# You have inserted a disk that contains no volumes that Mac OS X can read



## FUNKSTICK (Jan 2, 2006)

You have inserted a disk that contains no volumes that Mac OS X can read

That is the error message.

The drive in question is an external Lacie d2 160g that I've owned for 3 years. I've been copying and deleting to it all that time in large numbers.

Just recently I transferred about 20 gigs to it after deleting a bunch of other stuff. It was about 90% full.

I turned off my Titanium Powerbook G4 667 running Tiger in the internal drive (newly installed O.S. 2 weeks now) and gave it a much needed rest. Which meant that I also turned off my Lacie 260 gig drive too (partitioned with a Panther boot drive) and my external Glyph M project 40g drive.

When I turn the machine back on my 160g will not mount and gives me the error I mentioned above. First I boot in Tiger then in Panther ... neither will see it.

I don't know. I'm guessing its a driver problem. I went to Lacie (which was really difficult to get on their site for some bizarre reason- any other site was no problem) and I downloaded (finallly) a Lacie update for Tiger but I'm afraid to lose my "ever so precious data".

I can't seem to contact Lacie, via their site... constant timeouts aceessing it.

Only disk utility recognizes the drive. It cannot mount it.

Data Rescue http://www.prosofteng.com/index.php?datarescue doesn't see it

Disk Warrior http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/ says it can do nothing for me....

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPP!!!!


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## macguru (Oct 9, 2005)

ok you should always leave 33% free space on any hard drive. Data is likely corrupted cross linked files......IF disk utility will allow you to reformat it then do so, and start over. IF it is os x 10.3.6 or later and a firewire drive it may need new updated drivers. Still that will not fix the data corruption. Reformat is my advice. Afterwards leave one third free space on the hard drive. That's to avoid data corruption.


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## FUNKSTICK (Jan 2, 2006)

Thank you so much for your timely reply. You were the first one to get back to me and I left messages on Lacies site, Diskwarriors and Data Rescues sites.

Lemme get this straight. If I have a 160 gig drive then then I can only use 107 gigs of it???
I surely have gone out of bounds on this one. So if I partition a drive into 4 somewhat equal parts ie; a 200 gig drive into 4 - 50 gig partitions... then I can only use 33gigs of each partition? Ohhhhhhhhh you mean SAFELY 

Well wheres the fun in that?? LOL

Well, looks like Data Rescue has put out a new version Data Rescue II . THAT one, once installed and started up, saw the drive and was able to recover about 30 gigs of the stuff that I really needed and didn't have backed up. 

One does get rather particular about what one NEEDS in this kinda situation. 

Other stuff I either have backed up, can get again, or can live without.

So where am I in the 5 stages of grief.... hmmm looks like acceptance.

I will reformat this Muthabrutha, update whatever drivers I can and try my darndest to do as you say with the 33% thing. 33%??!!! Jeez... I'm gonna have to invest in some more hard drives.

I have another 250 gig drive that is partitioned... one partition is 100 gigs and its 97% full I'd say... and with the recovery of all this stuff the other partitions are in harms way as we speak.

Wait! The partitioning drive question!... Say I partition a 100gb drive and leave one 33gb partition empty am I okay? Or does it have to be 33% empty space on each partition?

So is there some software out there that warns you when you start filling your drive to full? For MAC?

Thanx again....

Me ; }


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## macguru (Oct 9, 2005)

Ok it is recommended you leave a thrid of your disk space as free space, not a hard and fast rule......


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## macguru (Oct 9, 2005)

I'm just trying to have you realize how the problem occurred due to too much space being used on the hard drive without enough free space to cut down on file fragmentation as over fragmentation can lead to data corruption. It's a modus operandi not a hard and fast rule. Sensibly applied may attenuate any problems or keep that away.


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## [email protected] (Nov 11, 2005)

have you tried tech tool?


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## macguru (Oct 9, 2005)

Of course for periodic maintenance Alsoft Diskwarrior at www.alsoft.com is the BEST utility for repair. Tech tool pro is also good and will warn you if there is software errors or physical damage to a hard drive. Tech tool is ok but Diskwarrior is best. Either do different things. Tech tool reports damage with minor repair techniques Diskwarrior really repairs.


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## [email protected] (Nov 11, 2005)

he said he left a messages with Diskwarrior, I assumed he tried it. It is very good for disk recovery. It doesn't have a lot of features Tech Tool does. I use a combo of the two mixed.


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## macguru (Oct 9, 2005)

The cause of the disk data crash was overlapped files due to not enough free space. Leave about a third of disk space as free space to avoid data crash issues. Also make sure you have the latest firewire drivers installed http://www.lacie.com/support/drivers/ . With 90 percent data on a hard drive it is an accident waiting to happen most times. Also run alsoft diskwarrior periodically about every 2-3 months or so in normal operation. Tech Tool pro is also a good utility but it cheifly reports hardware failures and does not have the repair techniques alsoft diskwarrior does although it has some. In any case be glad it isn't dead sectors as that means you would have to buy a new drive. If diskwarrior cannot fix a drive it usually has to be reformatted as was the case.


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## [email protected] (Nov 11, 2005)

he is not lying to you on the usage issue. I know it seems funny but it's true. I'm not sure about the overlapping data but you could have currupted files. You do however always want to keep more than 1 backup for important files always.


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