DiskWarrior is a software tool that focuses entirely on rebuilding corrupted or destroyed directories on solid state hard drives that have experienced failure. This could mean power failure, RAM failure, OS corruption from failed updates, or anything that could harm the directory structure of data.
Recently, DiskWarrior’s ability to temporarily create a virtual directory that identifies data on a corrupted drive has allowed us to access and rescue more data. In combination with the programs Data Rescue and DDRescue, DiskWarrior has recovered a lot of data over the past couple of months — and thus, has improved our success rate (and customer satisfaction!).
We refer to DiskWarrior as ‘Black Magic’ because it’s hard to understand its methods. I have looked for an explanation of exactly what it does, and if I am to understand it correctly, DiskWarrior will access a drive looking for key directories to begin building a temporary listing of all the data on the corrupted disk. When more data is recognized, the directory structure DiskWarrior creates gets more complex to the point of it looking like an actual hard drive created by the apple install image.
When it’s done scanning the drive, it allows you to replace the corrupted or non-existent directory of the drive and also allows you to preview the new directory structure. If you choose Preview, a new icon will show up on your desktop that looks, feels, and acts like an actual hard drive plugged into the machine you are working on. It’s not though; it’s just a directory that points you to the corrupted drive but makes it look as though the drive itself is fine. You don’t even realize that you are inside the corrupted drive at all, but you can copy and or manipulate the information.
Commonly, we will copy the information from the virtual directory to a storage device, then attempt to replace the corrupted directory to try and rescue the disk so it doesn’t have to be reformatted.
When used with another program like DDRescue, DiskWarrior tends to make things easier rather than use Terminal’s commands to try and repair the .dmg file created by DDRescue. DDRescue will essentially copy block-by-block all the information and file structure from a dying hard drive that isn’t able to be read by normal methods and place all the information gathered this way into whatever file type you wish.
When servicing Apple Computers, most commonly it’s a .dmg file. You can attempt to open the .dmg when DDRescue is done, but most of the time, the corrupted file structure will prevent it from opening because the contents aren’t arranged like a normal hard drive. Using DiskWarrior to work its black magic, the .dmg can often have the directory information replaced in the image taken with DDRescue allowing you to mount and later migrate the data back to the machine once the failed hard drive is either reformatted or replaced and the OS reloaded onto it.
If you are one of the unfortunate souls who boots up your Apple computer and produces a blank blue screen or a flashing folder with a question mark staring back at you, DiskWarrior may be the tool that gets you back in touch with your data.
When it comes to Apple Boot disks, DiskWarrior has rescued many worldwide and the reviews online have definitely given the powerful program a good reputation. The only thing that DiskWarrior is unable to repair is a physical failure in a hard drive; that still falls under the expertise and capability of DriveSavers, the forensics data recovery specialists.