Disk structure is corrupt and unreadable

shokan2 · 11 Jun 2014

A WD My Passport 2TB USB drive started giving me beeps at startup and shutdown a few days ago. Today I cannot access the drive contents and get the message in the thread title. I also got messages before this saying the disk needed to be formatted. Tried a new cable from another WD My Passport, didn't change anything. Tried it on another computer, same message.

Right click drive, Properties > Tools Tab > Check Now. Says Windows cannot access the drive.

Have I permanently lost the drive contents?

shokan2 · 11 Jun 2014

OP again. Tried this: run > cmd > chkdsk e: /f

See the attached for the result. The prompt in the box is blinking but nothing seems to be happening.

Tried Recuva. Disk not accessible.

Pandora Recovery, "device not ready", it's greyed out.

Tried wiping free space with CCleaner. Says the drive has an unrecognized file system.

In Manage, I see the drive is shown as RAW. Also, tried changing the drive letter, but this brings up "the drive needs to be reformatted".

jumanji · 11 Jun 2014

Please post a screenshot Of Windows Disk Management with only your problem external drive connected.

Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image

Please make sure to hide the Console Tree and Action Pane by clicking on the Hide/Show buttons in the Tool Bar and take a snapshot of full screen view without any truncation.

In the above chkdsk screenshot, allow sufficient time for Windows for correction till you get some message. If Windows cannot recover the MFT you will get a message that "Windows cannot recover the master file table, CHKDSK aborted". You have to wait. It is a bad practice to abort chkdsk yourself- that can make matters worse.

shokan2 · 11 Jun 2014

Here is the capture.

jumanji · 11 Jun 2014

OK, let us now check with Partition Wizard.

Download and install Partition Wizard Home Edition v8.1.1 Free download Magic Partition Manager Software, partition magic alternative, free partition magic, partition magic Windows 7 and server partition software - Partition Wizard Online

Run Partition Wizard and post the screenshot of the Main Window to see what your drive says in it.

If it does not show as "Bad Disk", you may run the Partition Recovery Wizard in it and run a Quick Scan.

At the end of the quick scan, post a screen shot of the resulting screen.

Don't you intend to sleep?:)

shokan2 · 11 Jun 2014

jumanji said:

OK, let us now check with Partition Wizard.

Download and install Partition Wizard Home Edition v8.1.1 Free download Magic Partition Manager Software, partition magic alternative, free partition magic, partition magic Windows 7 and server partition software - Partition Wizard Online

Run Partition Wizard and post the screenshot of the Main Window to see what your drive says in it.

If it does not show as "Bad Disk", you may run the Partition Recovery Wizard in it and run a Quick Scan.

At the end of the quick scan, post a screen shot of the resulting screen.

Don't you intend to sleep?:)

Partition Wizard result capture attached. B is the drive with the problem.

Quick Scan running and will take probably 2-3 hours at the rate it's going.

Too much caffeine yesterday. Is there hope for recovery (for the drive, that is)? :)

jumanji · 11 Jun 2014

As long as the Disk does not show up as a Bad Disk, there is hope for recovery.

Your Disk Management showed only one external drive. Now you have one too many.

It is always advisable to have only the problem drive connected so that there is absolutely no confusion.

Now you have to say it is the B drive. I would have known it myself had you only the problem drive connected.

Anyway let the quick scan complete ( you can go to sleep :)) After completion post the screenshot.

Absolutely no hurrying up. That is why I said you can go to sleep instead of sitting in front of the computer and twiddling your fingers. :)

*yawn* I shall be away from my comp for my after lunch nap. But don't worry we have any number of people here well-versed in PW who can guide you even in my absence.

shokan2 · 11 Jun 2014

jumanji said:

connected.

Anyway let the quick scan complete ( you can go to sleep :)) After completion post the screenshot.

Absolutely no hurrying up. That is why I said you can go to sleep instead of sitting in front of the computer and twiddling your fingers. :)

I'll have to twiddle my fingers at work because that's where I have to go now. Actually, because my fingers will be crossed, twiddling will not be an option. Will post pic when it's done later.

The new drive is there because I started to empty it in anticipation of using something called Asoftech Recovery and have a drive for it to load onto. Didn't do it when I saw your suggestion for Partition Recovery software.

shokan2 · 11 Jun 2014

If this is successful, will I need a free space volume on another drive to copy the partition contents to, equal to the partition size? In the case of the problem disk, it is already mostly full with the main contents partition (931 GB of 1 TB), no space.

Quick Scan 75% currently, screenshot.

jumanji · 11 Jun 2014

If partition Recovery is successful, you may be able to access the drive as before and there will therefore be no need to copy. ( Note the word IF.)

Wait for the scan to complete. Do not abort the scan for any reason.

Once the scan is completed, put a tick mark against the first partition in the list 931.48GB Existing.

After that selection double click on that. 1.Does the Partition Explorer show all your files? Close the Partition Explorer

2. Does the preview disk map show your full drive with no unallocated space?

Then click on finish. You will then be probably taken to the main screen.

Does your drive have a drive letter?

If not right click on it and give a drive letter.

The leftside Pane will show you the pending actions.

Click on Apply on the top menu bar to complete the action.

If all goes well, you should be able to access your drive as before.

Safely remove your drive and plug it in again.

Is everything OK?

I have given all the above steps since it is time for me to retire. May be I will be awake for another hour.
( Like you I may not forgo my sleep and I always take a cup of hot coffee before retiring and the caffeine puts me to sleep. :))

If you still have problems others here may help you. Or else I shall see you after another eight hours.