Recovering files from a readable Hard drive.

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  1. Posts : 7
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
       #1

    Recovering files from a readable Hard drive.


    Greetings all,

    First of all I would like to apologize should I be posting in the incorrect section(if so please some mod move this thread to the appropriate section)

    So a few days ago my 750GB Hard drive in my Lenovo Y580 laptop failed (due to my setting it on sleep for a long time and taking the laptop with me outside for a prolonged amount of time)

    When I got back home, I tried to turn on the laptop and I got 3 or 4 clicks("Click of death" I believe) so I bought a new 1TB Harddrive and used Lenovo recovery disks to get the laptop back to working order

    Moving on, I bought a SATA to USB enclosure so that I might try to recover some files from my failed Harddrive, now the thing is, when I connect it, it doesn't give the click sounds anymore and it seems to read, however, here's the weird part, it only shows me the Lenovo recovery part of the drive

    Here's how it looks like in my computer and disk management:
    Recovering files from a readable Hard drive.-1.png
    Recovering files from a readable Hard drive.-2.png

    So my question is, what does the "OEM Partition" mean on my failed HDD(Disk 2)? and do you think it's possible to recover any data or does this mean all is lost? and if there is a chance of recovery how can I open up the part of the drive where the data was(which apparently in this case is the OEM paritition)

    Right clicking on the OEM part only gives me the "Help" option

    Best Regards,
    Raficoo
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #2

    Hi Raficoo,

    Welcome to Seven Forums.

    Without asking any questions - there are many I would like to ask - let me directly get into action.

    Please download, install and run MiniTools Partition Wizard Free Edition 9. MiniTool Partition Manager Software for Windows PC and Server

    Does the File System of the 654.69GB partition of your "old failed hard drive" show as NTFS in the disk list?

    If yes, rightclick on it > Explore. Do you see the files? Close Partition Explorer.

    Rightclick on it again > Unhide Partition. In the next screen assign a drive letter > OK

    Two operations will be pending.

    Click on APPLY in the top menu bar. When changes are completed > OK and then close Partition Wizard.

    Can you see and read the drive now?
      My Computer


  3. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #3

    1. The OEM partition is most likely the recovery partition.

    2. You can try to get to your data with this tool which I made myself:

    Emergency Kit - save your files from a dead OS
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 4,466
    Windows 10 Education 64 bit
       #4

    I'd try assigning drive letters to those two partitions that don't have any, they will then show up in explorer. Then you can have a look at what's on them. The first large OEM partition is likely the one you want. Right click it in disk management and see if it will let you assign it a drive letter. Then go back to the Computer window and see if its listed.
    Last edited by alphanumeric; 18 Jan 2015 at 08:19.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 7
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    jumanji said:
    Hi Raficoo,

    Welcome to Seven Forums.

    Without asking any questions - there are many I would like to ask - let me directly get into action.

    Please download, install and run MiniTools Partition Wizard Free Edition 9. MiniTool Partition Manager Software for Windows PC and Server

    Does the File System of the 654.69GB partition of your "old failed hard drive" show as NTFS in the disk list?

    If yes, rightclick on it > Explore. Do you see the files? Close Partition Explorer.

    Rightclick on it again > Unhide Partition. In the next screen assign a drive letter > OK

    Two operations will be pending.

    Click on APPLY in the top menu bar. When changes are completed > OK and then close Partition Wizard.

    Can you see and read the drive now?
    Thank you for the reply,

    I downloaded and installed that program, and it shows my drive as NTFS as the pic shows:
    Recovering files from a readable Hard drive.-4.png

    however if I right click > Explore it I get this :
    Recovering files from a readable Hard drive.-5.png

    closing the partition explorer, if I right click it I don't get "Unhide partition" but I get a "Hide partition" option

    whs said:
    1. The OEM partition is most likely the recovery partition.

    2. You can try to get to your data with this tool which I made myself:

    Emergency Kit - save your files from a dead OS
    Thanks, I'll see that if other options don't work

    alphanumeric said:
    If assign drive letters to those two partitions that don't have any, they will then show up in explorer. Then you can have a look at what's on them. The first large OEM partition is likely the one you want. Right click it in disk management and see if it will let you assign it a drive letter. Then go back to the Computer window and see if its listed.
    Like I said, I tried to right click on it, but it's only giving me the "help" option when I do so:
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #6

    Raficoo said:
    .....closing the partition explorer, if I right click it I don't get "Unhide partition" but I get a "Hide partition" option....
    So that partition is not hidden. Yet it refuses to take a drive letter in WDM. Did you try assigning a drive letter with Partition Wizard? "Change Letter"

    Also check the current Partition ID. "Change Partition Type ID" Note down the ID shown. If it is anything other than 0x07 NTFS, assign this ID and Apply.

    Yes, I am still groping in the dark and trying to get it :).
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 7
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    jumanji said:
    Raficoo said:
    .....closing the partition explorer, if I right click it I don't get "Unhide partition" but I get a "Hide partition" option....
    So that partition is not hidden. Yet it refuses to take a drive letter in WDM. Did you try assigning a drive letter with Partition Wizard? "Change Letter"

    Also check the current Partition ID. "Change Partition Type ID" Note down the ID shown. If it is anything other than 0x07 NTFS, assign this ID and Apply.

    Yes, I am still groping in the dark and trying to get it :).
    I checked the ID type and it was 0x12 Compaq, so I switched it to 0x7 NTFS, assigned a letter, it showed up on "My Computer", however clicking it gave me this:
    Recovering files from a readable Hard drive.-err.png

    Anything else I can try? or is this the dead end?

    I tried Easeus and it actually showed some content recoverable, but with that 1GB recovery limit isn't so useful, so if it comes down to that I would like to ask of another software that I can use.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #8

    Most paid software will allow you to recover only 1GB and if you are satisfied with the recovered data you have to buy.And if you are willing to pay I would recommend Getdataback for NTFS. You can try the trial version and then decide.

    Now atleast you have assigned a drive letter. Did you explore it in Partition Wizard?

    Post a screenshot of Windows Disk Management now. That may bring in other experts' suggestions .May be you need to run checkdisk and see whether it could repair the filesystem. I would wait for others' opinions.

    It is now a million dollar question as to what path you should pursue to recover the data.

    What type of data you have in that that you want to recover?
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 6,330
    Multi-Boot W7_Pro_x64 W8.1_Pro_x64 W10_Pro_x64 +Linux_VMs +Chromium_VM
       #9

    You can try free active@ Partition Recovery to see if it can recover your files
    Active@ Partition Recovery restores deleted & damaged volumes &amp disks. Freeware Data Recovery Software Toolkit
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #10

    That is a good suggestion from DavidE.

    Have a look at this post Disk structure is corrupt and unreadable where the OP had success with GetDataback for NTFS. In the same thread just about half an hour ago another new user has reported success with Active @ File Recovery which again is a paid version.

    You may try Active@Partition Recovery as suggested by DavidE though I am not sure whether it can read a drive with a corrupt MFT which I presume is the cause here which again could have been caused by bad sectors.

    Test Disk has not been very successful on MFT repair. However you may still try Test Disk and check whether it shows your files. If it shows you can copy those files to another location.

    I have also decided that your drive is afflicted with physical bad sectors and running checkdisk will be counterproductive. It can deal with "soft" bad sectors but not physical "hard" bad sectors. Still I would like to have a look at the Windows Disk Management now as part of the learning process.

    I think the ball is now in your court.:)
      My Computer


 
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