How to recover data of Hard Disk with many bad sectors?

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  1. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit
       #1

    How to recover data of Hard Disk with many bad sectors?


    Hii everyone.

    I have a Western Digital blue 640 GB internal SATA HDD, which showed bad hard disk in startup repair. It does not shows in disk management or device manager when connected via USB port. But shows status as "online" in diskpart when connected via SATA port & when I enter startup tools using windows installation disk. The SMART test fails in BIOS when hard disk is connected internally. I want to recover the data of this hard disk because it is utmost important for me.

    The hard disk is spinning normally and not making any clicking noise. Also, I checked via a software called 'Hard Disk Sentinel' that it has about 519 bad sectors & showed 0% health & 0 days remaining.
    Is there any possibility of getting my data back? If yes, then how? I'm just a student, & the data recovery experts take a huge amount in recovering data. Please suggest all possible solutions for recovering data.

    Thank You.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 2,774
    Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
       #2

    Utmost important data, along with the OS partition, is best backed up at least weekly if not bi-weekly onto trustworthy external media. Where are your backups? If no backups, a local recovery expert working in a serious-minded business-oriented computer fix-it place will probably be your best bet.
    Have you ever used any kind of recovery software before? Rule one: whatever you decide to use must not write anything anywhere onto the hard-drive.
    There are several very good recovery programs available:
    MiniTool Power Data Recovery, Piriform's Recova, EaseUS Data Recovery, and many more. I have pay-for versions, however, you might get results with one or two free versions.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thank you for your reply sir. I used to backup my data in other partitions, since I didn't had any large external storage device.
    Yes, I used easeus recovery (just to scan my data & see if it can be recovered) & remo recover software to recover back the data, but the hard disk gets disconnected automatically after few minutes when inserted for first time, & then doesn't show up in disk management or device manager when plugged again via USB port. So, I couldn't scan or recover any data. The main problem is this non detection of hard disk. But it shows status as "online" in diskpart when connected internally via SATA port. I've checked the connector & connecting cable by using another hard disk & found that they're ok. How do I make my hard disk detectable via USB port?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 2,774
    Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
       #4

    Others will have to come in with their advice, I don't know what to advise from here.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #5

    Try Live Linux booting from a pendrive and check whether you can access the faulty drive and recover whatever data in good sectors. ( data in bad sectors is already lost.)

    Create a Lucid Puppy pendrive ( backup all data in the pendrive prior to this) using Rufus, boot from it and check.

    Is there any way of saving a completely unrecognisable hard drive?
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Thanks for your aid. But the drive isn't getting recognized via USB, neither in windows neither in BIOS. It only gets recognized when I connect it internally via SATA port, insert windows installation disk & open diskpart > list disk in cmd. At present, this is the only way I can see my hard drive. Shall I still try your method?

    Also, if I quick format the hard disk using diskpart (to remove bad sectors), will it permanently delete all data in it? Or can I still be able to recover it using recovery softwares?

    Here is what diskpart shows in diskpart. (see image attached)
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails How to recover data of Hard Disk with many bad sectors?-photo0116.jpg  
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #7

    I am afraid you haven't understood even a bit of what was told.

    Create a bootable Lucid Puppy ( Live Linux) pendrive.( Backup all data in the pen drive since all data in it will be lost when Rufus formats and writes the Lucid Puppy ISO.)

    Is there any way of saving a completely unrecognisable hard drive?

    Did you create a Lucid Puppy pendrive as per the above procedure??

    Leave your WD 640GB drive connected internally. There is no need to connect it through USB.

    You will now boot from the Lucid Puppy pendrive instead of booting from Windows Installation CD

    During the BIOS run press the appropriate key to bring the onetime boot menu and select USB pendrive to boot from. Your computer will now boot into Lucid Puppy and you will get the Lucid Puppy Desktop.

    Check whether it shows your faulty 640GB internal drive apart from your System Drive.

    If you are able to see the 640GB internal HDD, try to mount it and check whether you are able to access the folders/files to copy.

    Go to the topic Recovering files from the non-bootable Internal Drive: in this thread Lucid Puppy way to recover files from a non-bootable computer on how-to. In your case it will be your WD 640GB internal drive. If you see and mount your 640GB internal drive in Lucid Puppy you can copy those folders to another external drive.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Yes, I had created pen drive & was able to see the Lucid Puppy desktop. But as per your tutorial, I couldn't see my WD 640 GB hard drive to mount. May be because it didn't had any partitions.
    I told you, it only becomes visible in diskpart in cmd, where it shows "online" and 596 GB of space. It's not having any partitions now. Since there are no partitions in the hard disk, can the data still be recovered? Plz guide me ahead.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #9

    OK, even with one single volume Lucid Puppy will show the drive if accessible. That Lucid Puppy did not show means that there is no other way to access the drive.

    You may have to contact Western Digital Data Recovery partners if you want to recover the data.

    Bad sectors generally cannot be fixed and made good though there are some programs like HDD regenerator which claim to do it.. .:) Personally I do not believe in all these software that claim they can repair bad sectors.

    https://computer-maintenance.knoji.c...k-bad-sectors/
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit
    Thread Starter
       #10

    I tried it again to see if it can detect hard disk, & after a while, I was able to see a 100 MB system reserved partition, which was created earlier while installing windows, when the hard disk was usable. And if I create a new partition, it too will get displayed. But if I create it, it'll be an empty partition without any files in it, since it's showing 596 GB space (out of 640 GB) in diskpart, without any partitions. So, I think the hard disk is still recognizable, what can be my next step?
      My Computer


 
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