Data Recovery Case File · Trust, Practice & Honest Limits · Specify the Return
The Delivery Drive Has a Filesystem Too, and It Should Be Yours
His enquiry asks something almost nobody thinks to ask. A drive no longer mounting, where he would need the contents "recovering and potentially providing on a new hard drive. The old drive is formatted for one platform, but I would need the new one formatted for the other if possible." That is a sensible question and it may also be the diagnosis — because a drive formatted for one system is a common reason a drive will not mount on the other.
| Media | External hard drive formatted for one platform and accessed from another — not mounting; recovered content to be delivered on replacement media in a specified filesystem |
| Reported situation | External drive no longer mounting on the owner's machine · drive formatted for a different platform from the one in use · recovery sought · delivery requested on a new drive · delivery filesystem specified by the owner |
| Fault class | Cross-platform filesystem compatibility to be excluded before any device fault is assumed — delivery filesystem specified in advance |
| Equipment used | Cross-platform mountability excluded before any fault was assumed · device enumeration distinguished from volume mountability · imaged write-blocked where a device fault was confirmed · delivery media prepared in the filesystem specified by the owner and verified by opening on his own machine |
The decode: the check his question implies, and why delivery format matters
Why his own description is worth pausing on: the drive is formatted for one platform and he is trying to use it on another. That combination has an entirely innocent explanation — some filesystems are readable but not writable across platforms, some require additional software, and some are not recognised at all. A drive that simply will not mount on the wrong platform is not a failed drive.
The free check that separates the two: open the disk utility and see whether the device appears with its capacity, even though no volume mounts. Device present with an unrecognised volume points at compatibility; device absent entirely points at a fault. That distinction takes seconds and it decides whether this is a recovery at all.
What to try if compatibility is the answer: connecting it to a machine of the platform it was formatted for. If it mounts there, nothing is wrong with it and the whole exercise becomes a copy.
Now the delivery question, which is worth asking regardless. Recovered data has to arrive on something, and that something has a filesystem. Receiving several terabytes on a volume your computer can only read — or cannot see — is a problem discovered at home, after the job is closed and the drive has been posted.
Why it is so easily overlooked: the provider formats the destination in whatever they normally use, and the customer assumes a drive is a drive. Neither party raises it because neither thinks of it as a decision, and it only becomes one when the files will not copy off.
What to specify when commissioning any recovery: which platform the data will be used on. That is the whole of the requirement, and any competent provider will prepare the destination accordingly.
What to ask for if the data will be used on both: a filesystem both platforms read and write. Those exist and they carry trade-offs — older ones have file size limits that video will exceed, and newer cross-platform options vary in support. Worth agreeing rather than discovering.
The last step, which costs nothing: open several files from the delivered drive on your own machine before considering the job finished.
On the bench
Cross-platform mountability was excluded before any fault was assumed — filesystems differing in support across platforms, with some readable but not writable, some requiring additional software, and some unrecognised entirely, so a drive that will not mount on the wrong platform may have no fault at all. Device enumeration was distinguished from volume mountability, and delivery media prepared in the filesystem specified by the owner and verified by opening on his own machine.
The outcome
Compatibility excluded before any fault was assumed, and delivery media prepared in the filesystem specified. Free assessment, one fixed written figure including VAT; where a drive has to be opened, 50% of parts and labour is payable upfront with the balance only on success — otherwise no recovery, no fee. The decode: your own description may be the answer. A drive formatted for one platform frequently will not mount on another, with nothing wrong with it — check whether the device appears with its capacity while no volume mounts. And specifying the delivery filesystem is a question worth asking every time.
Specifying how recovered data comes back
Say which platform you'll be using the data on when you commission the work — recovered content arrives on a drive, that drive has a filesystem, and receiving several terabytes on a volume your computer can only read is a problem you discover at home after the job is closed. Neither side usually raises it, because neither thinks of it as a decision. If you'll use it on both platforms, ask for one they both read and write, and agree the trade-offs rather than discovering them. Your own situation may also be the answer to your fault: check whether the device appears with its capacity while no volume mounts.
Check whether the device appears at all — then call Oxford Data Recovery on 01865 593000; compatibility excluded before any fault is assumed, delivery media prepared in the filesystem you specify and verified on your own machine.
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Our case files are drawn from genuine enquiries received by our laboratory over the past ten years, anonymised to protect client confidentiality. Each one describes the diagnostic and recovery procedure our engineers apply to that fault, using the equipment listed.