RAW Drive

[rsvr85]

OK, so this has to be the biggest setback in my computing 'career'.
I installed Ubuntu to a 60GB external hard drive i have (EXT4). Ubuntu installed fine and i was able to boot into it.
When i went to access my data drive (G(NTFS) nothing was there. i though this to be odd so booted into Windows. To my utter horror, the drive has been replaced with a RAW file system, attempting to access the drive brings an error about not being able to access the drive due to an unknown file system.
Is the drive now completely wiped or do i have a chance at recovery? I have around 200GB important data on there and i cannot afford professional data recovery.

Here's a shot of disk management for clarification;
I do have a backup but not of the entire drive.

 

[nate42nd]

Here are some links to get you started

Raw Recovery: Recover files from Raw Partitions, Hard Disk Drive, Memory card, SD Card. Raw File System Recovery Software.

http://www.ptdd.com/partition-table-doctor/help/fixboot.htm

My File System Is Now Raw... Help ! - Tech Support Forum

That program IS $70 ....I hope someone can help you get better answers.

This would be a nightmare - I wonder how it happened....I have installed Ubuntu on a partiton before....this never happened to me....especially on an external....maybe that has something to do with this.

Maybe this trial will do it.

http://www.recovermyfiles.com/

 

[rsvr85]

Thanks Nate, i've got about 12 recovery/partition tools downloading atm!! lol
i just hope to god that one of them can come to my rescue, this won't be the start to the year i was hoping for

Not sure about ubuntu, 'll look into it more once i've made headway with these tools. I suspect the s**t grub beta has something to do with it though.

 

[SIW2]

It is probably just a partition table error.

Test disk is probably the way to go .

You will find it on various bootable apps. - UBCD4WIN - Is a good bet.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

It is very likely you will recover the partition intact.

You probably won't need this now - but get it while it's free - for the future: EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard Giveaway: Get the Data Recovery Software Full Version for FREE.

 

[nate42nd]

Yea, this is one I have not heard before. If I can find anything else I will let you know man.

I think you will be able to get the date, but it may be a pain in the A**.

I will be looking for a solution

 

[rsvr85]

It is probably just a partition table error.

Test disk is probably the way to go .

You will find it on various bootable apps. - UBCD4WIN - Is a good bet.

Running testdisk as we speak
Also downloaded, i was just about to post the link! lol

Just gotta calm myself now, all this rushing around downloading this and that is confusing me, dont want to make things worse

 

[rsvr85]

Yea, this is one I have not heard before. If I can find anything else I will let you know man.

I think you will be able to get the date, but it may be a pain in the A**.

I will be looking for a solution

thankyou nate

 

[nate42nd]

It is probably just a partition table error.

Test disk is probably the way to go .

You will find it on various bootable apps. - UBCD4WIN - Is a good bet.

TestDisk Step By Step - CGSecurity

SIW, what does that do? Will it convert it back to NTFS or do you believe it's just an error so Windows is reading it wrong?

 

[SIW2]

It is almost certainly still NTFS - the entry in the partition table is not saying that.

 

[SIW2]

Which bootable app. are you using that includes Testdisk?

 

[rsvr85]

Which bootable app. are you using that includes Testdisk?

I'm just running testdisk in Windows atm, The results of which i'll post in a min. I'm worried if i reboot it'll all be lost forever with no hope of recovery.

EDIT: testdisk has finished scanning. It didn't even find the other partition. And when i selected list files (P), an error came about stating that the files could not be read because the file system is damaged.

 

[rsvr85]

UPDATE (again): I just attempted booting into Ubuntu again. I got a GRUB 15 error and it refused to boot. I'm now convinced GRUB is the cause of this.
I've just fired up the EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard and it has correctly listed my HDD having 2 partitions, both NTFS. Though the Ubuntu drive as having an unknown FS???? Something has gone badly wrong here.

 

[SIW2]

As you are in windows - give PW a go - run the partition Recovery only on the windows HD. Click Disk 1 and then partition Recovery in the left pane.

It might offer to recover the partition before it became RAW.
It's worth a go - a scan won't do any harm.

BEST FREE Partition Manager Software for Windows supports all 32-bit & 64 bit Windows No-server OS.

Try PW first - then, if necessary, see what Easeus will get back .

I don't think Easeus supports ext4 - which is why it says unknown. Nothing to worry about. That won't affect anything you want to do to the ntfs partitions.

 

[nate42nd]

This is frightening, I will follow this thread.

I would like to know how this happened. I am getting into Ubuntu and have not encountered anything like this.

Let us know how it happened rsvr85. I don't want it to happen to me.

SIW will take good care of you.

 

[SIW2]

I assume rsvr did a partitioning /formatting operation during the install - recent versions of GParted have been causing havoc with ntfs.

Older versions are fine. It's not clear to me how it could have happened as he presumably wasn't working on the ntfs partitions.

 

[rsvr85]

This is frightening, I will follow this thread.

I would like to know how this happened. I am getting into Ubuntu and have not encountered anything like this.

Let us know how it happened rsvr85. I don't want it to happen to me.

SIW will take good care of you.

I'm very suprised by Ubuntu with Karmic. They've released a 'stable' OS with a beta BootLoader and just take a look through the release notes. Possible corruption of large files with ext4 filesystem, wth??
9.10 Release Notes | Ubuntu

It's not as if they haven't known EXT4 is a bad apple for a while;
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/904#Lock-ups when deleting files from ext4 filesystems
Not very impressive at all really. Roll on Lucid.

I assume rsvr did a partitioning /formatting operation during the install - recent versions of GParted have been causing havoc with ntfs.

Older versions are fine. It's not clear to me how it could have happened as he presumably wasn't working on the ntfs partitions.

I didn't partition before the installation but i did format and that was with the built in Ubuntu tools not GParted. you're correct in saying i wasn't working on the NTFS drive, infact i disabled in the BIOS, so how it got touched is a mystery.
I'm still scratching my head over this one.

67% complete on PW btw

EDIT: PW didn't bring up anything. On to EASEUS.

 

[rsvr85]

EASEUS looks a little better. A quick scan revealed nothing but upon a full scan, so far, it's at least found a NTFS Boot Record and it's constantly finding files. Must be promising!!



It's 00:12 here now so i'm off to bed whilst it's scanning. I'll update you guys tomorrow.

Thanks for all the help so far, it really is appreciated

 

[rsvr85]

EASEUS did the trick!!! Every single file recovered in it's original state (ACL's and all).
Now for the laborious process of restoration!.....i think i have enough space :sarc:

You've no idea how happy this has made me today, i was expecting it to fail. Just like the other 6 products i tried.

Thanks to Nate & Si, you were a big help

(Nate, I think this was probably a glitch in the Ubuntu installation. After reading through the release notes i'd advise using EXT3 or JFS FS, and unplugging anything you consider important before any more installations. It's unlikely to happen to you (and EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard has got your back if it does) but better to be safe than sorry, that's my lesson of the week!! )

Thanks again

 

[redstepchild]

I'm hosed as well. windows 7 and external hard drive says RAW. My hard drive in FreeAgent Go 120.

I am using the Easeus recovery manager program. I found a 20% off coupon code CHEN-W79N-PWDS

I am following these instructions
Raw disk or partition recovery - recover data from raw disk(s) or partitions.

This is BS... There is something with Windows 7 because I am seeing TONS of forum posts all over about this issue.

 

[SIW2]

Hi redstepchild,


Did you try Partition Wizard partition recovery?

Free from:

http://www.partitionwizard.com/products.html

Boot cd iso at the bottom of the page. Or get the installer and install as well.

Boot the cd, click Disk1 ( or whichever disk it is ) at the top of the main screen.

Then select Partition Recovery in the Left pane.

A quick scan of the affected partition\drive should do it.

If it finds the original, tick ALL the partitions you want to keep, then APPLY.




If anyone else wants Easeus Data Recovery Wizard 5 - it's FREE here:

Free_Easeus_Data_Recovery_Wizard

Keep us posted how you get on - good luck.