Hard Drive Partitions (Activating without deleting data) ?

[Darryl579]

HI everyone

I have a bit of a problem, that I am hoping someone can provide help on if there is a fix for this.

Recently,my external hard drive stopped working, and after taking it out of the case and installing in to the PC to test, spin up is fine and no clicking (thumbs up).

The hard drive is a 4TB, and so far it has 3.7TB of data that I have been keeping all my stuff backed up on, which I am nervous about loosing (as you can imagine).

Is there a way of activating the unallocated partitions (see image) without loosing the data on the hard drive, or converting the disk back to something that's recognised by the pc again (perhaps, Basic back to Dynamic?)

Any help, suggestions or links to software fixes would be hugely appreciated

Cheers
Darryl

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi and welcome SevenForums,
You might see if either of these see's anything on the disk
http://www.sevenforums.com/software/198909-lucid-puppy-way-recover-files-non-bootable-computer.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/287439-emergency-kit-save-your-files-dead-os.html

 

[Darryl579]

Thanks, it's not quite the solution for this I think. I'm open to other ideas, if anyone else can recommend an alternative route?

 

[jumanji]

You should give full details of your external drive.

If it is a branded external drive, Manufacturer and Model No.

What exactly was the problem and Why did you take it out of the casing?

How many partitions did it have?

How did it appear in Windows Disk Management when it was inside the enclosure?

The point is if you had some problem with that external drive, we have to troubleshoot it in its original environment as it was.

Only when that effort fails, we would recommend taking it out of the case and try it as an internal drive.

In respect of 4TB external drives, if it was an MBR drive then it would have been advance formatted (to overcome the 2TB limitation of MBR drives) and the internal Sata to USB bridge also has a special and specific Drive Translation circuitry that enables the OS to read it correctly.Taking it out negates it. The OS may not be able to read the data correctly without that drive translation circuitry.Note: This does not apply if your drive was formatted as a GPT drive.

Will you be able to put it back inside the casing and post a screenshot of Windows Disk Management? Just answer this question alongwith answers to the other questions.

 

[Darryl579]

Hi,

Answers in red below:

You should give full details of your external drive.

Hard drive is the same on in the link below. WD 4tb My Book external hard drive.

https://www.amazon.ca/Drive-Security-Local-Backup-WDBFJK0040HBK-NESN/dp/B00E3RH61W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459007780&sr=8-1&keywords=mybook+4tb

If it is a branded external drive, Manufacturer and Model No.

What exactly was the problem and Why did you take it out of the casing?

The hard drive power light went off all of a sudden, and hard drive was no longer recognizable connected to PC as USB. I feared the hard drive failed, and after changing plug sockets, and no spin up, i decided to remove it from the plastic housing and test the hard drive in my cradle to ensure spin up and no clicking noises (which there isn't). Thankfully!

How many partitions did it have?
Not sure, I thought just one which was used to store data only. Looking at the disk manager, it now shows 1 active partition using RAW file system, instead of NTFS, and the remaining is unallocated (which I also know has my data on it, so i'm reluctant to format or expand the partition for fear of loosing / overwriting the date

(see image attached)

How did it appear in Windows Disk Management when it was inside the enclosure?
Not 100% sure, I believe it was the same as how it was showing here...recognised as external hard drive that required formatting was the notification that popped up.

The point is if you had some problem with that external drive, we have to troubleshoot it in its original environment as it was.

Only when that effort fails, we would recommend taking it out of the case and try it as an internal drive.
TO clarify, it's now in a cradle connected to the PC through USB.

In respect of 4TB external drives, if it was an MBR drive then it would have been advance formatted (to overcome the 2TB limitation of MBR drives) and the internal Sata to USB bridge also has a special and specific Drive Translation circuitry that enables the OS to read it correctly.

Will you be able to put it back inside the casing and post a screenshot of Windows Disk Management? Just answer this question along with answers to the other questions.

 

[jumanji]

You are in great trouble.

Your WD My Book External drive is hardware encrypted - meaning there is a hardware encryption/decryption chip in the enclosure electronics and whatever data goes into the HDD is encrypted by that encryption chip. The decrypt key also is in that electronics. When reading the HDD when everything is alright, data is automatically decrypted and presented.

If the enclosure electronics has failed for some reason, even if the HDD by itself is ok - which seems to be the case here, since you see/feel the drive spinning and showing up in WDM - you won't be able to recover the data by any means - I really mean by any means.. Reason being what data you recover will be the encrypted data which is absolutely useless. Only Western Digital Data Recovery partners who have the decrypt key can recover data for you. Not jumanji and not even God Almighty..

You did not answer my question "Will you be able to put it back inside the casing and post a screenshot of Windows Disk Management?"

Just answer Yes/No. If you confirm yes, put the HDD back into the enclosure from which you took it out, the original WD enclosure - not your dirty cradle -, power it up and post a full screenshot of Windows Disk Management conforming to these guidelines. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html . No truncated screenshots.

If your external (the original WD enclosure + the HDD inside) does not power up, try changing to a new power adapter, a new interconnect USB cable. With a new power adapter/interconnect cable also it does not power up, then surely the electronics inside that includes the hardware encryption/decryption chip has failed and your only saviour will be WD Data recovery Partners.

Should you avoid external hard drives that boast built-in encryption? | Bald Nerd

Note: I am not in anyway connected to Positive E Solutions( PES Data recovery Services) or endpoint protector (software encryption) mentioned in the above link..