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I have some files on my external NTFS drive that were copied from a Mac using Paragon NTFS. Back in Windows 7, I'm unable to view said files. I believe they exist because they still occupy space on the drive. Also, I don't currently have access to a Mac.

Here's what I've tried so far :

  1. Cygwin/Command-Prompt

    Tried ls -a and dir /ah but it doesn't work.

  2. Data recovery software

    It detects the folders but it's taking forever to recover given that these files haven't been deleted in the first place.

I vaguely recall there being certain commands in Command-Prompt that can force such files to reveal themselves. And then it becomes a matter of simple cut/paste to retrieve them.

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  • It is possible that the files are using alternate data streams to map extended data. I don't remember how to show these in Windows, but you could try looking for ADS.
    – Milliways
    Commented Feb 16, 2014 at 11:36
  • I used this but didn't find the folder stored as an alternate stream.
    – adi
    Commented Feb 16, 2014 at 16:22
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    @adi : What kind of hidden files are you refering to? The most "hidden" (not really that hidden) file, which I know coming from the Mac, is .DS Store.
    – user1934428
    Commented Jun 24, 2021 at 12:58
  • If you don't see the fileswith with ls -rA yourdirectory, you can at least conclude that they are not represented in this directory. I guess you can't see them with Windows Explorer either? Perhaps your drive is corrupt. Did you perhaps forget to eject it from the Mac, before disconnecting it? How did you attempt data recovery?
    – user1934428
    Commented Oct 1, 2021 at 8:46
  • "It detects the folders but it's taking forever to "recover" given that these files haven't been deleted in the first place." - this is nonsense. A file recovery tool does not care if data is deleted or not. Something is wrong with how the data was written. This probably isn't a file system issue but issue with the tool that wrote the files to NTFS.
    – Joep van Steen
    Commented Jan 31, 2023 at 11:35

2 Answers 2

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  1. Data recovery software It detects the folders but it's taking forever to "recover" given that these files haven't been deleted in the first place.

As far as data recovery software is concerned, listing existing folders/files is the easy part. The assumption that finding or recovering those takes long because they weren't deleted in the first place is wrong.

IF the file are actually there:

  • Perhaps due to some reason they ended up in wrong location. I'd install a search like 'Everything' and enter the filename of one of the copied files. IF it's there Everything will show it.
  • If no luck, use DMDE to select the drive and use 'Open Volume'. DMDE does not care about access rights and all that, if the file are there it will show them.
  • If no luck scan for deleted files, click 'All found / Virtual File systems > leave default options > OK (https://youtu.be/sKpUiRDpLM8)

If none of those options find the files, they were never copied correctly in the first place.

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OS X can read NTFS volumes, you just have to enable it.
Here is a site that tells you how it can be done Enable NTFS Read on Mac OS X

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  • This is part of my problem, i.e. I don't have access to a Mac or a computer with OS X installed.
    – adi
    Commented Feb 16, 2014 at 13:56
  • you probably need something like HFSExplorer in that case then catacombae.org/hfsx.html
    – clhy
    Commented Feb 16, 2014 at 14:06
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    @pun : The OP does not want tor process NTFS on a Mac, he wants to read NTFS on Windows. It just has been created on the Mac.
    – user1934428
    Commented Jun 24, 2021 at 12:59

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