Partitioning can be extremely useful to create multiple accounts, use as a backup or even have multiple bootable areas. Hence, almost everyone uses partitions due to numerous benefits it offers.
As with any storage area, these partitions can also get corrupted from time to time due to various reasons. Some of the most common ones are listed below.
- Improper formatting/partitioning of the drive
- System power off during a write operation (Does not happen always but it’s all about timing)
- Virus attacks
Due to any of these reasons or other reasons, you can end up with some or all of the partitions/volumes becoming inaccessible. If this happens, stop using the system/drive until you are ready to fix the issue.
Some troubleshooting steps are explained in this article. Read on to learn more.
Solution 1: Mount the drive
Before we assume something is wrong with the drive, it is a good idea to mount it if it’s not already mounted automatically. You can do this through Disk Utility.
- Go to Finder and click on Applications
- Then find Utilities > Disk Utility
- Here you’ll see a list of un-mounted devices on the left. Select the desired volume and click on Mount in the toolbar.
If the volume does not mount, proceed to the next troubleshooting step.
Solution 2: Repair disk using Disk Utility
Disk Utility also provides an option to repair a disk if there are any issues. For this step, you’ll have to enter Disk Utility through recovery mode. Follow the steps below to repair your volume.
- When your Mac starts up, click Command + R upon hearing a chime
- In the utility menu, select Disk Utility
- Then select the volume on which you’d like to run First Aid
- Click First Aid
- Click Run and Disk Utility will start its repair process
If the repair is successful, Disk Utility reports the same and you’re done here. If it reports ‘Unable to repair the disk’ or ‘The disk is about to fail’, then you will have to backup data and format the drive.
How to access data from inaccessible drives?
In order to access and backup data from inaccessible volumes, you will need specialized data recovery tools. Hi5 Software provides the best in class partition recovery tool to suit your needs. It is capable of HFS partition recovery with complete folder structure and data intact.
All kinds of files such as photos, videos, documents, etc. can be recovered using the tool. It supports around 300 types of files.
It can work with all file systems such as HFS, HFS+ etc. And all Mac OS versions starting from OS 10.5 are supported.
Now that you have recovered data, you can safely format the volume to fix the issue.
How to format HFS volume on Mac?
Disk Utility in Mac is a multi-talented tool that provides a format option as well. Follow the steps below to format your inaccessible volume.
- When your Mac starts up, click Command + R
- In the utility menu, select Disk Utility
- Here, select the volume from the menu on the left
- Then click on Erase
- In the Format menu and choose the type of file system
- Enter a name for the volume
- In the Security Options, choose how much security you want on the erased data
- Click Erase and you’re done. Your chosen volume will be formatted and this should fix the issue for you.
