disk 1 is unknown, not initialized, unallocated

jumanji said:

Yep, I would also like to see the picture.

I think that this was moved out of another similar thread and rightly so, since in that case it showed only Unknown and not initialised. The similarity ends there. The right side of the disk did not show anything - neither the disk capacity nor the status (like unallocated) ( Also it was dropped and so a physical damage was suspected)

In your case I am sure the Disk Management will show the disk capacity, and also that it is unallocated.( you said so. :)) Since you also said it was plugged in I presume it is an external drive.

Since it is almost time for me to retire for the day, I shall post this without waiting for the screenshot.

Download and install MiniTools Partition Wizard Home Edition 7.8 (14 MB) from Free download Magic Partition Manager Software, partition magic alternative, free partition magic, partition magic Windows 7 and server partition software - Partition Wizard Online

Recovery with Partition Wizard:
Run Partition Wizard 7.

Your disk1 may be shown as “unallocated” and without a drive letter.



Click on Partition Recovery Wizard and Next.

In the Partition Recovery Wizard screen, select the drive to be recovered and click on Next.

Select Full Disk, and then Next.

Select Quick Scan, Next

If the partition is found select and double click on it. Does the Partition Explorer show all the files?


Close the Partition Explorer and click on Finish.

The Main Screen will show the restored Drive but may be without a drive letter.



Right click on the drive, click on Change letter and give a drive letter.

Click on Apply to execute the two pending operations.

The partition is restored and your drive will be functional as before and you can access the files and folders.

Hi I'm having the same problem and I tried doing this but my disk drive is labelled "Bad Disk" under File System and I can't get it to find the partition. How can I resolve this problem? Please help! Thank you!

Jumanji,

I tried your method with the Partition Wizard outlined in post #3, but my HDD (MyBook Essential) is not even showing up in the wizard. It also starts making a noise as soon as its plugged in. Sounds like it has a hardware malfunction. How can I verify this?

Hello Jumanji,
I can't thank you enough, I did the steps and I was able to retrieve most of the data (except for data on C: which were not important).
Thanks from Egypt.

Hi didomessi,

Thanks for your compliments.

Strictly speaking, I haven't done anything great. Recovering the partition using Partition Recovery Wizard in MiniTools Partition Wizard in most simple cases where the partition Table in sector 0, the first sector gets corrupted is a well-known method known to almost everyone here. Perhaps I have only finetuned it and presented it with screenshots for the OPs to understand and execute it. :)

I still do not know what exactly is/was your problem except you used PW and were able to recover most data. You indicate "except for data in C". So I presume that it is not bootable.

In such a case you can try to access it with a Live Linux CD/pen drive.

Download Lucid Puppy (Ubuntu Compatible Build) version 5.2.8 ISO (132.6 MB) Download latest Puppy Linux release

Create your bootable pen drive using Rufus v 1.4.10 (616KB) Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

Backup all data on your pen drive before using Rufus since all that will be lost when Rufus formats it.

With your pendrive connected, run Rufus, check your correct pen drive is selected.
In "Create a bootable disk using" select ISO Image with the dropdown arrow. (Leave everything else to dlefault.)
Cick on the Disk icon next to it and select the Lucid Puppy ISO.

Click on Start and allow Rufus to complete writing the ISO to the pendrive.

Close Rufus.

Now connect an external drive on which you want to copy the recovered files and then reboot your computer.

Use the one-time boot menu and boot from the USB pendrive.

Wait for Lucid Puppy to load and you will be in the Lucid Puppy desktop.

On how to use Lucid Puppy see Lucid Puppy way to recover files from a non-bootable computer ( Read only what is under the topic Recovering files from the non-bootable Internal Drive

Hey Jumanji

I got the same problem as Shayes784.
Any idea how to fix it?

I am also having same problem with my external hard disk (WD). I followed same steps, everything success, but I am unable to see the list of files after quick scan. what should I need to do for further? thank in advance.

I followed all the steps, it is not finding the partition name.. is there any way I can fix this issue? please help!

Hi mbsmbala,

Welcome onboard.

Please see Slartybart's post #106 above.