Solved Disk structure is corrupt and unreadable

[jumanji]

yep, click on testdisk_win.exe to run Test Disk and then follow the screen as indicated.

Read each screen.

And yes, you have to navigate with up/down Left/right arrow keys and use Enter key or any other key indicated in the screen. At anytime you can quit Test Disk by pressing Q repeatedly


If you have any doubts post the screenshot as you did above.

 

[shokan2]

Not sure what to do at last screen. And, will I need a separate empty volume for the result?

 

[jumanji]

No you have selected the wrong drive. Quit Test Disk. Press Q Q Q Q or X on the window.

Then remove all other external drives except your problem drive.

Run Test disk. No log Enter

You will see two drives 1. Your system drive and 2. your problem drive.

You should be able to differentiate by reading the capacity. I think your system drive is some 80GB

Select your 1TB problem drive by arrow keys and proceed.

 

[shokan2]

Right. Saw that, and here is current.

 

[shokan2]

Quitting and starting again. Saw your note about removing other drives.

 

[jumanji]

QUit Quit Quit . You still didn't remove the other external drives. It is a cardinal rule to have only your problem drive connected so that there is no possibility of selecting a wrong drive.

So safely Remove all other external drives.

Confirm with Windows Disk Management that the problem drive is the one connected. You seem to have many 1 TB drives and we don't want to make any mistake. A wrong move in Test disk will cost you dear.

So with only your problem drive connected run TestDisk. With the arrow key select your 1 TB drive.

In the fourth screen by default Analyse is highlighted. But we do not want to analyse. With the arrow key go one step down and select Advanced File Utilities.

If you think a screen by screen guidance is required we can do it. I am on station. Post each screen and then follow the instructions.

 

[shokan2]

After Advanced File Util I'm at this screen. Saw note about other drives, done.

 

[jumanji]

Have you made sure that the drive connected is your problem drive by looking at it in Windows Disk Management?

Yes /no

 

[shokan2]

Have you made sure that the drive connected is your problem drive by looking at it in Windows Disk Management?

Yes /no

Yes, it is.

 

[jumanji]

OK, good.

Boot is highlighted. In the normal course we will press Enter to go to the next screen.

But I am just curious. So with the right arrow key move to List and press enter. We will see whether it shows all your files.

Post that screen.

 

[shokan2]

OK, good.

Boot is highlighted. In the normal course we will press Enter to go to the next screen.

But I am just curious. So with the right arrow key move to List and press enter. We will see whether it shows all your files.

Post that screen.

List screen result attached.

No way to go back to previous screenso I can enter Boot. Starting over. I do enter Boot, correct?

edit: entering 'quit' brought me back to previous Boot/List etc.

 

[jumanji]

OK. Press enter to Quit.

If it does not take you to the previous screen, repeat TestDisk till you come to the Boot screen and press Enter on Boot to go to the next screen.( make sure to select your 1 TB drive always.)

If it goes to the previous screen, then move to Boot with the arrow key and press enter.

Post that screen.

 

[shokan2]

Enter Boot screen result...

 

[jumanji]

Looks good so far. Now we shall know whether we can attain nirvana.

Now with the right arrow key move to Repair MFT and press Enter.

Report what happens. Post any screen that comes up.

If TestDisk starts scanning in its attempt to repair MFT, let it do it. Again it may take a long time.

 

[shokan2]

Not a good sign

 

[jumanji]

That is bad luck. The mirror also is corrupted.

So then data recovery is the only option. Quit Test Disk.

Get on to PhotoRec.

Follow the process under recovery in this guide. (Only that portion under recovery. What is earlier said there is how I created a corrupt disk to test PhotoRec for recovery. You need not format the drive and then run PhotoRec. You will simply run PhotoRec in the present condition of your faulty drive.)

Take your time to read through the guide till you get a grip on it and then start. One redeeming feature of PhotoRec is that it does not write anything to the faulty drive and there is no way you can ruin the faulty drive any further even if you make any false moves. So you can play with it to your heart's delight.

Before you run PhotoRec you have to connect the empty drive on which you want to copy.

http://www.sevenforums.com/software/193467-guide-using-photorec-recovery-software.html

I am off for my dinner and will henceforth peep in once in a while as is my practice.

 

[shokan2]

At "11. Tenth Window" of the tutorial, the screen shows a line he has chosen for the destination that says "recovery". This is not among my choices. I quit photorec and put a folder in the testdisk folder named Recovery, but it does not show up when getting to the destination screen again. I need to figure out which choice to make.

http://www.sevenforums.com/software/193467-guide-using-photorec-recovery-software.html

The screen captures are first visible portion of my choices and then the remainder further down after arrowing down.

I would also like to know if the choices could be other than in the testdisk directory. I ask because if I choose .mp4, for example, the results (if most or all are found) would be huge and would not fit on C. It would have to be an external drive.

Which also leads me to another question: will this program recover files that have been deleted over the past year? In which case, we're talking literally multiple terabytes.

 

[Slartybart]

While jumanji enjoys his dinner, I can answer some questions.

Yes, the destination folder can be any directory/folder.
I'm wondering if the Recovery folder you created wasn't one level up


The only stipulation is that the folder is NOT on the same partition / volume as the data you are trying to recover. I'll go one further and state that it should be a separate drive, which I believe is the case for your recovery.

Suggest creating a Recovery folder in your Downloads folder, not under Testdisk.

 

[shokan2]

While jumanji enjoys his dinner, I can answer some questions.

Yes, the destination folder can be any directory/folder.
I'm wondering if the Recovery folder you created wasn't one level up
View attachment 321459

The only stipulation is that the folder is NOT on the same partition / volume as the data you are trying to recover. I'll go one further and state that it should be a separate drive, which I believe is the case for your recovery.

Suggest creating a Recovery folder in your Downloads folder, not under Testdisk.

Unfamiliar with DOS navigation. How do I get to a destination other than testdisk folder? See my edited previous post with related questions about old deleted files, huge results etc.. Thanks.

edit: never mind, used arrow keys to get to a folder I created on a USB drive. Question is: is it wise to have this USB drive connected while running the PhotoRec recovery? Again, need to mention that my results for video files (if found) will be gigantic, too large for space on C, only an external drive.

 

[jumanji]

By way of some explanation,

In the subject guide I created a Recovery folder on one of the partitions H on my internal drive ( Which shows up as drive H) and then navigated to it.

I know it is a bit difficult to navigate till you get a grip on it.

When this question was raised by a OP who used TestDisk I wrote this post http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware...suddenly-became-unllocated-3.html#post2395385

You will now be using an external drive to copy the files. It is optional to create a Recovery folder in it ( Which you should before you started PhotoRec) but preferable, to segregate it in case you have other data present on the external drive.

Depending upon whether you created such a folder on the external drive, you will navigate to that external drive or go one step ahead and into that folder on that external drive.

Screenshot 7 onwards in the above referredd post should guide you on how to navigate to that external drive/Recovery folder in that external drive. ( Don't look at Screenshots 1 to 6 . Those pertain to TestDisk.)

Once you have the basic idea you can play around with the arrow keys and feel how it takes you everywhere.