. Needless to say, the task got put off until this scare. Won't be doing that again.
I considered myself "lucky" the first time I lost data, as it wasn't too, too important, but it taught me a lesson I've never forgotten.
So, once again, thanks for the hand-holding (you had also talked me through/encouraged me to deal with the tight hinges on the TiBook).
You're welcome. Together with RAM and HD, that was the best thing I ever did for my TiBook.
Love this forum!
We aims to please!