how do I recover data from a non responsive hard drive?

[Slartybart]

Phew....

you booted using the PM flash drive -correct?

then you post the screen caps in post 115 - correct?

then I posted select option 1.

maybe I'm confused -

I'm not certain, but I think Anshad meant all drives except the boot and the faulty.

I can't speak for him though, so maybe he really only wants the faulty drive connected.

It's probably best to wait for him since he's the lead on this and you already have some instructions that caused some difficulty. Rather than go through all of those gyrations, wait until Anshad gives you a definite on the boot option to select.

I misunderstood that you weren't still booted on the flash drive.

 

[Anshad Edavana]

so maybe I'm confused here.... but I was told to remove the good drive, install the dead drive, reboot using the PM flash drive, then take screen shots.

I then have to power down, take out the dead drive, re install the good drive, re boot, and sign in here.......

First of all, we don't want to screw your good disk with OS either deliberately or accidentally and that is why i instructed you to unplug the good disk.You can optionally connect the good disk also - just choose the right disk when opening "Disk Health" ( gamsrtcontrol ).

The option you should select is "Default Settings 32 ( Runs from RAM ) ". This will boot 32 bit "Parted Magic" with full apps extracted in to RAM. You may experience some delay in booting if the drive is really bad. But eventually it will boot in to the Desktop. Then open "Disk Health" and save the SMART report as suggested.

 

[mjf]

@ICit2, PW can only explore and show the files in partitions present as well as those lost and found by Partition Recovery Wizard but there is no way to copy the files. The OP had already seen the files show..

Partition Wizard can copy partitions to unallocated space and resize if wanted. There is a wizard tool that makes it very simple. It can do the same for the whole disk. You can do this with either the boot disk or the mini Tool. It is true that it cannot copy at the file level.

 

[Anshad Edavana]

Also please follow these additional steps when you get in to the "Parted Magic" Desktop.

1. Open a "Terminal" Window ( the Monitor icon in the task bar ).

2. Enter the below command exactly.

fdisk -l

3.Take a close screenshot and post it with next reply.

 

[Anshad Edavana]

I almost forgot the fact that "Parted Magic" can connect to the Internet and it came with a web browser. If you are using a broadband connection, Internet will work out of the box. Simply open "Firefox" and log in to the "Sevenforum".

Also there is an option to capture screen shot like "Windows Snipping Tool". You will find a link to "Take Screenshot" inside "Multimedia" or "Graphics" menu.

 

[jumanji]

I almost forgot the fact that "Parted Magic" can connect to the Internet and it came with a web browser. If you are using a broadband connection, Internet will work out of the box. Simply open "Firefox" and log in to the "Sevenforum".

Also there is an option to capture screen shot like "Windows Snipping Tool". You will find a link to "Take Screenshot" inside "Multimedia" or "Graphics" menu.

I was about to check on it and then give a shout. ( Pendrive plugged in and ready to go) I had seen the capture utility and was thinking of posting some screenshots that OP can follow.)

 

[Anshad Edavana]

"Parted Magic" is the best recovery disc i have ever seen. The best part is that it's kernel is specially patched to work with failing hard drives. I have used it several times to copy data from disks with bad sectors ( if "File Manager" can successfully mount the partitions. Otherwise image with "DDrescue" ). There is also a GUI interface for "Photorec" is present - Qphotorec.

Sadly it went commercial now . But 5$ is too low for the features it offer.

 

[jumanji]

Agreed. It is OK for professionals to have such a tool permanently.

For ordinary users it is generally not required. For example this case. They are merely users with just enough skills necessary to use a PC with Windows. They are never going to troubleshoot and do things themselves without guidance. It is not their vocation but only an avocation.So freeware best suits.

I wouldn't spend even $1 on it.

 

[jumanji]

Hi Canuck67,

When you boot into Parted Magic, by default first item in the menu is selected. Just press ENTER or wait for some 20seconds and it will start booting into Parted Magic. Wait. It may take a minute or two for the desktop to appear.It is optional to enter your time zone.OR just cancel that window to dismiss it.

To connect to the Internet and log into Seven Forums:

Click on the leftmost computer icon at the bottom task Bar . That is the start button to bring the menu. Go to Networking > Firefox will open your browser and you can log into SevenForums to communicate.( And yes this if only your ADSL modem/router is set to connect to the internet on being powered. In most cases I expect it to be so)

For Screen Capture: Go to Accessories>Screenshot. You may take a full screenshot/Active Window/region. You may save it in the default pictures folder or for convenience choose to save it to Desktop for easy access.( Just select the Desktop in the left Pane and not any alternative in the main body, and check the snapshot appears on the desktop to make sure.)

This post and screenshot is from Parted Magic.I saved the screenshot to desktop and uploaded it.



With this I would think, things will be easy.

As Anshad pointed, to disconnect your system drive is always safe. If you can communicate with the above instructions, I would prefer you do so.We would be safe.

From hereon follow the instructions already given by Anshad.

I shall come in only if I have a doubt. Not otherwise.

 

[Canuck67]

okay, thanks for the clarification everyone.

1. Yes, I can open the File Manager and browse the various partitions and files...

2. attached are the two requested screenshots.
Disk Health and the Attributes screen
Terminal window fdisk screen

 

[jumanji]

Please wait till Anshad sees and comes out with further instructions. Only he will lead you. I only watch. I am also following his instructions on my comp just to get a feel of parted magic.

I am retiring now.

 

[Anshad Edavana]

Your hard drive seems to be in SMART Critical status ( Red flagged in GmsartControl ) and there seems to be a huge number of unstable/bad sectors. The drive surface seems to be too damaged and a "DDrescue" cloning will be better suited. However considering the drive's condition i expect a very slow copy and lots of read errors ( and partial corruption of data ).

As soon as you get a new 750 - 1000 GB disk for backup ( Preferably Seagate ), we can start the cloning process. I highly recommend to not attempt any manual data recovery/copy methods to prevent further damage.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Anshad what do you recommend for the cloning as I use Macrium the most and sometimes (mostly in the past) copy disk in Partition Wizard.

I only ask because you say the disk is so damaged.

 

[jumanji]

@Icit2, I thought I had already answered this question in my post #113.

"If our suspicion that the HDD is developing bad sectors is true, some of the files copied either with TestDisk or live Linux will be corrupt even if we succeed in copying.

ddrescue while cloning the drive tries to repeatedly read the bad sectors and extract the data in it, which conventional cloning software like Macrium Reflect will not do.The algorithm used in ddrescue is different with focus on bad sector recovery as it clones. First pass clones all good sectors. Subsequent passes - as many as you can order - will target only the bad sectors as logged in its logfile - and try to extract the feeble data in it."

Normally 3 passes is considered sufficient to extract data from a bad sector the assumption being if in three passes a bad sector cannot be recovered, more number of passes may not do anything better except increasing the recovery time..That bad sector is considered irrecoverable and naturally some files recovered will remain corrupted. But the best has been done to recover bad sectors.

I am only interested in seeing how many passes Anshad is going to recommend based on his personal experience.

 

[Anshad Edavana]

As Jumanji explained "ddrescue" will be the best tool in this scenario. "Macrium" do have an option to ignore bad sectors but that option will simply skip copying bad sectors and write zeros to the target drive. On the other hand "ddrescue" will split entire HDD space in to smaller chunks or blocks and skip copying blocks with bad sectors in the first pass. This will reduce the chance of disk being crashed by trying to read damaged areas. After all good blocks are copied, "ddrescue" will attempt reading bad sectors. We can specify the maximum number of read attempts as an option. As bad sectors are physical defects, chance of successfully copying a damaged sector is low even for "ddrescue". However rescuing all possible sectors is very important in data recovery. A single 512 byte sized sector rescued by "ddrescue" may contain an NTFS boot sector or an important portion of MFT which defines NTFS.

 

[Canuck67]

thanks again everyone for all of your help / suggestions.

1. Just to be clear, in order to hopefully recover whatever data I can from this dead drive, I will need to purchase a new hard drive.

2. maybe I should not post this here... but here goes... what drive would you recommend? Here are the two I have my eye on... the customer reviews give me pause though...
Seagate 3TB Desktop HDD SATA III w/ 64MB Cache at Memory Express
WD 3TB Green Hard Drive, SATA III w/ 64MB Cache at Memory Express

3. assuming I acquire one of those... is my system able to handle both that new drive, and my existing working drive? (WD 750GB)

thanks again.

 

[Anshad Edavana]

Hi

Considering the higher failure rate of 3TB drives and the possible issues for systems to access disks beyond 2.2 TB, i wouldn't recommend a 3TB drive for purchase.

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware...ernal-suddenly-becomes-746gb-unallocated.html

You will be fine with a disk up to 2 TB .

 

[Canuck67]

Hi

Considering the higher failure rate of 3TB drives and the possible issues for systems to access disks beyond 2.2 TB, i wouldn't recommend a 3TB drive for purchase.

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware...ernal-suddenly-becomes-746gb-unallocated.html

You will be fine with a disk up to 2 TB .

wow. I had no idea 3TB were no good.

Seagate 2TB Desktop SSHD SATA III w/ 64MB Cache at Memory Express This one then?

 

[Anshad Edavana]

That 2TB drive will work fine. You can also opt for a disk without NAND cache as it will be cheaper.

 

[Slartybart]

Anshad, et al: CrystalDiskInfo can affect Smart values. This might improve disk access time and also buy a bit more time before SMART flags he disk.

One member reportedly used it on a failing drive and the drive has been fine for 5 years. SMART isn't all that smart sometimes. I recently applied this method to a troublesome ext WD drive - the results are inconclusive, but the symptoms were completely different.

Using CrystalDisk in this manner is not a cure, it's a way to workaround SMART.

Health Status Setting

As far as the capacity of the drive, the only factor is that it needs to be greater than 500 GB. Other factors are cost - how much can you afford to spend on a external drive. Do you need 2 TB?

Google Search 1TB - 3TB drives

3TB drives aren't necessarily bad, there are many issues with them because of a previous capacity limitation. People also use docking stations that are not rated for > 2TB.

Of course there might be real issues with any newer technology - the capacity of drives is growing, but the disk remains the same physical size.

There is nothing actionable in this post - it is information for further research only.

Anshad has the lead and his instructions are the ones you need to follow. We're all working together on the issue and we all have experience, but jumanji, ICit2lol, and I are watching and learning about new and other tools Anshad is using. Perhaps, Anshad is learning a bit from our input as well.

Bill
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