Help with data recovery of WD ext. hard drive
Posted: 11 Feb 2013, 15:51
I am new to this forum, but have tried the TestDisk to no avail, mainly as I am too much of a novice to go deeper into the process used by this excellent program.
I have tried everything available as to the different hard drive data recovery programs, and cannot retrieve my storage data that is on a WD 2TB Ext. USB hard drive. I was told that the boot files used for USB connection are corrupted, hence the hard drive shows as "unallocated" disk space in Disk Management. It does not show up in My Computer and will not be recognized by any software data recovery unless the USB is plugged in on a new startup of computer. You cannot just plug it in and it will be recognized. This is where the corrupted files are, and the problem to why I cannot get to my storage data. The hard drive only has storage data on it, no OS is installed. I have tried two different computers for hard drive recovery, a XP 32 bit and a Windows 7 64 bit. Both would not recognize this hard drive in My Computer, and both did show this hard drive as unallocated in Disk Management.
I installed Acronis Drive Monitor and it also recognizes this hard drive, and shows it in a critical condition but not bad or unreadable data. Therefore my feeling as a novice is since I cannot recover the storage data with any commercial available hard drive recovery program due to this unallocated problem, I thought maybe I could fix the damaged "boot sector" files that were installed to a partition by WD that allows your computer to recognize the USB pluggin as a hard drive. Why I cannot get any programs to scan for lost partitions is beyond my knowledge but that is the situation, and a very nice person from LazeySoft Data Recovery has been helping me to no avail. I am now here after researching what to do next. TestDisk looks like an option but I need help. Would anyone please care to help me solve this dilema of not being able to access the hard drive, which is not making any strange noises physically and is showing as unallocated in Disk Management. How do I either go about fixing the recognition boot sector for lack of a better name, or retrieving my storage data on the disk drive? I did not partition this hard drive when first bought and used. I just plugged it in, and it automatically downloaded some software to my computer, then installed and my USB hard drive was recognized.
In hindsight, I might have corrupted these files by improperly unplugging the hard drive USB cable from my computer or from my DVD player, as I sometimes would plug it into the DVD player and watch movies directly off it. It started to first not being recognized on plugin, and then I would have to do a complete restart of my computer to get it to show up. Then it stopped showing up. That is the story, long and winded, but at least you know all the facts. Please help me as I would appreciate it, as there is much software on here that is not worth money, but can't be replaced due to time put in on some of the files. It is very valuable in that sense and I need to solve this problem.
thank you in advance for any help in using TestDisk if this is the way to go.
greg
I have tried everything available as to the different hard drive data recovery programs, and cannot retrieve my storage data that is on a WD 2TB Ext. USB hard drive. I was told that the boot files used for USB connection are corrupted, hence the hard drive shows as "unallocated" disk space in Disk Management. It does not show up in My Computer and will not be recognized by any software data recovery unless the USB is plugged in on a new startup of computer. You cannot just plug it in and it will be recognized. This is where the corrupted files are, and the problem to why I cannot get to my storage data. The hard drive only has storage data on it, no OS is installed. I have tried two different computers for hard drive recovery, a XP 32 bit and a Windows 7 64 bit. Both would not recognize this hard drive in My Computer, and both did show this hard drive as unallocated in Disk Management.
I installed Acronis Drive Monitor and it also recognizes this hard drive, and shows it in a critical condition but not bad or unreadable data. Therefore my feeling as a novice is since I cannot recover the storage data with any commercial available hard drive recovery program due to this unallocated problem, I thought maybe I could fix the damaged "boot sector" files that were installed to a partition by WD that allows your computer to recognize the USB pluggin as a hard drive. Why I cannot get any programs to scan for lost partitions is beyond my knowledge but that is the situation, and a very nice person from LazeySoft Data Recovery has been helping me to no avail. I am now here after researching what to do next. TestDisk looks like an option but I need help. Would anyone please care to help me solve this dilema of not being able to access the hard drive, which is not making any strange noises physically and is showing as unallocated in Disk Management. How do I either go about fixing the recognition boot sector for lack of a better name, or retrieving my storage data on the disk drive? I did not partition this hard drive when first bought and used. I just plugged it in, and it automatically downloaded some software to my computer, then installed and my USB hard drive was recognized.
In hindsight, I might have corrupted these files by improperly unplugging the hard drive USB cable from my computer or from my DVD player, as I sometimes would plug it into the DVD player and watch movies directly off it. It started to first not being recognized on plugin, and then I would have to do a complete restart of my computer to get it to show up. Then it stopped showing up. That is the story, long and winded, but at least you know all the facts. Please help me as I would appreciate it, as there is much software on here that is not worth money, but can't be replaced due to time put in on some of the files. It is very valuable in that sense and I need to solve this problem.
thank you in advance for any help in using TestDisk if this is the way to go.
greg