External hard drive RAW-need assistance with options please
Posted: 09 Apr 2013, 07:14
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.
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.