NTFS drive not present in testdisk or photorec Topic is solved

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
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jskinner1724
Posts: 4
Joined: 22 Jun 2012, 20:14

NTFS drive not present in testdisk or photorec

#1 Post by jskinner1724 »

I have an ntfs drive with a missing/corrupt bootsector. So just fire up testdisk, copy from backup and call it a day? Not so fast. It doesn't show up when I open testdisk. So I restart testdisk using testdisk /dev/sdb and get

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unable to open file or device /dev/sdb.

Okay, don't panic. Just open it in photorec. Again, no dice. Not even listed there either. Is this disk even there or is it a ghost in the machine? Okay, try running an hdparm -I /dev/sdb and get:

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SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  70 00 05 00 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

ATA device, with non-removable media
Standards:
	Likely used: 1
Configuration:
	Logical		max	current
	cylinders	0	0
	heads		0	0
	sectors/track	510	0
	--
	Logical/Physical Sector size:           512 bytes
	device size with M = 1024*1024:           0 MBytes
	device size with M = 1000*1000:           0 MBytes 
	cache/buffer size  = unknown
Capabilities:
	IORDY not likely
	Cannot perform double-word IO
	R/W multiple sector transfer: not supported
	DMA: not supported
	PIO: pio0 
Okay, Houston, we might have a problem...
So I try to mount with mount ntfs-3g -o force /dev/sdb /media/bennett and get this:

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Failed to read bootsector (size=0)
Failed to mount '/dev/sdb': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sdb' doesn't seem to have a valid NTFS.
Maybe the wrong device is used? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1)? Or the other way around?
Did my system just ask me if I was retarded? it seems like it.
At this point, I'm open to any suggestions you may have

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

Re: NTFS drive not present in testdisk or photorec

#2 Post by Fiona »

Would it be possible to repeat your diagnose and zip and upload the log?
Might be possible that not only the boot sector was corrupted but the file system also.
Did you try to rebuild your boot sector?
Did you have a try to list your files?
TestDisk allows to copy files to another intact partition/disk.
But only if your file system is damaged.
To check it, I'd need your log file.

Fiona

jskinner1724
Posts: 4
Joined: 22 Jun 2012, 20:14

Re: NTFS drive not present in testdisk or photorec

#3 Post by jskinner1724 »

Guten Tag Fiona, wie gehts? Ich danke Ihnen für Ihre Hilfe.
Would it be possible to repeat your diagnose and zip and upload the log?
When I open testdisk or photorec the drive is simply not listed. When I pass the drive name after the testdisk/photorec command, it fails. Linux itself refuses to mount it. Even with force option, it does not mount. the drive is seen, but fails to mount due to corrupt boot sector. The only logfile information provided is as follows:

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Warning: can't get size for Disk /dev/sdb - 0 B - CHS 1 1 1, sector size=512
Warning: can't get size for Disk /dev/mapper/control - 0 B - CHS 1 1 1, sector size=512
Might be possible that not only the boot sector was corrupted but the file system also.
Possible? Certailny. As this is a drive of a system that is not mine, I received it in this condition.
Did you try to rebuild your boot sector?
Since testdisk did not recognize the drive, repairing the boot sector from there became impossible.
I ran ntfsfix to no avail. Windoze will not even recognize drive (even in diskpart) to run a chkdsk /f or /p for Windows XP.

In any event, I think we may be looking at a total write-off as far as this drive is concerned. I can't say that I am suprised. It's not one of the greatest of manufacturers. It was made by a company that sounds like Seagate. Any closing advice or recommendations are certainly appreciated.

Einen schönen Tag allerseits!

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

Re: NTFS drive not present in testdisk or photorec

#4 Post by Fiona »

Your german is very good! :)
How is your disk listed in your disk management console?
If not available in your device manager also.
Did you use TestDisk 6.14-32bit?
Would it be possible to upload the testdisk.log?
Log files are not supported to upload.
You can zip it or copy and paste the content.

Fiona

jskinner1724
Posts: 4
Joined: 22 Jun 2012, 20:14

Re: NTFS drive not present in testdisk or photorec

#5 Post by jskinner1724 »

Your german is very good!
Vielen Dank! Ich wette, Irh Deutsch ist auch gut! :lol:
How is your disk listed in your disk management console?
If not available in your device manager also.
It does not appear in the Windoze Disk Management Console (diskmgmt.msc)
The drive appears but as a part of the USB Dock in Device Manager (devmgmt.msc)
Did you use TestDisk 6.14-32bit?
I tried the most current versions from both Windoze and Ubuntu 12.04 to no avail.
Would it be possible to upload the testdisk.log?
My last post included the only reference to the drive, but for the sake of thoroughness I will include it in it's entirety
Sie muss, dass Deutsch Arbeitsmoral von Ihnen sein! :D

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TestDisk 6.13, Data Recovery Utility, November 2011
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org
OS: Linux, kernel 3.2.0-25-generic (#40-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 23 20:30:51 UTC 2012) x86_64
Compiler: GCC 4.6
Compilation date: 2012-02-05T07:15:52
ext2fs lib: 1.42, ntfs lib: 10:0:0, reiserfs lib: none, ewf lib: none
/dev/sda: LBA, HPA, LBA48, DCO support
/dev/sda: size       976773168 sectors
/dev/sda: user_max   976773168 sectors
/dev/sda: native_max 976773168 sectors
Warning: can't get size for Disk /dev/sdb - 0 B - CHS 1 1 1, sector size=512
Warning: can't get size for Disk /dev/mapper/control - 0 B - CHS 1 1 1, sector size=512
Hard disk list
Disk /dev/sda - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 60801 255 63, sector size=512 - FUJITSU MJA2500BH G2, S/N:K937TA22H59Y, FW:00400018
Was sind Ihre Gedanken?

jskinner1724
Posts: 4
Joined: 22 Jun 2012, 20:14

Re: NTFS drive not present in testdisk or photorec

#6 Post by jskinner1724 »

Fiona, vielen Dank für Ihre Hilfe. Ich denke, die Platte ist tot.

I am prepared to write the drive off. I only have so many hours to work on it.

Hier ist für Ihren Erfolg wünschen!

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

Re: NTFS drive not present in testdisk or photorec

#7 Post by Fiona »

If your disk is still recognized in your BIOS, did you check it using the manufacturer harddrive tool?
In some cases hdat2 helped;
http://forum.cgsecurity.org/phpBB3/post ... dat2#p3039
http://forum.cgsecurity.org/phpBB3/raw- ... dat2#p3037
It's only helpful as long your Firmware from your disk would be affected.

Fiona

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