A corrupted hard drive on a Mac can cause your heart to start racing fast. You might wonder: Show
If you can recognize the symptoms of a corrupt Mac hard drive early, it is usually possible to repair the problem. When fixing it isn’t possible, you have a better chance to grab your folders and files. What Are the Symptoms of a Corrupt Mac Hard Drive?Your Mac starts acting strange when you have a corrupt hard drive. The symptoms might seem random at first, but you’ll see problems continue to increase.
⚠️ When you experience one of these symptoms, it is better to be safe than sorry. Several file retrieval and disk utility services can help you repair the corrupted hard drive or retrieve your information. How to Fix a Corrupted Hard Drive on a MacIf you know for sure that you have a corrupted hard drive on a Mac, you can take these steps to restore access or recover your information. 1. Repair the Corrupted Hard Drive Using Disk UtilityAfter discovering the corrupted hard drive, you can repair it through the Terminal. Once you open it, type in this command: diskutil repairVolume /Volumes/[Drive Name] You would replace “Drive Name” with the name of your hard drive on the Mac that requires repair. Hit Enter. Disk Utility might say that the drive was successfully repaired. If this outcome happens, you can restart the Mac and access your files. You can also access Disk Utility through its GUI by opening the app and clicking the First Aid button. 2. Initiate the FSCK CommandKnowing how to check if an external drive is corrupted on Mac or if your internal HDD has this issue follows a similar process. 🖥️ Mac without security chip Users with older Macs that don’t have a T2 chip can reboot the Mac into single-user mode by holding the Command + S combination to repair a corrupt partition that limits access.
If your machine has a T2 or M1 chip, follow these steps based on the chip manufacturer. T2 Recovery Mode M1 Recovery Mode
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3. Try Free Software to Recover Mac Hard Drive DataThere are many free and paid software solutions that can help you to recover data from corrupted hard drives. While they won’t help you address the actual cause of data corruption, these tools are capable of telling apart recoverable files from corrupted data and transferring them to an external drive. That’s why we recommend them to users whose top priority is to regain access to important data. Free data recovery software works reasonably well when dealing with less serious cases of data loss, but its limitations start to show when tacking more complicated data loss scenarios. If you need to recover important files, you should increase your recovery chances by using freemium software such as Disk Drill for Mac, which lets you preview all recoverable files for free.
4. Recover from a Time Machine backup drive.If you use Time Machine on Mac, you can revert to a previous version to eliminate the corrupted files. This method works if you have a saved disk image that doesn’t contain the problem. Here’s what you need to do:
5. Hire a hard drive recovery service for Mac.If you fail to fix your corrupted hard drive at home, you can always hire a hard drive recovery service and let experienced professionals with state-of-the-art equipment recover your data for you. Professional data recovery services are often more costly than products like Disk Drill, but they can help you get to the missing data when other methods don’t work. How to Prevent Hard Drive Corruption on macOS?The best way to prevent a “macOS recover files from a corrupted drive” problem is to monitor your system’s health frequently. You can take these additional steps to ensure your Mac doesn’t encounter hard drive corruption problems in the future. 🔌 Shut Down Your Mac SafelyWhen it is time to turn your Mac off for the day, go to the Apple menu at the top left to initiate the command. If you need the computer to sleep, you’ll find that option available in the same location. You don’t want to press and hold the power button to accomplish this result unless you have no other choice. ⚡ Prevent Spills and ExposureYour Mac can handle a lot, but it doesn’t like liquids. If you must drink something by your computer, keep it in a closed container with a spill-proof lid. It would be best if you also avoid extreme heat or cold when storing your Mac. Some problems occur because food or dust gets into the drive mechanism. If you maintain a clean working area, most issues get proactively solved. 📉 Monitor Your Storage DriveWhen something doesn’t seem right, you can run First Aid on your Mac. This command checks the disk for errors and repairs them if any get found. Disk Drill gives you the capability to monitor S.M.A.R.T. drive status on older Macs. To activate this feature, turn on S.M.A.R.T. monitoring in preferences and select the drive you want to monitor. An icon will be displayed in your Mac’s menu bar. 💽 Back-Up the Storage DriveWhether you use Time Machine or a third-party tool to create an image of your drive, it is critical to keep at least one copy of your files and folders. If something happens, you can use this compressed storage medium to restore your Mac. In Conclusion: Fixing a Corrupted Hard Drive on a MacAlthough a corrupted hard drive on a Mac can get your adrenaline flowing, it is possible to retrieve files and restore the disk. When you bookmark this guide, you’ll have a resource that lets you access the steps you need to correct your problem. Software tools like Disk Drill for Mac are useful when First Aid and Time Machine won’t work or are unavailable. You can also use third-party free tools to get the results you want. A corrupted drive won’t fix itself. If you take these steps today, you can get your Mac running better faster than you might realize. FAQ Several disk utilities and third-party software tools can help you fix a corrupted hard drive on a Mac. Depending on your unique situation, some or all of these options could be available to you.
Most Mac corruption issues occur because of unexpected power failures, physical damage, RAM problems, and hardware failure. Malware can also create corruption problems on a Mac hard drive. These factors can adversely impact any external drives you have connected to the Mac, which means each one may need to be searched, scanned, and repaired before full functionality gets restored.
You must initiate a repair process through Mac to restore a corrupted hard drive. Disk Utility apps and free third-party solutions can accomplish this outcome. You’ll want to act today on this issue if it occurs because long-term problems can result in a lower success rate.
You can fix a corrupted hard drive by recovering missing or deleted files using data recovery software and the following procedure.
The signs that your Mac’s hard drive is corrupted include:
To restore a Mac hard drive after formatting it or deleting all its files, use the following procedure.
The cost of fixing a Mac hard drive varies depending on the type of damage the device has experienced. Logical data loss due to accidental file deletion, malware attack, or inadvertent formatting can be resolved for under $100 with data recovery software. If the drive has experienced physical damage, you will need to use a more expensive option and bring it to a professional data recovery center. |