initializing external disk

Networking/Security Forums -> Macintosh

Author: duster PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:12 pm    Post subject: initializing external disk
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is initializing a disk on a mac computer equivalent to formatting it? does it erase the data?

Author: graycatLocation: London, UK PostPosted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 5:52 pm    Post subject:
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not 100% sure as I'm very new to mac myself but I think it is.

Yep, just dropped "initialize disc mac" into google and the first few returns talked about it being the same thing Smile

Author: Sherman HomanLocation: Norwell, MA PostPosted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 1:39 pm    Post subject:
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Yes indeed! Reformatting and initializing will erase all of your data. There are technical differences between the terms, and there are different levels of security, but the result is your data will be gone.

Author: graycatLocation: London, UK PostPosted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 2:34 pm    Post subject:
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good to know I wasn't far off, SH. Had a problem with an external ntfs disc last night that someone suggested initialising. bad idea it seems Smile lol

Author: Sherman HomanLocation: Norwell, MA PostPosted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 6:05 pm    Post subject:
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graycat wrote:
good to know I wasn't far off, SH. Had a problem with an external ntfs disc last night that someone suggested initialising. bad idea it seems Smile lol

It may be too late, but at the simplest level of initializing only the directory information is gone. The name of the file, when it was created, modified, etc. But the actual data is still on your drive. It can be recovered fairly easily with Symantec, Data Rescue and dozens of others.
But, the hard drive space that has the data is considered 'fair game' by the operating system for over-writing with new data. Any hope of recovery fades quickly with time and activity!
There are other levels of reformatting that for security reasons write data to each block and then erase that data. Not much hope of recovering anything useful in that case!

Author: graycatLocation: London, UK PostPosted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 6:30 pm    Post subject:
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Sherman Homan wrote:
It may be too late, but at the simplest level of initializing only the directory information is gone. The name of the file, when it was created, modified, etc. But the actual data is still on your drive. It can be recovered fairly easily with Symantec, Data Rescue and dozens of others.
But, the hard drive space that has the data is considered 'fair game' by the operating system for over-writing with new data. Any hope of recovery fades quickly with time and activity!
There are other levels of reformatting that for security reasons write data to each block and then erase that data. Not much hope of recovering anything useful in that case!


hey, Sherman. Cheers for the follow up and some good info (cookie points awarded etc Laughing). Fortunately it turns out my housemate had used my ext drive and not shut it down properly when unplugging his XP laptop. After a few goes with the terminal on my Mac, I gave up, fired up an XP VMWare machine, mounted and disconnected it correctly and all was well as far as OS X was worried.

Maybe not the right way to sort it but it worked with my limited resources and knowledge. Smile

Author: Sherman HomanLocation: Norwell, MA PostPosted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 6:43 pm    Post subject:
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graycat wrote:
Sherman Homan wrote:
It may be too late, but at the simplest level of initializing only the directory information is gone. The name of the file, when it was created, modified, etc. But the actual data is still on your drive. It can be recovered fairly easily with Symantec, Data Rescue and dozens of others.
But, the hard drive space that has the data is considered 'fair game' by the operating system for over-writing with new data. Any hope of recovery fades quickly with time and activity!
There are other levels of reformatting that for security reasons write data to each block and then erase that data. Not much hope of recovering anything useful in that case!


hey, Sherman. Cheers for the follow up and some good info (cookie points awarded etc Laughing). Fortunately it turns out my housemate had used my ext drive and not shut it down properly when unplugging his XP laptop. After a few goes with the terminal on my Mac, I gave up, fired up an XP VMWare machine, mounted and disconnected it correctly and all was well as far as OS X was worried.

Maybe not the right way to sort it but it worked with my limited resources and knowledge. Smile


Excellent fix! Necessity being the mother of invention!



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