Regain a lost drive using Test Disk - An Illustrated Guide

language being what it is: you said "have also tried booting it..."
if you're having boot issues, post that.
if it is booted, the answer to your stated question is: elsewhere there are tutorials on each tool that ubcd, as you dub it, provides, which is a lot of reading for you. these are located under the HDD heading/group

assuming it did boot correctly, choose the HDD group of tools, and then find photorec [it ain't just for photos]. To me, the cryptic menus were fairly followable, but you can easily use google to find tutorials. there are other tools to get to the same endpoint

thisisrealmark said:

i have downloaded and burned ubcd...
and i have also tried booting it..
can i have a tutorial on how to recover my data using ubcd?

thisisrealmark said:

i have downloaded and burned ubcd...
and i have also tried booting it..
can i have a tutorial on how to recover my data using ubcd?

After you boot the CD and have the UBCD main menu on your screen, use the arrow keys to highlight the following selections and press enter:

HDD

Diagnosis

There are two Western Digital HD diagnostics programs here, labeled as DLG Diagnostic, two different versions. V5.19 is the DOS alternative to the Windows version you've already tried. You ought to try it to see if you can get it to run some valid tests.

When done, left click "X" to close all windows, until you get to a command prompt. It would be a good idea to have a drive connected now (either internal or external) that has enough space for the files you may want to recover from the crippled drive. That way if Testdisk gives you the opportunity to copy files from it you'll have a place to put them. At the command prompt type reboot and boot again from the CD. This time select:

Parted Magic V6.6

Default settings (Runs from Ram) -- it may take quite some time to load.

Once loaded you'll find yourself in the PartedMagic GUI. Left click the PartedMagic icon (where you normally find the Windows' start icon in the lower left corner of the screen), select System Tools, and then TestDisk.

TestDisk will open in a DOS-like window, and you can then follow the steps outlined in the following links from the Testdisk website:

Step-by-step guide here: TestDisk Step By Step - CGSecurity

Also check this out (for more specific help): http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Data_Recovery_Examples

Be careful with drive selection and your keystrokes. If you see the option to view the file/folder structure, you can select the option to copy out your files to another location (either the internal hard drive, or an external if you have it connected) before trying to recover partitions.

i have tried running dlg diagnostic and it says there is no drive being found.

i have also tried parted magic and it hangs for a very long time and didn't even proceed.

Does testdisk recognize your drive ?

thisisrealmark said:

i have also tried parted magic and it hangs for a very long time and didn't even proceed.

It does take a considerable amount of time to finally open. How long did you let it go?

You can also find testdisk under the HDD / Diagnosis menu items.

i just handed my wd external hdd to the store where i bought it and they said all data inside the drive will be deleted. so i guess i'll just have to download back for a long time all the data in my drive.

i just want to thanks all of you for sharing some knowledge about data recovery. i learned much even though i failed in recovering my data. what do you know i can use all i have learned here in the future. again, thanks guys. especially sibbil, zapp22 and torree. :)

Well, sorry to hear that. But I'm glad you gained some understanding from the experience!

Sorry you were not successful.

As earlier stated, I have the same dilemma but will keep my drive. When I have time, I often try new things to recover the data (with asssistance from sibbil). Like a kid who still plays with a broken toy. :)

I have formed the opinion that external drives are not stable. This, after much reading, and seeing others problems. Wish I had did my homework before purchasing. There are other options available that are more stable.

Thank you for your help. This software help me a lot. Great work