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Disappearing folders and files on an external hard drive

Hi


Recently, I have been getting this phenomenon where the folders of a hard drive disappears sometimes completely or sometimes partially. When I try to eject it, it will say one or more apps is trying to use it and I need to force eject it. I will do it, when I then reconnect the external hard drive, it will show all the folders and files again.


I am on AFPS on the external hard drive. it is a 4tb drive and it was working well until recently.


A quick disk utility repair will show all is ok.


I am wondering what is wrong? I am running a Macbook pro mid 202 with OSX 10.15 Catalina installed. drive is formatted as AFPS.


scratching my head

Ansj64

Posted on Apr 9, 2021 9:30 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 9, 2021 10:47 PM

Hey there!


Can you say what the drive is used for? E.g. Time Machine, or just as a manual backup drive, and/or if it’s also used with other OS’, E.g Windows, etc.?


Likewise, can you say the name of the brand of external drive you’re using, and list the available storage and partitions, if any?


A picture of Disk Utility, while the main external Disk and external Volume, (Make sure to select View > Show All Devices, while in Disk Utility, to see all), are selected will help!


Likewise, if you highlight the external drive in Finder, press Command i on the keyboard, and expand all the sections, especially the Sharing and Permissions section. That may help.


Other good tests:

Does the same happen on another Mac? (If able to test).

Does the same happen on another port/cable?.

Was it working fine one day, then just stopped working suddenly? Or were there any changes made from when it was working to not working?


From what you describe, it’s unpredictable behavior which makes it tough to diagnose, but also wondering if the same happens to files transferred from / to different locations on the drive.


Likewise, perhaps, it’s your admin user profile that’s causing the problem, or even third party software you have installed.

Fir each scenario, testing from another user account, and/or safe boot is a good test/


https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/start-up-your-mac-in-safe-mode-mh21245/mac


Sorry, just spitballing ideas, I’ve seen a lot, let me know, happy to help if I can!



Similar questions

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 9, 2021 10:47 PM in response to Tsinoy Newbie

Hey there!


Can you say what the drive is used for? E.g. Time Machine, or just as a manual backup drive, and/or if it’s also used with other OS’, E.g Windows, etc.?


Likewise, can you say the name of the brand of external drive you’re using, and list the available storage and partitions, if any?


A picture of Disk Utility, while the main external Disk and external Volume, (Make sure to select View > Show All Devices, while in Disk Utility, to see all), are selected will help!


Likewise, if you highlight the external drive in Finder, press Command i on the keyboard, and expand all the sections, especially the Sharing and Permissions section. That may help.


Other good tests:

Does the same happen on another Mac? (If able to test).

Does the same happen on another port/cable?.

Was it working fine one day, then just stopped working suddenly? Or were there any changes made from when it was working to not working?


From what you describe, it’s unpredictable behavior which makes it tough to diagnose, but also wondering if the same happens to files transferred from / to different locations on the drive.


Likewise, perhaps, it’s your admin user profile that’s causing the problem, or even third party software you have installed.

Fir each scenario, testing from another user account, and/or safe boot is a good test/


https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/start-up-your-mac-in-safe-mode-mh21245/mac


Sorry, just spitballing ideas, I’ve seen a lot, let me know, happy to help if I can!



Apr 11, 2021 8:13 PM in response to Tsinoy Newbie

No worries, if you think that’s the case, testing in safe mode is a good step. Likewise, removing the Login Items from System Preferences > Users and Groups, restarting is another good test.


Also, it maybe good to know the available storage on the external drive, and formatting as said before, as well as those other tests, good luck!


If the Mac is functioning normally, then it would be likely the external drive needs to be erased, but that’s why those tests are important, as nobody wants to have to move their data elsewhere to just move it back again etc.

Disappearing folders and files on an external hard drive

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