Solved EXT HDD issue after scan disk, now prompts to format??

[BBedding]

Check Disk has finished and here is the screen shot, I only have the choice to continue.

 

[BBedding]

And now this:



To answer your question it was 1 1TB partition,

 

[BBedding]

And thanks for the link Junanji that's a great write up, cheers.

 

[jumanji]

Yep, your hard disk is basically being identified as only a 128GB drive for whatever reason/s. That was evident even in your screenshot. And your 1TB is somehow embedded into that 128GB .

Unless this problem is resolved, no recovery is possible.And that is what TestDisk says.

As I had already indicated it may be a firmware corruption. I am not sure though.

Hang on to see whether others have some ideas on dealing with this, even as I continue to give a thought into this.

 

[BBedding]

No worries, Thanks for all your assistance ...!

 

[TVeblen]

I got a bad feeling about this. It may be time for a two pronged approach:

First, you should start thinking about data recovery. There are free programs like Recuva ( Recuva - Undelete, Unerase, File and Disk Recovery - Free Download )that you can try - but I have heard that it has trouble with RAW disks. Yours does not show as RAW in disk management so you might be OK.
There are also paid programs that handle more difficult situations.

If you can recover your data then you could just reformat the drive.

But some other ideas you could try before:

• Run chkdsk /r on the drive
• Use the free program TestDisk - CGSecurity to try the "Fix MFT" option.
• Try a manual method to rebuild the MBR like this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/20864-mbr-restore-windows-7-master-boot-record.html

Hope that helps.

 

[jumanji]

I also thought of Recuva. Can safely be tried since it does not write anything to the HDD.

In the meantime, I spent a little time trying to google to check whether I could get a grip on the problem. Yep, we learn a lot from other people's problems, trying to help them.

I came across only two posts/references trying to get the native capacity of the HDD and both spoke of Seatools for DOS.

For OP's reference I am giving out the links. ( He must be sleeping now.)

1. Set Drive Size with Seatools for DOS

( OP should not try the other option indicated therein i.e., zero-filling since it will wipe out all the data)

2. The last post here 1TB HDD only showing 128GB after Disk wiping (windows 7) - Hard-Disks - Storage

I understand that Seatools for DOS works OK with most other brands too. So let the OP try this irrespective of the brand he has.

If it doesn't work, then OP should run that particular manufacturer's diagnostic/repair tool and check whether it brings any cheers.

He may take recourse to other suggestions made by TVeblen after this perhaps.

( I may be sleeping when the OP wakes up.)

 

[BBedding]

I am currently recovering the files using mini power data recovery but only 5% of the files have recovered correctly and 95% do not work. I am so disappointed that I allowed W7 to scan and fix the errors on this disk as it seems I have lost the files. :mad2:

 

[BBedding]

I have just sprung for the full version of recuva hopefully I might have more luck.

 

[BBedding]

No luck at all with recuva it wouldn't even scan the drive. Looks like I have lost 8 years of photo's all my music (well every third track on each cd anyway) pretty disappointed, going to look into cloud back up I think.

I am running power data recovery again to see if it can recover any more.

Thanks for your help guys.

 

[Kaktussoft]

I tried to rebuild the MBR and the software went through the motions but it has not changed.

I tried to recover the old partition and I can now see the old partition but not in my computer.

View attachment 248952

Not sure what to do now?

Try to go back to this state. And recover that partition. Post screenshot

 

[BBedding]

I ran seatools for dos and set the drive to max and it now show up 803gb unallocated in disk management.


I currently have mini power data recovery scanning for the lost partition.

Hopefully it works.

 

[Kaktussoft]

I ran seatools for dos and set the drive to max and it now show up 803gb unallocated in disk management.
View attachment 249238

I currently have mini power data recovery scanning for the lost partition.

Hopefully it works.

I hope seatools didn't actually write on the paritition. Was the 1 disk one large partition containing all space? So not lost but has become smaller and RAW?

 

[Kaktussoft]

I think it was original 1 lare partition on that disk as you posted before

Strange it's a 128GB disk holding a 931.5GB partition

 

[BBedding]

The 128GB Raw was there prior to me using seatools and the 803gb appeared after.

 

[Kaktussoft]

The 128GB Raw was there prior to me using seatools and the 803gb appeared after.

But was it originally (before you had problems) a 931GB physical disk with 1 large partition containing all disk space?

 

[BBedding]

Correct it was the elements portion 931.5GB.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Correct it was the elements portion 931.5GB.

Then searching for lost partition is useless!! The partition isn't lost but corrupt start and end point. It's turned to type RAW because windows/partition wizard and so on don't understand the file system. Partition is useless now. Steps to do:

• start partition wizard and delete the partition. This only deletes the start and end point in partition table. All stuff will still be on disk!
• press apply
• Now do a partition recovery as explained on How to activate Partition Recovery Wizard of partition magic? Partition Wizard Partition Recovery Wizard Video Help. . Scan "unallocated space" only (all space is unallocated). And do a "quick scan". If it finds small stuff like 3MB partitions... ignore them. Does it find the partition you want? If so, recover it.

Of course APPLY the changes. Do you really want it to be a primary partition? Do you really want it ACTIVE? Is it a boot or OS partition?

 

[BBedding]

Kaktussoft your a legend !! Thankyou so much.

The drive is back.!

Should I look at saving all my data elsewhere and getting rid of this drive?

 

[Kaktussoft]

Kaktussoft your a legend !! Thankyou so much.
View attachment 249250
The drive is back.!

Should I look at saving all my data elsewhere and getting rid of this drive?

Partition was back in a few seconds (after deleting it) when doing the partition recovery .... was it?

Run seatools and check your drive for errors. If no errors... I don't know why it happened. If seatools doesn't find errors ... drive should be fine