I've got a lot of data on an external drive that is currently not showing up on my desktop. When I open Disk Utilities the drive shows up, but I can't run any repairs on it. Does anyone have any suggestions or know of some quality disk repair software? I'd really rather not pay 800$ to recover the data, but there's a lot of crucial work on the drive, that I really don't want to lose.

Thanks

Does a volume show up, or just the drive itself? Most of the time, when these external drives fail, it's a fault in the FW interface. Here's something you might consider trying; it won't be free, but it should cost a lot less than $800.

Many FW (and USB) external drives are really just ordinary ATA drives mounted in an adaptor box, which converts the interface. If you open yours up, you might be able to remove the drive itself. Then, you can buy another adaptor box sans drive for $100 or so. Put your existing drive in it, and you are (hopefully) back in business.

http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/

Don't leave home without it.

Thanks fellas for the ideas. The drive shows up as a volume in Disk Utility's, for example it looks somehthing like DMI 000E3 111.7 GB. Does that mean your suggestion might work? 100$ is certainly more appealing than 8. Also I tried the demo of Disk Warrior and it found nothing, but I suppose the full version is necessary right?

Thanks again

9 chances out of 10 that it's a directory problem, then DiskWarrior is your friend. If he can't recover it, nothing will (well maybe a $800 service but well…)

Note that some files may be lost anyway.

As it's a firewire HD, did you move it between OS 9 and OS X? If so, don't! OS 9 and OS X don't handle drives the same way and irregularly they can screw it big time. It's easily recovered with DiskWarrior but some files may be lost as I said.

If it wasn't moved between OS, I'd check cables and plugs, maybe there's one dodgy, or the drive itself has issues (the less likely).

I've heard nothing but good things about Disk Warrior, but if that didn't do the trick for you, you might try TechTool Pro:
http://www.micromat.com/index.php?option=c...id=31&Itemid=83

I've used TechTool Pro for several years now to maintain my internal drives and my external firewire drive and I've got no complaints. It also includes a data recovery program which I've used effectively on a number of occasions. Unfortunately, I don't believe they offer a demo, but the app can be had for under $100.

As I tell customers all day, every day.. if Disk Warrior can't fix it, call DriveSavers or erase it.

I just used Prosoft's Data Rescue II to recover a ton of files off a failed LaCie FW800 drive, and it did a bang-up job. Good luck