corrupted HD?

I had to manually power off my computer recently because froze. When I turned it back on, I can't access my (external) data drive anymore. It'd give me a "this drive is not formatted, would you like windows to format it now?" prompt. I checked under computer management and windows seem to think that it's unallocated space. I personal things on there (ie pictures) of sentimental value and is there is way to recover the data? If not, I just take it to a data recovery service.

 

You cound try chkdsk on it


you might need to chkdsk /F

you other option is data recovery software like getbackntfs or fat32 depend file system

 

Try plugging it into another PC.

 

TryTestDisk & PhotoRec. Test disc can restore your partition table and if this doesn't work PhotoRec will allow you to recover your files without one:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk-6.8.win.zip

some info from Wiki:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

Good luck

 

If you cant not repair then try Active@ Partition Recovery http://www.partition-recovery.com/ it works where other fail.

 

tried it already. It doesn't work.

Strangely enough, chkdsk checks out fine.

 

I downloaded the program, but it kept saying that it was missing a file in the C:\ and that it couldn't run without it.

I downloaded this, and did a "super scan" on my corrupt HD. It surprisingly displayed the list of folder in the drive. However, after the scan, it didn't do anything and the "recover" button was greyed out.

 

You need to buy it, now that you know it works and fast too spend a few bills and get it

 

but how do I know it'd recover my files. And besides, if I'm for software, why don't I just get a data recovery service do it for me?

 

How do you know, well you would see the files on your backup drive where your transferring the data to from the damaged drive..
2rd part of your question thats up to you at the end of the day.

 

hehe299792458, are you sure you did a chkdsk on the right drive? The pic looks as if your checking your windows drive C:

Also try doing DIR and/or ATTRIB under on the external drive and see if your folders etc: still exist.

 

You have to run as an administrator, right click on the windows file version and "run as administrator"

And looking at your screenshot you have scanned the wrong drive - in the run field type chkdsk (ext drive letter): /r

 

Yes, my bad, I scanned the windows drive. However, when I tried to scan the data drive, it'd say that the path doesn't exist and if I just doing under properties of the drive, it'd say that windows can't access it.

I am the administrator. I tried to run the exe as admin just to make sure, but it still didn't work

 

ok. so now, I finally got active @ partition recovery registered. However, it seems that whenever I actually scan the drive with it, it only displays 2 files on it: $Dttrdef and $Volume. However, when I check on properties, it still reports 350GB being used. I can get to the files through the search function, but I can only access folders (which are supposedly empty) and reason on the root directory.

 

Now, I'm able to actually see the drive under windows again (I wasn't able before) and when I tried to run the chkdsk command again (this time, I'm sure it's right), it says the master file table is corrupt and windows can't fix it.

 

Oohhh... MFT corruption sucks. I found this which may help you. As for recovering files, I've actually often used Linux boot disks to get data off of drives that Windows can't read any more. It's not an easy process, but it may be your next best choice before you consider sending it away from professional data recovery.

 

I tried the chkdsk commands in that article, but they seem to be off little help.


I am now trying a software called Getbackdata for NTFS, but it takes 5hr to complete its "check" so I'll wait for the results. I found this thread: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=127465, but the solutions described in it seems to be very troublesome.

 

update: Getbackdata ntfs seems to encounter an I/O error right at 9%. I tried it twice and both times, it gave me the same error.

 

Sound like you DIsk Has Pyhiscal Error on bad sector you can try hit ingore error on getback if i recall?

 

I did, but it wouldn't do anything after that. It just stays at 9%.

 

anyone? ....

 

surely someone must know

 

I've been some more googling, and it seems that Testdisk may be my best hope. However, I just can't get it to work - it keeps telling me "Terminfo file c\cygwin is missing. Extract all files and subdirectories before running the program. Press Enter key to quit". What's wrong with it? I tried googling cygwin to find what it is, but no one seem to know

 

try to plug it in a computer that run ubuntu, you can read the hd there, it happens to my uncle computer half year ago and i fix it. i think maybe the file table is corrupted, windows can not access the file it says harddisk not format, but ubuntu has no problem reading the files. i guess windows does suck. try linux

 

cygwin is unix emulator running in win32(ie NT, XP) OS. i used it for my school work back in the day i was in university studying math. because the math and computer softwares are run under unix

 

If it's missing, where do I get it?

 

u need to install cygwin. but i dont think the software you got can help you. find a machine that is running linux. put the harddisk in the one that is running linux then try to read the file from there then back them up then reformat the drive and reinstall everything

 

try http://x.cygwin.com/ or http://www.cygwin.com

 

ok. so, I finally managed to get Ubuntu working again, but how do I run testdisk on it? I'm really a newbie with linux (I haven't done anything substantial in it before, not even installing a program) so someone has to show me this step by step.

 

ok, now I've determined that both MFT and MFT_mirror is corrupt. Just great! Testdisk's website suggested I trt Getabckdata NTFS, but I already did that and it doesn't work

 

I managed to get testdisk working, but since both MFT and MFT mirror were corrupt, it can't do anything.

 

Anyone? I now tried a software called Recover My Files, which actually recovered something from the HD. However, I left it over night and when I came back next morning, it only completed 1% of the search (no, it's not stuck, it kept going)! Does anyone has a more expedient solution? I really don't want to leave the computer scanning for another 100 days!

 

put your harddisk in a computer that has ubuntu then your ubuntu will read the harddisk

 

I would start with a LiveCD - it's much easier than removing a hard drive. If the LiveCD can mount the Windows drive, it can copy the important data to another drive.

To hehe: Have you read the Ubuntu help page on data recovery? https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery

Have you also read this? http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/p21.html

If the information on that drive is very important, you'll have to (as a minimum) invest in a larger drive in order to get a copy of the damaged drive's image, and then spend quite a bit of time attempting to get as much data as you can. Businesses that specialize in data recovery charge a lot of money for their services, which (probably) will be more than you're willing to pay, depending on the data on the drive, of course.

 

I've tried Ubuntu already, but it can't seem to mount the drive, citing a corrupt $MFT. I managed to get Testdisk working in one of those recovery Cd's, but it too didn't work citing the same error. It suggested me to try various software that I already did.

 

anyone? -.-

 

You could use R-Studio's data recovery program if you haven't tried that (provided all you want is to recover data). The HD might be corrupt but after a nice format it might still be usable.

And please don't double and triple post. Asking "Anyone? Anyone?" doesn't give a good impression.

 

liveCD cant mount hard drive in your computer
u need a computer. then run linux or liveCD there. then put your hard disk in the USB hub adaptor convertor thing, then plug it into the computer that is running linuxm then u can read the file there