Recover data from a diskpart > clean command

Since we are not running a scan, you can close and run TestDisk any number of times.

Only thing make sure to select the correct faulty external drive everytime.

Wait for instructions and do not attempt to do things on your own.

Hi,

I can't see any partitions in there. It says "No partitions available". Pasting a snap below

OK. That would mean something more than just diskpart clean has happened wiping the partition clean.

By that I mean the volume boot record that should exist in LBA 63.Let us see whether there is any trace of it.

( At the moment I am thinking that there is no way to recover any data. May be you have to format your drive and then we have to try data recovery from a formatted drive. Even with this there is no guarantee you will be able to recover any data. I am only sounding you to get prepared for that.We will keep it as the last option. Not now.)

Right now I am zeroing my 750GB drive to carryout a small experiment. I plan to format the full capacity and then do a disk part clean. With Bootice I shall check what changes have taken place in the relevant LBAs.. If it doesn't correlate with the LBAs on your drive, my first statement is confirmed. I may not finish the experiment before tomorrow evening. I shall post my findings then.

Right now run bootice, select your external drive, and then Sector Edit. Click on the the Sector Indicator Field (where it shows 0 now) to bring a Window where you will type 63 and press OK. This will show LBA 63 in the disk map. Post a screenshot of LBA 63. You may do it now and upload.

@Jumanji

The sector dump he uploaded in post Recover data from a diskpart > clean command can be open in "Winhex". That is full of zeros - other than the disk signature and MBR magic number on sector 0. May be the disk was GPT partitioned ?.

There is an easy way to view that sector copy just like an actual disk. First rename "Mbrsect.txt" to "mbresect.img". This will convert the hex dump to a "dd" like disk copy. Then download freeware hex editor "HxD" from HxD - Freeware Hex Editor and Disk Editor | mh-nexus

Open "HxD" and choose Extras --> Open Disk Image. HxD interface is much similar to "BOOTICE". You can simply type the sector number 63 to jump to it.

Yep. I already have HxD on my desktop. Have used it many times and forget.:)

I don't think the disk was GPT. Why would anyone want GPT on a 2TB drive with only a single partition?

Anyway I shall check on that too.

@Jumanji

I just did a quick test on a virtual machine. Installed "Windows 7" and then did a DISKPART CLEAN operation. Guess what, entire first sectors are completely empty. At sector 2048 i can see NTFS boot sector of 100 MB "System Reserved" Partition.

I don't think "Seagate" will create partition on sector 63 which is unaligned. Probably the partition was started at sector 2048 just like any modern HDD. The sector dump uploaded by OP doesn't seems to contain sector 2048 ( it is from LBA 0 to LBA 2047). It may worth a try to inspect the contents of sector 2048 but i leave the decision to you.

I would think what you have aforesaid is applicable in a Windows 7 system disk with System Reserved partition. "The "RELATIVE" offset of the first partition is 2048 sectors; instead of the usual 63"

Actually it depends on the partitioning tool. All modern partitioning tools are by default creates only aligned partitions. I did another quick test to confirm. Wiped all partitions and used DISKPART from Windows install disk to create a single Primary partion. This will avoid creation of "System Reserved". The partitions seems to be started on LBA 2048. Then again cleaned that disk and used "Partition Wizard" Windows edition to create a primary partition. It also created partition starting at LBA 2048. By default "Partition Wizard" Windows edition creates first partition as "MB Aligned" or at LBA 2048.

Interestingly "Partition Wizard" bootable CD seems to create first partition as "Cylinder Aligned" or at sector 63. So if i assume correctly, you used either "Partition Wizard" bootable disc or XP setup to avoid creation of "System Reserved".

Here is some snapshots which shows the difference :

Ok Jumanji your last post makes sense now. And yes my disk is an external HDD, Segate GoFlex Desktop USB version from like 2 years back, so the partition must have started from LBA63 and not from LBA2048. I've used every tool out there to scan the disk but all of them have failed to show any kidn of hope. Does this mean that I've lost too much data to rebuild the partition?

I've EaseUS Partition manager which has some partition recovery tools but as of now from what i've learnt all of the softwares are showing same results. So I doubt scanning by EaseUS would make any kind of difference.

Seems the clean command is indeed a powerful tool

Is there anything more we can do?