External hard drive RAW-need assistance with options please

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
Forum rules
When asking for technical support:
- Search for posts on the same topic before posting a new question.
- Give clear, specific information in the title of your post.
- Include as many details as you can, MOST POSTS WILL GET ONLY ONE OR TWO ANSWERS.
- Post a follow up with a "Thank you" or "This worked!"
- When you learn something, use that knowledge to HELP ANOTHER USER LATER.
Before posting, please read https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf
Locked
Message
Author
dana
Posts: 5
Joined: 03 Apr 2013, 21:42

External hard drive RAW-need assistance with options please

#1 Post by dana »

Hi. I have an external hard drive that became RAW. It is an 80 GB WD drive. It became RAW during a power outage. It was connected to an hp pavillion dv5000 laptop using windows xp when the power went out. I am using a toshiba satellite laptop with windows xp to attempt to recover the data.

I have been following the instructions from James Litten's site. Posted below:
http://html5.litten.com/how-to-fix-exte ... mment-7473

I have followed his instructions exactly. Everything was identical to his instructions until I got to the quick search. When I did the the quick search nothing came up under partitions. His instructions showed that something would. I then continued to the deeper search and there was then one partition listed. I did see my files/folders from the external hard drive within that partition. I chose write. The boot sector was also bad, so I chose rebuild bs - per his instructions. It’s at this point where my screen is different from his instructions. Instead of asking to confirm writing to the partition table, it went to a screen that lists the partition, then it says

Cluster 2, Directory / found?
Answer Y(es), N(o), Q(uit or A(bort interactive mode), N or A if not sure.

Below that is listed 3 options I can highlight with my arrow keys.

drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 6-Mar2013 00:22 Recycled
drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 22-Feb-2012 19:27 My Documents
drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 12-Jan-2013 12:02 My Music

I do not know which line to select and I also do not know what answer to choose? This is what I need guidance with.
This is my first time ever doing this so I don't know what to do. I will go into this screen in more detail further down this post. I posted on several forums starting on April 1st and have since had to log out of test disk. When I left test disk I was at what I wrote above. Below is what happens now when I go into testdisk.

Now when I go into analyse it gives me:
TestDisk 6.14-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, September 2012
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org

Disk /dev/sdb - 80 GB / 74 GiB - CHS 76319 64 32
Current partition structure:
Partition Start End Size in sectors

Invalid FAT boot sector
1 * FAT32 0 1 32 2141 30 17 4385682
1 * FAT32 0 1 32 2141 30 17 4385682

Warning: Bad ending sector (CHS and LBA don't match)

*=Primary bootable P=Primary L=Logical E=Extended D=Deleted
>[Quick Search] [ Backup ]
Try to locate partition

I do not know what to do here. If you hit L nothing happens, so I take it that is perhaps only a legend to assist in understanding. I read about geometry and perhaps I need to change my Geometry. It is currently at:
Cylinders is at : 9729
Heads:255
Sectors:63
Sector size:512

If I go to Quick Search from here I get back to:

TestDisk 6.14-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, September 2012
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org

Disk /dev/sdb - 80 GB / 74 GiB - CHS 76319 64 32
Analyse cylinder 24862/76318: 32%
Read error at 21929/1/1 (lba=44910624)

These read errors happen several times throughout the scan, when the scan is complete I get here:
TestDisk 6.14-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, September 2012
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org

Disk /dev/sdb - 80 GB / 74 GiB - CHS 76319 64 32
Partition Start End Size in sectors



Keys A: add partition, L: load backup, Enter: to continue

If I hit Enter, I get here:

TestDisk 6.14-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, September 2012
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org

Disk /dev/sdb - 80 GB / 74 GiB - CHS 76319 64 32

Partition Start End Size in sectors


No partition found or selected for recovery


[ Quit ] >[Deeper Search]
Try to find more partitions

If I do Deeper Search, I get here:
TestDisk 6.14-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, September 2012
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org

Disk /dev/sdb - 80 GB / 74 GiB - CHS 76319 64 32
Analyse cylinder 22424/76318: 29%
Read error at 21929/1/1 (lba=44910624)

Stop

...which leads to:
TestDisk 6.14-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, September 2012
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org

Disk /dev/sdb - 80 GB / 74 GiB - CHS 76319 64 32
Partition Start End Size in sectors


Keys A: add partition, L: load backup, Enter: to continue

Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org

Disk /dev/sdb - 80 GB / 74 GiB - CHS 76319 64 32

Partition Start End Size in sectors


No partition found or selected for recovery


>[ Quit ]
Return to main menu

So, if I Quit and go into Advanced it takes me to:


TestDisk 6.14-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, September 2012
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org

Disk /dev/sdb - 80 GB / 74 GiB - CHS 9729 255 63

Partition Start End Size in sectors
> 1 * FAT32 0 1 1 272 254 63 4385682


[ Type ] >[ Boot ] [Undelete] [Image Creation] [ Quit ]
Boot sector recovery

If I choose Boot, then Rebuild BS - it takes me back to here(which is where I was taken the 1st time I ran analyse):

TestDisk 6.14-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, September 2012
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org

1 * FAT32 0 1 1 272 254 63 4385682
Cluster 2, Directory / found ?
Answer Y(es), N(o), Q(uit) or A(bort interactive mode). N or A if not sure.

>drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 6-Mar-2013 00:22 Recycled
drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 22-Feb-2012 19:27 My Documents
drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 12-Jan-2013 12:02 My Music

If I say No, it searches further and brings up more files...some lines are all white, some are red. I can hit no for a long time and I will continue to see file names I recognize and some that I do not.

If I say Yes, for example on the My Documents line above, it comes up with:

TestDisk 6.14-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, September 2012
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org
1 * FAT32 0 1 1 272 254 63 4385682
Directory /

>drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 6-Mar-2013 00:22 Recycled
-rwxr-xr-x 0 0 31882 7-Mar-2013 23:19 _OOTEX.LOG
drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 12-Jun-2011 13:56 _OUND.005
drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 22-Feb-2012 19:27 My Documents
drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 9-May-2012 10:58 _ECYCLER
drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 12-Jan-2013 12:02 My Music
-rwxr-xr-x 0 0 9728 18-Mar-2010 15:55 Thumbs.db
drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 5-Mar-2013 23:52 DONT TOUCH!
drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 9-May-2012 16:08 _OUND.006
drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 6-Jul-2009 02:39 _OUND.001
-r-xr-xr-x 0 0 763810031 6-Jun-2000 23:07 -^DaM-Dʠ.^\~RI
-rwxr-xr-x 0 0 799897934 13-May-1958 10:22 M-*
-r-xr-xr-x 0 0 365425492 9-Feb-1954 20:10 .M-4^FM-,
drwxr-xr-x 0 0 86795581 26-Jan-1907 15:17 ~GM-5W.~FԷ 5M-">
-r-xr-xr-x 0 0 498066904 15-Dec-1914 22:23 M-1-~F ^GM-(M--.~?
dr-xr-xr-x 0 0 4002864457 13-Oct-1935 06:33 M-!~^M-I>R=M-@.~^
dr-xr-xr-x 0 0 399326417 31-Dec-1903 21:26 M-5^D~Sz^PM-A~@ ^NEO
-r-xr-xr-x 0 0 140661612 6-Jun-2009 14:13 1~\g~OjM-+\K.sj
-rwxr-xr-x 0 0 1094391298 8-Jan-2014 00:06 p^G ^R. u
drwxr-xr-x 0 0 1201580944 12-May-2030 16:54 M-$~L3S]~X .~L^A
dr-xr-xr-x 0 0 759882710 7-Jul-1993 13:32 jpf'^DM-RM-#.b
dr-xr-xr-x 0 0 3566550277 14-Dec-1931 23:23 ^]
drwxr-xr-x 0 0 3910443467 23-Oct-2014 15:25 lsӃ]^D~Q~Q.*~RM-
-r-xr-xr-x 0 0 547280290 28-Dec-2036 09:57 M-di-L^D~V ^Y^Q@
dr-xr-xr-x 0 0 805049783 4-Apr-1921 12:25 I ~\n.
Next
Use Right to change directory, h to hide deleted files
q to quit, : to select the current file, a to select all files
C to copy the selected files, c to copy the current file

Some of these lines are jibberish--files for Dec 2036...so on...some are red here as well.

I do NOT know what to choose here. Whether I should choose C to copy the selected files or c to copy the current file? Then where do I copy them to? I have another external hard drive that I use for back up. I don't want to lose that info. My C drive may be an option as well. I haven't even attempted to copy either way because I do not know what the outcome will be. So I quit out here.

I know this is a lot of information. I deeply appreciate any efforts anyone may be able to provide in getting the data from this external hard drive. I did try to make a copy of the drive using the linux boot disk and was unable to do so.
The information on this drive is mainly documents and photographs-both of which are priceless.

Thank you very much in advance for your time and efforts.

User avatar
Fiona
Posts: 2835
Joined: 18 Feb 2012, 17:19
Location: Ludwigsburg/Stuttgart - Germany

Re: External hard drive RAW-need assistance with options ple

#2 Post by Fiona »

Please repeat your diagnose using another geometry.
Before you confirm at Anaylse, mark the menu geometry and press enter.
Change the value Heads to 255 and sectors to 63.
Don't change anything else.
Leave the menu geometry at Ok.
Repeat your diagnose at Analyse and run Quick Search and if no partition is found Deeper Search also.
If partitions are found, please mark them und press p to have a try to list your data.
Copy and paste the content of the testdisk.log in your next post.

Fiona

dana
Posts: 5
Joined: 03 Apr 2013, 21:42

Re: External hard drive RAW-need assistance with options ple

#3 Post by dana »

Fiona,
I can't thank you enough for replying. I am out of town right now and unfortunately will not be able to try what you asked me to do until next week. I hope to get a post to you by the end of next week.
Thank you very much for your help!
:D
Dana

dana
Posts: 5
Joined: 03 Apr 2013, 21:42

Re: External hard drive RAW-need assistance with options ple

#4 Post by dana »

Hi Fiona,

I am finally able to get to this again. Right away I am running into an issue...I am trying to do create log. I select my drive and hit enter to proceed and then it just sits there. The screen does not move any further. I can not even move my arrow keys after I hit enter. I have to click the x to close out. Below is the screen I get stuck on. Any suggestions, so I can run the test you suggested and post the log???

TestDisk 6.14-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, September 2012
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org

TestDisk is free software, and
comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.

Select a media (use Arrow keys, then press Enter):
Disk /dev/sda - 500 GB / 465 GiB - WDC WD5000BPVT-00HXZT1
>Disk /dev/sdb - 80 GB / 74 GiB


>[Proceed ] [ Quit ]

Note: Disk capacity must be correctly detected for a successful recovery.
If a disk listed above has incorrect size, check HD jumper settings, BIOS
detection, and install the latest OS patches and disk drivers.

Ok, so I tried to do create log again and this time this screen popped up:
TestDisk 6.14-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, September 2012
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org

Disk /dev/sdb - 80 GB / 74 GiB - CHS 76319 64 32
Current partition structure:
Partition Start End Size in sectors


Partition: Read error


*=Primary bootable P=Primary L=Logical E=Extended D=Deleted
>[Quick Search]
Try to locate partition

I I select Quick Search I get this:
root@partedmagic:~#

Then I can keep hitting Quick Search and it keeps doing this:
root@partedmagic:~#

Not sure what to do?

Also, before you responded I found another article. I can't seem to find it now. It said when I see {Cluster 2, Directory / found?
Answer Y(es), N(o), Q(uit or A(bort interactive mode), N or A if not sure.} to chose yes. If I then see my files to choose Write. So I did that. Then it changed my hard drive. I went into windows and instead of telling me to reformat it shows some of the files (not all) but they are all jibberish. Now, I am wondering if everything got messed up even worse. Not sure what to do now given that change and since I can't create a log. Edit:-haven't done any other changes than what I wrote in this paragraph. Originally, after I did the write it showed the drive with jibberish. I just checked this morning and now I can not even see the drive in windows. I am at a total loss. Wondering if what you originally suggested I do will even work now...or if it's still worth a shot...again, can't create log-unless you have any suggestions for that. So sorry, what a mess.

Thank you so much for your time, Fiona. I deeply appreciate your response.
Dana

Locked