Page 1 of 1

Testdisk split harddrive into 3 X drive letters

Posted: 06 Jan 2016, 12:31
by justamum
Hi,
I have a Toshiba laptop hard drive (MQ02ABD075) connected to a Win 7 computer via a SATA/IDE to USB2.0 Adapter cable as it was no longer booting within the laptop.
I could not see any of the contents of the hard drive through Windows Explorer or Disk Manager (however I could see the disk as Drive F). After searching through forums, I found the reference to TestDisk to view disk contents, so I downloaded.
When I first used TestDisk to view the hard drive's contents, it identified the hard disk correctly as Drive F with a capacity of 750GB [Unfortunately, I chose not to create a log - big mistake#1] with a Partition Type of "Intel/PC".
Following the TestDisk Step by Step Guide, I then chose to "Analyse" the disk and it resulted in listing 3 partitions (even though the list did not actually say Partition 1, Partition 2 etc).
The first (the smallest) was listed with an asterick showing it was bootable - a list of the files showed boot folder etc, so appeared OK (from this novice's perspective)
The second (the largest) was listed with a "P" showing it as primary - a list of files showed what looked like my disk contents, so I was ecstatic thinking I was on the right track.
The third was also listed with a "P" showing as primary - a list of files showed also a boot folder and I think a recovery folder, so wasn't quite sure what this was for.

Since the partitions did not list as Partition 1, Partition 2 and Partition 3 respectively, I thought I would have to WRITE the partition table and then reboot [big mistake#2].

After rebooting, I ran TestDisk again and then found that the three "partitions" now showed up as three separate drive letters F, G & H (see attachment of Disk Management Image).
DiskManagement-justamum.JPG
DiskManagement-justamum.JPG (49.11 KiB) Viewed 1970 times
Now when I run TestDrive on each of the three drives, the Partition Type comes up as "None" and Analysis comes back with errors.

Q1 - How can I get my drive back to the original state before I saved the Partition Table?
Q2 - If I'm fortunate enough to get this back, what do I do to make my hard drive bootable again since all the files appear to be there?

Would REALLY APPRECIATE assistance !! :? :oops: :cry:
Thank you,
Just a Mum (trying to get my data back)

Re: Testdisk split harddrive into 3 X drive letters

Posted: 10 Jan 2016, 09:05
by cgrenier
Without more information, the only problem I see is that G: is listed as RAW.
H: (HDDRECOVERY) was probably hidden before using TestDisk, so let's ignore it for the moment.
Is F: (System) ok ?

If you run TestDisk, select /dev/sdb, PC/Intel, Advanced, select the second partition (G:), Boot, List. Do you see your files ? If it's ok, if available, choose BackupBS and confirm, Quit

Re: Testdisk split harddrive into 3 X drive letters

Posted: 13 Jan 2016, 02:39
by justamum
Hi,
(Have had trouble logging on...hence the delay in replying)
I can see my files on the second partition G to some extent. When I look into the Document and Settings folder, there is nothing present (see attachment).
ScreenShot1.JPG
ScreenShot1.JPG (98.61 KiB) Viewed 1952 times
The BackupBS is not available.
I have selected all files on the 2nd partition (G) and copied them, but this does not give me my documents etc...only what I can see in TestDisk.

Not sure what to do from here? Is the problem with G: listed as RAW have anything to do with why I cannot see my documents and files further?

Also, when I analyse each of the partitions.....the 1st (F:) and 3rd (H:) partitions have damaged backup boot sectors but the 2nd (G:) partition have identical Boot and Backup Boot Sectors. Not sure if this is significant? See screenshots below
ScreenShot2.JPG
ScreenShot2.JPG (84.09 KiB) Viewed 1952 times
ScreenShot3.JPG
ScreenShot3.JPG (82.25 KiB) Viewed 1952 times
I am about to start a Deeper Search on the 2nd (G:) partition to see if that shows up any of my files.
If it doesn't, I am thinking of using PhotoRec to try to recover my files - do you think this will work given the above info?

Really appreciate your help!