Author: Hi5 Software

Fixed – Outlook PST File not Opening in Windows 10

When you try to open Outlook, it hangs for a bit and then displays an error ‘Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook Window. The set of folders cannot be opened. The file C:\Users\Your profile\Documents\Outlook Files\file.pst cannot be opened’.

If you’ve encountered such a situation, you’re not alone. It is a common issue faced by many Outlook users. The reasons for this error can vary but some of the common ones are running Outlook in compatibility mode or corruption in the Outlook data file (PST).

Whatever the reason, the consequences are the same; your Outlook will not work properly. Here in this article, we provide some effective solutions to resolve the issue.

Solution 1: Recover Navigation Pane configuration file

Sometimes corrupted navigation pane settings may prevent Outlook from starting normally. To reset this, follow the steps below.

  1. Press Windows + R to open Run
  2. Then type exe /resetnavpane and click Ok

This command removes personalization’s to the navigation pane and this may help you restart Outlook normally.

Solution 2: Disable Compatibility mode in Outlook

Compatibility mode is designed to help run a program in older OS versions. Having this turned on may cause issues with the normal functioning of Outlook. Try turning it off (if enabled) and open Outlook to see if the issue is resolved.

  1. Click on Start > Search
  2. In the Search bar, type exe
  3. Right click on it and select the Open file location
  4. Once you are in the file location, once again, right click on Outlook.exe and select Properties
  5. In the Compatibility tab, clear the checkbox ‘Run this program in compatibility mode for’
  6. Click Ok and restart Outlook

Solution 3: Open Outlook in Safe Mode

Safe mode means Outlook will start without any add-ins. This is the easiest way to determine if add-ins are causing trouble.

  1. Press Windows + R to open Run
  2. Type Outlook /safe and click Ok

If Outlook starts normally in Safe Mode, then the problems are with your add-ins. Restart Outlook and disable add-ins one at a time to see which one is causing trouble. To disable add-ins,

  1. Choose File > Options > Add-ins
  2. Select COM add-ins and Go
  3. Clear all checkboxes and select them one at a time, each time restarting Outlook. Identify the add-in causing trouble.

Solution 4: Repair PST file

If none of the above solutions work, your Outlook data file may be corrupt. To repair this, you can use the built-in functionality called Scanpst.

  1. Press Windows + X and click on File Explorer
  2. In the Search bar, type exe
  3. Double click on the file and choose your PST file

Note: For Outlook versions 2010, 2013 and 2016, you can find the PST file in Documents\Outlook\Files folder. However, if you don’t it here, it could be hidden. To find this file, go to C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

  1. Click Start to repair your PST file.

Scanpst repairs minor corruptions of your PST file. One disadvantage of using this tool is that it is a lengthy process and may have to be run several times before the issue is fixed.

To overcome this issue and for a more reliable approach, you can make use of specialized tools available for PST repair. Hi5 Software provides a tool to fix corrupt Outlook PST files.

Hi5 Outlook PST File Repair software can recover all Outlook attributes in a safe and secure way. You don’t need to worry about damage to your original files, thanks to the read only feature it employs. It works on all versions of Outlook including Outlook 2016.

2 Ways to Fix Corrupt Mac HFS Solid State Drive

Your SSD’s may be more durable and faster than traditional HDD’s. But that does not mean they are exempt from corruption and data loss. All storage devices at some point or another face such issues.

Read through this article to learn about troubleshooting steps when faced with corrupt drives on your Mac. The first method to repair is through Disk Utility. But before we dive into such system-level procedures, it is always a good idea to have a backup of your drive.

Solution 1: Through Disk Utility

Disk Utility offers a First Aid feature to repair directory structure issues in Mac HFS or HFS+ volumes. It is a straightforward process that involves a few steps described below.

  1. Power on your Mac and when you hear the start-up chime, press Command + R
  2. In the utility menu, select Disk Utility
  3. Select the drive to repair
  4. Click on First Aid to repair the disk

If Disk Utility reports that the disk is Ok, you’re finished here. If it reports any error messages, you’ll need to examine the message further.

If you get a message ‘The disk cannot be repaired’ or ‘The disk is about to fail’, Disk Utility cannot repair your disk. Proceed to the next troubleshooting step.

Solution 2: Run fsck

Fsck is short for file system consistency check. It is a tool to check the consistency of file systems. This command has to be run in a command line interface, so it may be a little intimidating at first. But it’s not as hard as it may seem, just entering some commands will do the work.

  1. Power on Mac and hold down Command + S to enter single user mode
  2. Here, you will see a black background with white text.
  3. Type fsck –fy
  4. Once fsck completes, you will be shown a status report. Run it multiple times until you see a message ‘The volume () appears to be Ok’.

If fsck is successful, reboot your Mac and go to Disk Utility to see the drive’s health. If things are fine, great! If fsck fails continuously and Disk Utility also does not work, it is recommended you backup and format your drive.

How to access data from corrupt drives?

In order to access and backup data from corrupt HFS drives, you will need to make use of specialized and reliable third-party tools. One such tool is the partition recovery tool by Hi 5 Software.

It uses advanced recovery algorithms to scan and recover data from corrupt drives. It can also be used to recover data from formatted and RAW hard drives.

All Mac OS versions starting from OS 10.5 are supported. The software has the capability to work with all file systems such as HFS, HFS+, FATt32, FAT16 etc.

In addition to recovering files from your system, it also has a unique feature to recover files from other storage devices such as USBs and external hard drives. Not just SSD’s, it also supports SATA, SCSI etc.

It supports all Mac devices such as Mac Book Pro, Mac Book Air, Mac Pro, etc. Refer recover data from MacBook Pro hard drive for complete detail on the process.

Simple Steps to recover data from corrupt drives

Perform a few simple steps to recover data from corrupt HFS volumes. Just download the software, run the tool and follow the steps below.

  1. In the first screen, select Recover volumes/drives
  2. Then click on Volume Recovery
  3. Select the drive to recovery volumes and then select volumes to recover. If you don’t find the required volumes, use ‘Scan for volumes’ to show all volumes
  4. Choose a scanning method and allow the software to complete scanning process
  5. Recovered files are displayed
  6. You can select the ones you need and save them

Repair Inaccessible or Damaged HFS Volume on Mac

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.

  1. Go to Finder and click on Applications
  2. Then find Utilities > Disk Utility
  3. 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.

  1. When your Mac starts up, click Command + R upon hearing a chime
  2. In the utility menu, select Disk Utility
  3. Then select the volume on which you’d like to run First Aid
  4. Click First Aid
  5. 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.

  1. When your Mac starts up, click Command + R
  2. In the utility menu, select Disk Utility
  3. Here, select the volume from the menu on the left
  4. Then click on Erase
  5. In the Format menu and choose the type of file system
  6. Enter a name for the volume
  7. In the Security Options, choose how much security you want on the erased data
  8. Click Erase and you’re done. Your chosen volume will be formatted and this should fix the issue for you.

How to Recover Deleted Files from Trash on Mac

You inadvertently deleted some data recently. You realized a little later that you want to restore that data as soon as possible. You can do that as long as you do not overwrite the place where you lost data with new data. This causes overwriting and data recovery would not be possible.

If you just deleted it and have not performed many operations on the same folder, you can click Ctrl+Z to restore the file back to the same folder. It basically undoes the delete operation.

Let us look at other ways.

  1. Using Trash Can
  • Double-click on Trash Can icon on your Mac’s Dock. You can now see Trash Can window.
  • Now search for your deleted files. Once you find them, you can click on them. If you want to restore all the files, first click on any one file, now press Command +A.
  • Go to File -> Put Back. This operation will send files back to their original location.
  • If the Put-Back option is greyed out, you can drag and drag the required files to desktop or other folders.
  1. Using Time Machine
  • Open Spotlight by clicking magnifying glass icon on the top-right corner of the screen. A search bar appears.
  • Now type Time Machine in Spotlight.
  • Click Time Machine.
  • Select the folder that contained your file(s) on the left side of the Time Machine window. You can now see the folder’s contents.
  • Click the upward-facing arrow to the right of the Time Machine window to scroll through backups until your deleted files appear. If you went past the file creation date and yet to find the files, you cannot use Time Machine to restore the files.
  • Now select all the files you want to restore or hold command and click individual files to select them independently.
  • At the bottom of the Time Machine window, click Restore. Note that you may have to repeat the above steps for different folder locations in Time Machine.

Recover data using Hi5 File Recovery software

One of the simplest ways to get back all your deleted or lost data is to use an effective recovery software in the form of Hi5 File Recovery software.

The recovery tool shows you how to get back files after emptying trash in easy-to-follow steps.

The data recovery software can restore all kinds of files and the file systems supported by the software include HFS, HFS+, HFSX, FAT16, and FAT32.

The software scans the drive thoroughly to locate and find all the deleted or lost files. Find Tool option allows you to search for a particular file type in the recovered file list. Once the scan is complete, you can view the files via Preview feature.

  • Download and install the latest version of Hi5 File Recovery Software for Mac on your system.
  • On the home screen, click Deleted File Recovery.
  • The software now shows a list of all the available drives on the system. Click on the volume from where you want to restore files and click Next.
  • The software scans for deleted files on the drive.
  • After the scan is completed, you can view the recovered files with Preview
  • You can now save all the recovered files to a destination folder of your choice.

How to Restore Lost Data from Mac Recovery Partition

Mac recovery partition is a feature introduced since the launch of Apple’s Lion Operating system. It is created automatically during the installation process and stored in a hidden section of the hard drive.

The recovery partition is crucial when your Operating system is damaged, corrupted or non-functional. It allows you to repair your hard drive, erase the hard drive and install a new copy of Operating system or restore your Mac from a TimeMachine backup.

How to use Recovery Mode on your Mac?

  • Restart your Mac while simultaneously holding Command and R keys. Once Apple logo appears, you can let go of the keys.
  • Now select Disk Utility in macOS Utility window and click Continue.
  • Select volume named Macintosh HD and click Unmount.
  • Once the drive is unmounted, click Erase to wipe the complete hard drive.
  • Now click on Quit Disk Utility.
  • Select Reinstall macOS and click Continue.
  • You can follow on-screen instructions to complete re-installation of your macOS.

Note that this procedure will roll back your Mac to factory settings. It is like starting afresh. All your personal files and data including all the software, applications you installed will be lost. The system will now have a new version of macOS.

Enter Recovery mode via Internet

  • Turn on your Mac or restart it with normal recovery mode. Once you hear the startup chime, press and hold Command + Option + R.

If normal recovery mode isn’t working, pressing Command +R should take you to Internet Recovery mode.

  • Wait for a few seconds. You can see a globe icon on-screen with the text “Starting Internet Recovery. This may take a while”.
  • You can now see a network list to choose your internet connection for the download. Press check mark to continue or hit Enter after selecting your network.
  • Resubmit your network password. Hit Enter or check mark symbol to continue.
  • You can now see a globe icon and status bar. Apple is now requesting for appropriate drivers and may take time depending on your internet connection.
  • After completion, you can see same Utility screen as your regular Recovery mode, which gives you some options to restore your system.

Restore data using Hi5 Mac Partition Recovery Software

If you did not have a TimeMachine backup and ended up losing your crucial data after reinstalling your Operating system, you can recover it easily with Hi5 Mac Partition Recovery software.

The software supports recovery from HFSX, HFS+, FAT16, FAT32 partitions. You can restore data from deleted, missing, formatted, re-formatted Mac volumes as well.

  • Download and install the latest version of Hi5 Mac Partition software.
  • On the home screen, select Formatted/Reformatted Recovery
  • The software now shows a list of available drives on the system. Select the drive where you lost the data and click Next.
  • The software scans for the lost data and it takes some time depending on the size of the hard disk. Once the scanning is complete, you can view the recovered data through Preview
  • You can then save these files to a destination folder.

Effects of Malware on your Mac and Steps to Overcome It

A common assumption of most people is that Mac devices are not affected by any malware, viruses or other threats. While this is true in a majority of cases, there are still a few systems around the world that do get affected by malware.

Malware is essentially a combination of two words “malicious” and “software”. It describes all the hostile and intrusive program codes including viruses, spyware, worms, Trojans, and so on.

If your system does get infected by a malware, let us first look at the symptoms that you might come across:

  • Mac runs slower than usual. Some background software is using most of the resources.
  • The web searches are taken away from your usual search page, to a site you’ve never heard of. The results that appear on the page are also fake.
  • Most, if not all the web pages you visit are filled with advertisements, even those pages that you did not expect to see advertisements on, such as Wikipedia.
  • Advertising windows show up on your desktop, completely unrelated to the webpages you are visiting.

If you did find any of the above symptoms, do not panic. Some genuine apps can behave erratically at times and Mac can slow down due to a host of other reasons.

One thing you shouldn’t do is google search for best antivirus software for Mac or similar kind of searches. Most of these results are malware themselves. It puts you in a, even more, deeper fix.

 How malware ends up on your system?

  • Malicious software: It could appear as a genuine software that you downloaded after getting to know of the infection. It could have arrived at your device via email or messenger.
  • Fake updates: This appears like a dialog box when you are browsing or installing a plugin.
  • Fake files: The malware can be disguised as an image file, word processing or a PDF document that you open normally. It would have a fake file extension.

Mac’s inbuilt protection

Apple has several mechanisms in place to guard against malware and viruses.

  • File Quarantine: If you try to open an app you have downloaded, you will get a warning telling where you got the file from and when you downloaded it.

If that app doesn’t contain a digital signature by its creator, which in turn requires a signature from Apple, you will be blocked from accessing it.

  • XProtect: This is linked to File Quarantine. When you try to open files you’ve downloaded, it first checks for known malware or viruses, if it finds any, you will be told to trash them.

Tips to follow to protect yourself

Let us look at some precautions that you can employ to safeguard from malware, virus and other threats.

  • Avoid passwords: Do not type any passwords or login details where a hidden keylogger is active.

This keylogger-based malware takes screenshots. It is advised not to copy and paste passwords from documents or click Show password box that comes with dialog boxes.

  • Shut down the system and Restore: Shut down your Mac and restore it from a recent backup, if you remember the restore point, the time before you believe your system got infected.
  • Clear cache: If you haven’t been able to restore from a backup, clear your browser’s cache.

In Google Chrome, go to Chrome -> Clear Browsing Data. In Time Range drop-down box, select All Time. Then click Clear Data.

  • Empty Downloads folder: Drag all the files in Downloads folder to Trash. Now empty the Trash.
  • Change your passwords: Once all the malware or infections are cleaned, change all your passwords, including websites, emails, cloud services, apps and so on.
  • Reinstall macOS: If you are still unsure whether the infection has been completely cleared, entirely reinstall your macOS.

Recover data using Hi5 Photo Recovery for Mac

If you lost important photos, videos or other media files when trying any of the above methods, you can recover all your data using Hi5 Photo Recovery for Mac software.

The photo recovery tool shows you in some simple steps on how to recover deleted photos from macbook.

With this software, you can recover RAW images as well. Other types of files that can be retrieved using this tool include PNG, TIFF, JPG, MOV, WMV, MP4, MP3 and so on.

All kinds of hard drives, USB drives, memory cards, FireWire drives, memory sticks are supported by the software. File systems supported by the software include HFS+, HFSX, and FAT.

Just download the software, follow some simple on-screen instructions to recover all your data with ease.

How to Solve ‘Desktop refers to location that is unavailable’ Error

Sometimes you may encounter errors such as ‘Desktop refers to the location that is unavailable’ as in the picture below. The article explains troubleshooting steps to resolve the error.

  1. Check the desktop folders
  • Open ‘C:\Users\your user account\’ You might see two desktop folders, one with your desktop items and another blank.
  • Delete the blank one
  • Copy the desktop folder with desktop items from ‘C:\Users\your user account\’ folder to ‘C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\’
  • Restart your computer

If the issue still persists, proceed to the next step.

  1. Create a new user account

Create a new user account and try. If the issue still persists, you can fix the corrupt profile by following the steps below.

  1. Press Windows + X and select File Explorer
  2. Click on View tab and click on Options at the top right corner
  3. Click on View tab and then click on Show hidden files, folders and drives
  4. Uncheck Hide protected operating system files
  5. Confirm your choice and then click Ok
  6. Locate C:\Users\Old_Username folder, where Old Username is the name of the profile you want to copy files from.
  7. Select all of the files and folders in this folder, except the following

.Ntuser.dat, Ntuser.dat.log & .Ntuser.ini

  1. Right click on them and select Copy
  2. Locate C:\Users\New_username folder where New-Username is the name of the new user profile you created
  3. Right click inside the folder and select Paste
  4. Restart your computer and check if the issue is resolved. If the issue still persists, proceed to the next step.

 

  1. Restore your PC to an earlier point in time

You may receive this error if there are changes made to your PC. Thus, restoring your PC to an earlier point in time may help resolve the issue.

  • Click on Windows + X to open the power users menu
  • Select Control Panel
  • Enter Recovery in the Control Panel search box and click on Recovery
  • Then click on System Restore and follow the instructions in the wizard
  1. Recover data

If none of these methods resolve your issue, your data is probably deleted or lost. You will need to recover using professional data recovery tools. Hi5 Software offers a file recovery tool to recover deleted or lost files and folders.

It also works in case of accidental deletion or even Shift-Delete operation. It can also recover large files that bypass recycle bin after deletion.

The tool scans your drive sector by sector to identify and recover files based on unique signatures. Your original data is not altered during recovery process as the software works on read-only mechanism.

In addition to recovering files from your system, it can also recover files from external hard drives, USB’s and memory cards etc. Hi5 Software also offers a photo recovery tool called Hi5 Photo Recovery to recover deleted pictures from your computer.

Steps to recover deleted files and folders using Hi5 Software

It is a simple to use tool with user-friendly interface. Your deleted files and folders can be recovered in a few simple steps.

Step 1: Download Hi5 Software on your system and run the application

Step 2: Select Recover Files from the main screen

Step 3: Then select Recover Lost files or Recover deleted files depending on your situation in the next step

Step 4: The software displays a list of all drives. Select the drive from which you’d like to recover files

Step 5: Once you click Scan, the software scans the drive and displays a list of recovered files

Step 6: You can preview them and save to the desired location.

Fixed – Windows Cannot Access the Specified Device, Path or File

Sometimes, when you try to open a file, you may receive an error ‘Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file’. This issue occurs due to one of the following reasons.

  • When you do not have appropriate permissions
  • The file or shortcut is corrupt
  • The file may be blocked
  • The file is not accessible; it could be present on an external hard drive not connected to PC or a network location
  • Antivirus is blocking the file

How to resolve the issue?

In order to resolve the issue, try the troubleshooting steps below:

  1. Verify the permissions of the file/folder

To check the permissions of the file,

  • Right-click on the file/folder and select Properties
  • Select Security
  • Click on your name under Group/User names to see the permissions you have.
  • Click on Edit and check the boxes for permissions you need and then click ok.

Now try opening the file/folder. If it is still inaccessible, proceed to the next step.

  1. Check the location of the file

The file may reside on a network server or on an external hard drive that is not connected to the system. Check the path of the file and make sure that the location is accessible. To do so, right click on the file and select the Shortcut tab. Now, in the Target section, check the location.

  1. Check if the shortcut is corrupted

You may receive this error if the shortcut to the file is corrupt. You can recreate the shortcut to resolve the issue.

  1. Unblock the file

Your file may be blocked by Windows. To verify, you can check the Properties of the file. Windows may have blocked the file if it came from another computer. To unblock the file,

  • Right-click on the file and select Properties
  • In the General tab, select Unblock if available
  1. Check if antivirus is blocking your file

You can disable your antivirus and try opening the file. As soon as you are done, re-enable the antivirus immediately. It can be dangerous if you’re connected to the internet without antivirus enabled.

  1. Check if the file has not been moved or deleted

You can receive this error if the file has been moved or deleted. Go to the location of the file to verify that the file is in the same location.

If it has been deleted, check the Recycle bin folder. Just restore it back if you find it here. If you don’t find it in the recycle bin, it may be permanently deleted.

About Hi5 Software

If the file is important to you and you wish to recover it, there are data recovery tools available for this purpose.  Hi5 software provides a file recovery solution to recover deleted files and folders from your system. It works in case of accidental deletion or even Shift-Delete operation. It can also recover large files that bypass recycle bin after deletion.

The tool scans your drive sector by sector to identify and recover files based on unique signatures. Your original data is not altered during recovery process as the software works on read-only mechanism.

In addition to recovering files from your system, it can also recover files from external hard drives, USB’s and memory cards etc. How to recover deleted folder from external hard drive provides a complete idea of the recovery process.

Steps to recover deleted files and folders using Hi5 Software

It is a simple to use tool with user-friendly interface. Your deleted files and folders can be recovered in a few simple steps.

Step 1: Download Hi5 Software on your system and run the application

Step 2: Select Recover Files from the main screen

Step 3: Then select Deleted File Recovery in the next step

Step 4: The software displays a list of all drives. Select the drive from which you’d like to recover files

Step 5: Once you click Scan, the software scans the drive and displays a list of recovered files

Step 6: You can preview them and save to the desired location.

Fixed – Invalid Catalog Record Type Error in Mac

Consider a situation where your Mac is running slow and you’re trying to troubleshoot. Then, you figure there may be a problem with your hard drive and run Disk Repair. Upon running Disk Repair, you get an error ‘Invalid Catalog Record Type’. This article helps you recover data from the drive and fix this error.

About Error: Invalid Catalog Record Type

This is a less common error that indicates corruption in your Mac hard drive. To explain further, Mac OS is divided into different volumes, similar to other OS’s. Each volume contains 4 items: files, file threads, directories and directory threads. The Mac OS keeps a record to define these items and these records are called catalog files. Any corruption in these files leads to the error ‘Invalid Catalog Record Type’. To fix this error, you will need to backup data first and then reformat your drive.

How to recover data from Mac?

In order to backup data, professional data recovery tools are required to recover inaccessible data. Hi5 Mac Data Recovery software is specifically designed for this purpose. It uses robust scanning algorithms and scans your drive sector by sector to retrieve data. The software uses a read-only mechanism, so your original files are not altered during the recovery process.

The software can also be used to recover data from formatted Mac volumes. It can also be used to recover data from corrupt, inaccessible and RAW drives. It can also be used to recover files deleted from boot camp. The article how to restore boot camp partition explains the process in detail.

Compatibility of Hi5 Software for Mac

  • The software supports all file systems such as HFS, HFS+ file systems.
  • Supports all versions of Mac OS including the latest High Sierra
  • Supports all Mac devices such as MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Mini etc.
  • In addition to recovering data from your internal drives, the software also supports external hard drives, USB’s, etc.

Steps to recover data from Mac

Hi5 software is easy to use and efficient software for data recovery. Data can be recovered in a few simple steps.

  1. Connect the drive which shows ‘Invalid catalog record type’ to a healthy Mac
  2. Then download Hi5 Data recovery software on to the healthy Mac machine and install the software
  3. Run the software and select Recover Volumes/Drives
  4. Then click on Volumes Recovery
  5. Select the corrupt the hard drive from the list of available drives
  6. Choose a scanning option. The standard scan is a quick scan and used for most data loss scenarios. The advanced option can be used if the Standard scan does not recover your data.
  7. A list of recovered files are displayed once scanning is complete
  8. You can preview the files and save them to the desired location

Now that you have recovered files from the hard drive, you can reformat it for further use. However, it can be hard to trust a hard drive completely after you receive such error messages. Hence, it is always a good idea to have a backup of all data if you decide to use the hard drive further.

Killer Tips to Improve Photoshop Performance by 200% (CS5, CS6, CC)

Adobe Photoshop is one of the most popular image editing applications that is used to create and manipulate images. It has the wide variety of uses including creating logos, touching up your pictures, tone and color corrections, creating gifs, small videos, charts, posters, infographics and so on.

Given its several uses, it is critical to ensure Photoshop is performing at a high level at all times.

Let us look at some ways you can increase the performance levels in PhotoShop

  • Have enough and more memory space: Photoshop uses RAM to stuff the process it is working on. When RAM runs out, it uses scratch disks to distribute the workload. The application uses any free space that is available on hard drives.
  • Add scratch disks: The more memory there is, Photoshop performs better. Scratch disks are external or internal devices with free memory. By default, Photoshop uses the memory drive, where your Operating system is installed. You can change your scratch disk settings in Preferences -> Scratch disks.
  • Click on Edit -> Preferences -> Scratch Disks.
  • To enable or disable a scratch disk, you can select or deselect the Active checkbox. Click arrow buttons to change scratch disk order and click Ok.
  • Restart Photoshop for changes to take effect.
  • Set performance-related preferences: You can go to Preferences -> Performance to make optimum use of system’s resources like memory, cache, graphics processor, display and so on.
  • You can increase RAM allocated to Photoshop by changing the value in Let Photoshop Use You can also adjust the Memory Usage slider.
  • Restart Photoshop for changes to take place.

To find the ideal RAM allocation for your system, change it in 5% increments and check the performance in the Efficiency indicator.

  • Reduce history states: Scratch disk space can be saved by reducing the number of history states Photoshop saves in the history panel. The amount of space that is saved again depends on the number of pixels an operation changes. For instance, applying an effect to an adjustment layer takes little space compared to applying an effect to an entire image.
  • To reduce the number of history states, go to Performance preference dialog box, select History & Cache > History States.
    • Stop pre-loading of fonts: When you open your Photoshop application, all fonts that are installed or pre-loaded into RAM also opens, which is not necessary.

    Select Edit -> Preferences -> Type -> Type Options -> Font Preview Size.

    • Monitor Efficiency Indicator: Click on the pop-up menu at the bottom of the image window and choose Efficiency from that pop-up menu.

    If the value of the indicator shows below 100%, all the RAM has been allocated to Photoshop and is now using the scratch disk, which reduces performance.

    If the efficiency is less than 90%, allocate more RAM to Photoshop in Performance preferences window or add more RAM to your system.

    • Do not exceed file size limits: Handling large files can also lead to performance issues. The maximum file size that Photoshop can handle is 300,000 x 300, 000 pixels, with the exception of PDF files, limited to 30,000 x 30,000 pixels and 200 x 200 inches. Here are some file size limits for Photoshop – PSD – 2 GB; TIFF – 4 GB; PSB files – 4 exabytes; PDF – 10 GB (pages limited to the max size of 200 inches).
    • Close Unnecessary Windows: If there are too many open images, Photoshop runs slowly and shows “Out of RAM” error message.
    • Uncheck export clipboard: If you are not using any copied data except Photoshop, you can uncheck this option. It leads to data leakage once you copy data, but do not paste it somewhere.

    Select Edit -> Preferences -> General -> Deselect Export Clipboard.

    • Change your file compatibility options: If you do not need your PSD or PSB files in previous versions of Photoshop or in applications that don’t support layers, turn off the file compatibility feature to save your documents faster.
    • In Preferences -> File Handling, for 16-bit and 32-bit PSD, PSB documents, choose to Disable compression of PSD and PSB files.
    • In Maximize PSD and PSB File Compatibility menu, select Ask or Never.
    • Reduce image resolution: Photoshop requires more memory and space to store, process and display large resolution images. This can slow performance, use additional scratch disk space.

    To reduce image resolution, go to Image -> Image Size.

    In the Image Size dialog box, ensure that Resample option is selected. Now enter a new value for the Dimensions width or height (entering a value for one changes both).

    Repair corrupt PSD files with Hi5 PSD File Repair

    PSD files can be corrupted due to a lot of reasons. Photoshop cannot access these files and it is imperative to remove corruption as soon as possible. Hi5 PSD File Repair is an excellent tool to perform psd file repair.

    One of the best things about Hi5 PSD File Repair software is its non-destructive mechanism which ensures that your source file is not altered.

    Once the file is repaired, you can check the contents of the file with Preview feature.

    You can also repair compressed PSD images with this repair tool.

    An easy user interface ensures that the repair process is completed successfully within few minutes by following some simple steps.