Hard drive crash - anyone have luck with Disk Warrior or other program??

Weirdest crash ever.

Lacie 1TB.
OS 10.6.8 Quad Intel
FCP 7.0.3

Working on a project in a folder titled "Kids". FCP starts acting up. Ultimately all files and Hard Drive go offline. When I reboot I get

Error message:

"MAC OS X can't repair the disk. You can still open or copy files, but you can't save changes on the disk. Save as many as possible and reformat."

My computer with Snow Leopard can't see any of the files. My computer with 10.5.8 can see everything up to KA. In other words from "Kids" on is gone. Disk Utility didn't work on it.

I have 95% backed up but the last 5% is the last several days of work from over the holidays.

Anyone have advice on a restoration software that is inexpensive yet effective?

Thanks as always.

Troy

I had one drive go on me and I was able to retrieve all my files off of it using DiskWarrior. Later two other drives went, and I was not able to retrieve any files. I lost everything. It all depends on what went wrong with the drive.

> I have 95% backed up but the last 5% is the last several days of work from over the holidays.

See why we say don't use Lacies? They look great until they don't.

In a normal long-term project, the media doesn't change very much on a day-to-day basis; only the project file does. Any reason why you're not just restoring your media via the backup and then using either a project-file archive (which you should have been maintaining, backing up at least once per session) or the Autosave Vault to restore the editing decisions?

DiskWarrior doesn't "retrieve" any files, period. It only repairs the directory, the file on a drive that tells the computer where a file is, if it exists. DiskWarrior could fix your issue, but normally a simple directory corruption doesn't result in you seeing only half the files. To me that points to a file or hardware corruption. Try it, but only after you've backed up as many files as possible from the drive first. DiskWarrior is usually very good at not making any problem worse -- usually the worst it can do is fail to fix the problem -- but if your drive is teetering on the edge, any diagnostic utility could send it toppling over the cliff.


www.derekmok.com

Quote
DiskWarrior doesn't "retrieve" any files, period.

DiskWarrior was the only program (that I owned) that would let me see all the files, and let me copy them to another drive.

Thanks Guys,

Missing my latest Motion Project files, one set of dialogue for a pick up shoot that I can't seem to find in my back up and also, here's a lesson for me; I usually ingest and work with that footage and then keep the raw as my back up. Shooting with my HPX all of the files have their unique name. I "name" them in FVP using log notes keeping the original name on the drive. I shot this with a 7D which doesn't have the same type of random name structure - so I renamed ALL OF THE CLIPS to match scene and take. Kept the RAW files though. DOH!!! They are all there but I'll have to rename several folders again (fortunatley I have a second copy of most of the renamed clips).

Wait a cog in my wheel!

What a cog that is ...
...can't even blame smart text for that one!

FYI -

Bought Disk Warrior and it successfully rebuilt the drive.

Whew!!

Goodbye Lacie - been fun ...

Short lived success ... for a fleeting moment there they were- all purty like new ... then suddenly - SPLAT... the drive totally ate S**T.
Hardware failure ...

Thanks for the help anyway fellas ...

"Crash" & "LaCie" always end up in the same thread. No surprise. I will second the Disk Warrior suggestion...and avoid LaCies.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

>Shooting with my HPX all of the files have their unique name.

I'll disagree here. The only camera with a good file naming scheme where it comes to preventing duplicate file names, is the RED camera. And the default naming on most clips do not let you know which project or shoot day they came from. Bad for finder level organization. So yea, if you ingested them via L&T, you can rename them as there is timecode, reel name and clip Id buried within the clips to facilitate batch recapturing and you can even use that to offline/online.



www.strypesinpost.com

If it is a single drive, use some DIY tools to get the drive out of the crummy enclosure and pop them into a fast eSATA dock, which may give you enough time to pull all the data from the drive. Also, that would mitigate issues related to a bad power unit. If that fails, pop it in the freezer and try mounting it after that (if you can't afford to send it to a lab). The dock idea will not work if it is a RAID 0.



www.strypesinpost.com

Popping in freezer idea does work. Often does Data Recovery from ProSoft. [www.prosofteng.com]

Michael Horton
-------------------

Strype's - when I shoot I put them in folders ACam Card1 and so on in leu of reels. They all remain in folders and are brought into project that way - so there is a madness to my method - it came from having to be quick on the set so I am able to it well organized (for me anyway).
Also not saying that the HPX file naming is good as dupes do pop up - but it is far better than the DSLR naming where practically every card has a dupe with another.

How long should it sit in the freezer??

Not long. Last time I did it I put it in for about 10 minutes.

Michael Horton
-------------------

Thanks- I'll try it

> when I shoot I put them in folders ACam Card1 and so on in lieu of reels.

I've met many DITs who do that. Bad work habit. What you don't realize is that FCP doesn't care what folder a file is in; it cares what the file is called. Reel Names are NOT negotiable, nor is renaming clips so that they always have unique names that make sense. What's "good enough" for rushed operations on set is not good enough for editorial, which has to deal with the files for a year or two, not just the 15 minutes when the producer is yapping in your ear to try to save five minutes.

I just had to walk my New York director through several media reconnect processes and he learned the lesson the hard way: He didn't rename some files (sync sound) I'd asked him to in the beginning, and now his edits are being messed with because FCP can't distinguish one "1.wav" from another "1.wav" in another folder. The sound recordist had put each "1.wav" into a folder named after the shot name, but it does no good because FCP doesn't ask for those when reconnecting. Plus, what are you going to do when you reconnect a whole timeline? Every shot in its own folder?


www.derekmok.com

I get all of that. I have done trouble shooting for many who have had the same issues. Fortunately on my stuff I am the producer, director and editor. So I gave the very clif note version as to how I do it. I am though, extremely anal and detail oriented in my own little system and have had zero issues. If it wasn't for me I'd do it differently. I won't bore you with the details of it, but it has worked efficiently for me for many years. But as always, I thank you for the advice - always appreciated!

>FCP doesn't care what folder a file is in;

For Log and Transfer, that is the reel name.

The audio files is a very good point. I'm on a project where they used 3 different audio recorders and a few of them have very duplicatey file names. Nothing a little R-Naming won't fix, but it's very important to sort that out before import, especially if you need to relink the rushes.



www.strypesinpost.com

FCP 7 has an option of running a counter through the clips when using L&T, so on import, I tend to create clips like D10A_C1-001 for day 10 cam A card 1. And logging notes go into logging/description/comments column.



www.strypesinpost.com

>> FCP doesn't care what folder a file is in;
> For Log and Transfer, that is the reel name.

Yes, but file location ceases to matter once the file is created. You can move it around ad infinitum and it will reconnect...as long as it has a unique file name.

Although I've also encountered DITs who aren't quite careful enough with their folder names prior to ingest. For example, they put "Reel1", but neglect to put "Day 01 Reel 01" at the ingest stage, and the result is confusion in the reel names because you have two "Reel1s" that are actually different. Or they rename the Reel Names only after ingest, but the problem is that if you remount a volume, the Reel Name for the entries instantly change back to the folder name.

Too much dependence on folder names is not good. Too little attention paid to folder names isn't good either. I think DITs should be required to do editing work; they'll learn a great deal about what's good and bad about their habits. I was editing a feature over Christmas where the producers had the DIT do part of the ingest, but the work was very flawed. Personally I think ingesting should all be done by the editorial department. The hustle of on-set work is detrimental to the detail-oriented work done by a good assistant editor.


www.derekmok.com

I recently had an external G-Raid die on me (yet another - when will I learn?)

There is a guy named Brian Cometa in North Hollywood. If he can get the data off your drive he charges $300. If he can't, there is no charge. It worked for me. His number is 818 358 8541. Homepage: www.briancometa.com.

Best

Harry.

Thanks Harry -

I changed the case to the drive. It came up briefly - long enough to get most of the critical elements off of it. Got it in the freezer in the new case ... next I'll try Frankincense ...

So, the Frankincense didn't work. Spoke with Brian's partner - $300 per drive and since there are 2 ... well

But the (hopefully) good news is that after changing the case - my newer machine (Snow Leopard) on which I purchased Disk Warrior, now could see the drive thru DW. It couldn't fix due to hardware failure but allowed me to view a preview of the drive. It said it was un editable but I figured that didn't mean un copyable ... so I dragged and dropped and wa la! The media is now copying to another drive.

Score:

Disk Warrior 1
Hard drive failure 0

Troy

Also, Derek I fully concur - people always wonder why I am so frickin' particular about my naming system ... just sit in this chair for a minute ... it is DIT's, editors, and so on that don't REALLY get it. Unless you have had to resolve or work around these issues, the details just don't seem to matter ...

...so that's one more signature on the LACIE SUX petition, right Troy?

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

> it is DIT's, editors, and so on that don't REALLY get it. Unless you have had to resolve or work
>around these issues, the details just don't seem to matter ...

I'm with you on this one. I recently spent one sleepless night separating edit rushes from camera magazines so I could move the rushes onto an editing RAID and a further few hours resolving duplicate file names (the Sony EX cameras have a tendency to result in duplicate file names after a long enough shoot). Hence my almost compulsive obsessive approach to file and folder names on long form projects.



www.strypesinpost.com

The problem is that DITs often don't have a good system. They deal with days of footage at a time, so often they get sloppy with long-term organization. For example, I've been telling my director for years: "Don't use consecutive reel names across multiple shoots (eg. Reel 001, 002, 003)", because at some point, across three separate shoots months apart, somebody will get confused and call the first reel "Reel 020" when there already is one.

For shorter shoots, I'd always recommend:

Day 01 Card 01
Day 01 Card 02
Day 02 Card 01

For even longer shoots, I'd forego even "Day 01". I'd do:

031212 Card 01
031212 Card 02
031312 Card 01

(The really anal organizers would use 20120312, but that seems a bit wasteful to me for editing since you're only dealing with a few years at a time, normally. The year-first system is great for archivists who are dealing with 50 years.)

And the system has to be conceived at the copy stage, before ingest. Unfortunately, with tapeless, since a good DIT will generate two backups right at the location, organizing one set is not enough because the metadata doesn't get saved to the two backup copies. You have to make backup copies again after editorial has reorganized things, and even more nerve-wracking, you have to replace the DIT backups at some point or their backups will be out of date. I've gotten stuck with a lousy system so many times just because the DIT did the ingest as well.


www.derekmok.com

Yikes...and now you can lose all your data at breakneck speeds:

[www.lacie.com]

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

I am waiting for drives like that, but in a better enclosure (one built from aluminium with a fan and good air circulation), and running a fast RAID 1 chip (with double seek).



www.strypesinpost.com

For file naming, I tend to add a prefix with the initials of the project, then D10A_C1 (for day 10 cam A, card 1). And I will have a shoot day to episode document. For drama series, I add the episode and episode and scene numbers, as well as the shoot date. For documentaries with non fixed shooting schedules (one that runs into months), I'll go by date with a year at the front (as there is a chance they may shoot into the new year). But yea, there is always the initials of the project before the file name. And yea, usually I'll brief the DIT before we start the shoot to make sure the archivals are done properly. Having the project and shoot day prefix in the file name, ensures that the file names are unique, and yea, I add that to the audio files as well, as audio recorders tend to have pretty bad naming systems.



www.strypesinpost.com