3 TB Hard-Drive: Filesystem Unknown (RAW) after bad disconnection

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  1. Posts : 34
    Vista Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #21

    jumanji said:
    Your Post No:18:

    To me it appears that the partition has been copied though it may not be in the proper format.I see the 128MB at the end instead of in front. I can't guess how it could have happened.
    Sorry, I totally overlook giving enough explanations about the screenshot I posted then:
    I had to take the capture at that moment to show the error message Partition Wizard displays. Unfortunately, at that point, it still displays operations at their current state, which is that the partition from O: have indeed been copied (albeith incompletely, though this doesn't reflect on the display) on the 4 TB destination drive. As soon as I click Ok on that error message window though, it says that since the operation failed it now has to revert back to previous state (ie. Unallocated space on the 4 TB drive) and then erases the incomplete partition copy. THEN only can you see the destination as Unallocated once again.

    As to why the reserved 128 MB partition appears at the end instead of at the start is just my doing, trying various different configurations (copy with or without resizing, and moving the reserved partition after instead of before...). Not that I ever actually believed it would change anything, but given the extend of my knowledge in such matters, what did I know it wouldn't fix the problem?
    And don't worry, I was always extra EXTRA careful never to mix up my 3 TB source drive with destination. I'm actually even a bit neurotic about it and could easily TRILE-check before applying any action, believe me!

    Now as you said, I'm going back home on sunday and can order a (couple of) new enclosure from Amazon tomorrow so as to hopefully receive it early next week.


    Now keep your 3TB external having the data away beyond your hands reach.
    Sure thing! I wouldn't dare to try anything about it on my own!!! Not taking any chance, especially with so much data...


    Plug-in your 4TB external and post a screenshot of how it appears in PW.
    Exactly like it is on this screenshot (from previous post). (Still detected as 2 distinct unallocated disks, one of 2 TB + another one of 1,64 TB)

    But I can say this much: All HDDs come out factory formatted so that these can be used straightaway by the user.
    The 3TB and 4 TB Green internal drives would have mostly come out as GPT initialised.( I have to check this with CKWD.I know for certain that greater than 2TB external drives manufactured by Seagate, WD etc. were coming out as Advance Formatted MBR drives to make them compatible with Windows XP till recently.With Windows XP no longer supported by MS even these external drives have started coming out as GPT initialised drives)
    I can think of no other reason than my unreliable enclosure, although I can't figure out why it would make either format (MBR or GPT) appear as Unallocated space.

    If you had connected these 3TB and 4TB greens internally in Vista or 7 they would have shown their full capacity. There is no two drives inside. It all happened because you put those into incompatible enclosures.
    Good to know. Especially since it shows there are at least 2 different levels of incompatibility between my 3 enclosures.

    Now I think it will be best to wait till you can connect them internally,
    I'm planning to indeed. Although I believe I can try the Partition Copy once I get new enclosure(s), right?

    Till then we shall only be doing "research" to get the data out of this mess with whatever resources are available without harming the data on the original drive.We have already done some (research) because you said you won't be back in your Paris Den till Sunday. We are not modifying or writing anything into that data disk. But make sure that you don't keep changing the drives into the different enclosures.
    I will be careful not to. In any case, I will be using a new (possibly even 2 new) enclosure(s) so it shouldn't make a difference if they are reliable (+ if I buy two, very likely I'm gonna buy the same model twice).
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  2. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #22

    "I can think of no other reason than my unreliable enclosure, although I can't figure out why it would make either format (MBR or GPT) appear as Unallocated space"

    I also can't figure it out :). But you can experiment and find out whether indeed it will behave as two different drives one GPT and one MBR or it is just an illusion created by the Hard disk controller in the enclosure interface electronics - which we normally call as Sata to USB bridge.

    Inasmuch as these hard disk Controller in different enclosures could be different chips, the picture they present can also be different - your one other enclosure showing only 2TB and not the excess over 2TB and the other enclosure showing two drives one 2TB as GPT and the excess as one MBR drive.

    You can experiment: Plug in your 4TB drive enclosure. Format the 2TB and also format the 1.8TB. Are you able to do it? Will you be able to copy some data - only copy , do not move - and read it from both? ( Remember, I have told you to keep the 3TB enclosure with data beyond your hand's reach)
    Last edited by jumanji; 19 Sep 2015 at 07:02. Reason: typos corrected
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  3. Posts : 34
    Vista Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #23

    You can experiment: Plug in your 4TB drive enclosure. Format the 2TB and also format the 1.8TB. Are you able to do it? Will you be able to copy some data - only copy , do not move - and read it from both? ( Remember, I have told you to keep the 3TB enclosure with data beyond your hand's reach)
    (Sure, the 3 TB is now put back into its antistatic bag inside a carton box: no risk of mix-up! Same thing actually with the three 2 TB Green Western Digital I have -- apart from the capacity mentioned on the top, they all look fairly identical, except that I have tagged them according to their respective storage content).
    What tests you propose is interesting, I'm willing to understand a bit more about it so I'll try what you suggested! :)
    As usual I'll post back the results here afterwards... (Also I'll indicate what enclosure I've settled on -- gotta make another post in hope of getting some advice about that too!).
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  4. Posts : 34
    Vista Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #24

    Alright, after much research, I'm gonna settle on this Inateck external enclosure model:

    [2 baies dock disque dur SATAIII] Inateck 2 baies dock disque dur USB 3.0 Clone Fonction docking station pour disques durs SATA 2.5 "et 3.5" Duplicateur disque dur une touche back-up: Amazon.fr: High-tech

    I can't say whether this is actually of very good quality and reliable (especially overtime) but my budget is too tight to invest in a 100€ or more device anyways. The product here as generally good reviews on Amazon France, is fairly affordable, has the advantage of acting as two distinct enclosures in one (thus sparing me the need to buy 2, which would take up more space + would be more expensive obviously), and seems to meet with many of my prerequisites (USB3.0/SATAIII, UASP, up to 6TB support, allows both 3.5" and 2,5" drives, activity indicator LED, physical power switch, auto standby mode, easy HD swapping, etc.

    I absolutely don't care for its offline cloning button feature (I even plan to actually remove the button to avoid any accident if possible), but overall this docking station seems to fit my use, as I have no need for a more standard external enclosure since I don't usually use any 3,5" HD as a permanently connected external drive. I usually need to plug them, backup or move what data I need stored and secure, and then remove the drive. As such a docking station seems to me to be perfect for the task.

    Now tell me what you think about my choice, especially if you have some observations or any kinf of reservations regarding this device (I still have about 4 hours to place my order if I want to receive it tomorrow).
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  5. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #25

    There are two negative reviews - one star

    1.The first was a poor contact in the switch which created a power surge, I lost a motherboard and 1TB disc in the bay.

    2. No, no and no. This dock does not accept 3TB Hard Drives.

    I am not sure how one should take this reviews.( I didn't go through other positive reviews, I look at the negative reviews first.)

    Check the reviews elsewhere such as new egg.

    One other user here Husaberger Cannot clone failing hard drive seems to have bought an Inateck dock specifically for cloning. May be a different model. You may perhaps PM him and obtain his opinion.
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  6. Posts : 34
    Vista Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #26

    jumanji said:
    There are two negative reviews - one star [...] I am not sure how one should take this reviews.( I didn't go through other positive reviews, I look at the negative reviews first.)
    So did I! (My position is always to be suspicious first, till hopefully proven wrong)
    In that case the negative reviews are quite minority, and most importantly in both cases it concerns faulty products (which may be freely replaced). Taking these into account anyway, I plan upon receiving it to ONLY test it with _empty_ drives at first: should there be any technical problem, no data of mine will be put at risk!

    Check the reviews elsewhere such as new egg.
    Not found on New Egg (actually no enclosures from this manufacturer at all). I tried to check on Amazon US but there too, there doesn't seem to be Inateck docking bays. I found the same design device though, only it's sold under a different brandname (Sabrent). Some more bad reviews there of course, although still marginal, but enough to unnerve me a bit about my choice (even though many of those negative comments are themselves commented by other buyers directly contradicting them).
    What I plan to do now is prolly still to order it, and thenI'll test it thoroughly in order to make up my own mind about it, confirming or infirming what these few negative reviews state about it. If I end up confirming some of them, I'll send it back for a refund and find a better one (which will mean more expensive, but I suppose that can't be helped in that case...)

    One other user here Husaberger Cannot clone failing hard drive seems to have bought an Inateck dock specifically for cloning. May be a different model. You may perhaps PM him and obtain his opinion.
    I'm gonna try and contact him then, sure! Thank you for the tip and for your remarks.
    Last edited by Angar; 21 Sep 2015 at 07:35.
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  7. Posts : 34
    Vista Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #27

    Hello there!

    Finally back (had a pretty busy week) with some disappointing news:
    I finally bought the enclosure I was planning to (I received positive feedback from Husaberger; and upon reception I tested it extensively to check every complaint I noted regarding the few bad reviews it got) and went on once more with the partition copy under PWizard.As this is a double bay enclosure, I was careful to plug my source (damaged) 3TB drive in the A bay and the destination 4 TB drive in the B bay (it doesn't make no difference anyway since the A/B dichotomy is only for the hard cloning process of the enclosure itself -- something I don't intend to use -- but just in case...). I then still very carefully followed the procedure, chose my source partition on the 3TB disk, then the destination on the 4TB...

    I really expected everything to run well this time, as I now use what I believe is the next best thing to have both drives plugges internally: the enclosure is very recent, supports up to 6TB drives. Indeed in PWiz both drives are now displayed correctly (only one disk of the appropriate capacity in each drive).
    Unfortunately, although I don't have the slightest clue why, a new problem arose: once I apply operations and the process starts, there are 3 timers displayed, "Total", "Copy partition" and "Copying data". The process runs normally until the "Copying data" timer reaches 100% (Total is then 21% and Copy partition is 42%), and that's when the problem arises: it then goes back to 0%, while Total remains at 21% and Copy partition at 42%... and NOTHING happens!!!
    Literally nothing: no error message, no freezing of the soft, just these 3 timers not progresing anymore!
    I've of course tried waiting more than half an hour (the data copy itself took about 5 minutes more or less) with absolutely no change, nothing happening. I repeated the process a couple times while changing irrelevant options (but once again just in case, as I couldn't believe this wasn't working in the first place) like "copy with resize" selected or not, etc.

    Jumanji, have you ever seen this behaviour before?
    I must admit I'm real disappointed and a bit upset because this time I really don't understand either what reason could the process have for not working fine, and also how weird the failure is since it isn't even a proper failure but just a "never completes..." situation. Total mystery to me.

    Now, as before I am awaiting instructions. Maybe there are other options under PWizard to use, or maybe the TestDisk alternative is a good choice, or whatever you will deem necessary at this point. (I expect you'll find this as puzzling as I do but I also hope a bit that you've encountered this behaviour before and might have some clue as to why it happens).


    (PS. I include 2 snapshots: the first one is PWizard right before APPLYING operations (thus destination 4TB drive is already displayed as if the partition copy succeeded), the second one is obviously of the screen as it is once the process reaches its farthest progression and remains there until I click Cancel.)
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 3 TB Hard-Drive: Filesystem Unknown (RAW) after bad disconnection-partitionwizard-pendingcopyoperations-.jpg   3 TB Hard-Drive: Filesystem Unknown (RAW) after bad disconnection-partitionwizard-copynevercompletes-.jpg  
    Last edited by Angar; 27 Sep 2015 at 05:05.
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  8. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #28

    OK, follow these instructions carefully.

    Keep your 3TB drive back into its antistatic bag.( Henceforth we shall call this as the Data drive since it has all your data)

    We have to first set your 4TB drive (let us henceforth call it destination drive, where we want to copy all your data from the 3TB data drive) right. That means formatting your 4TB destination drive as a GPT drive.( Reason: the formatting you did on the incompatible dock, which split it into a 2TB drive and 1.8TB drive is not correct)

    Now put your 4TB destination drive only into your new dock and format it as a GPT drive using Windows Disk Management. You may have to delete any existing partitions in it first to make the whole drive unallocated, then initialise it as a GPT drive, create a new simple volume encompassing the whole 4TB space, and format it as NTFS. A quick format would suffice. When completed your 4TB destination drive should show as having one 128MB MSR Partition and therest 4TB as one single NTFS partition in Partition Wizard. ( Windows Disk Management may not show the 128 MB MSR Partition)

    Post a screenshot of the drive in Partition Wizard and let me confirm that all is ok with it.

    Partition Copy should take place only after this is confirmed.
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  9. Posts : 34
    Vista Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #29

    Done! :)
    (Although PW does now show a first 128Mb reserved partition (indeed hidden in WDM), it is a labelled as a "GPT partition", not an "MSR Partition" -- but I assume/hope that is irrelevant)

    I should note that, prior to attempting the partition copy before with the new enclosure, I didn't think of formatting the destination disk anew and thus it didn't show that reserved 128Mb partition. I only just did delete all existing partitions and formatting/filesystem on it so it appeared unallocated prior to the copy process. If I follow you correctly, formatting it properly with a supporting enclosure and having now this reserved partition should allow the partition copy process to complete.
    (One last little detail -- unimportant at this point but just for, say, the sake of knowing -- is that, from what I could test and observe, my incompatible enclosure didn't actually split the drive into 2 distinct discs: even unallocated (hence unformatted), the 2 discs were still displayed, so I gather the issue was more with how it recognized and dealt with the drive capacity, although no doubt that messed with how well it did the formatting. But the 3TB, which was formatted via incompatible enclosure as well, also appeared split into 2 separate discs with that enclosure under PW but is correctly displayed as only one now using the new docking bay)

    Here is the screenshot you demanded, and from what I can tell, all seems ok to proceed, but I am of course awaiting your greenlight to do so. :)
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 3 TB Hard-Drive: Filesystem Unknown (RAW) after bad disconnection-afterformat-pwizard-.jpg  
    Last edited by Angar; 27 Sep 2015 at 18:42.
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  10. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #30

    Your 4TB Destination drive looks good and right now.

    Now remove the 4 TB destination drive from the dock.

    Put your 3TB Data drive in the dock and view it in Partition Wizard. Right click on the data partition in it, explore and confirm that it shows all your rar files. Just to make sure that the data is all there.

    Then put your 4TB destination drive in the dock and start Partition Copy. As to where it should copy show it the 3725.9GB volume with the drive letter.
    Note: Make sure that you copy from the 3TB data drive to the 4TB destination drive.

    Let us see how it goes. ( Should it fail our next stop will be TestDisk)
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