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I have a 250 GB external USB hard drive that I can't access my data to anymore. My computer (Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64 bit) acknowledges its presence but I can't see anything on it. It was originally used for a Windows XP computer from 2003-2009 and on the Windows 7 computer ever since and it has never given me any trouble until yesterday.

I was using testdisk 6.14 to try and restore my data. Here is the of what I got prior to the initial search. When I did the quick search, it also didn't find any partitions. Any suggestions on what I should do next to try and retrieve my data? It's mostly text, Word, and music files as well as a fair number of pictures.

Geometry looks wrong and you didn't select your physically disk but logical drive.
Did you use the 64 bit version instead of the 32 bit?
Have you been able to select your disk in testdisk?

Fiona

Is there any way of figuring out the correct geometry? Let me double check to see if I'm using the actual 64 bit version. The one I've got highlighted I'm sure is my actual disk but let me make sure. Thanks!

Currently I don't recommend to use the 64 bit-version.
As described, it's only intended for use on 64 bit machines like itanium lacking WOW64 as some features are missing.
Might be an idea to repeat your diagnose using the 32 bit version.
In your disk selection, please select your disk (physically) instead of your drive.
A drive is logical and has no geometry.
I´d need infos from "Analyse, Quick and if nothing is found, from Deeper Search" also.
If a partition is found, please mark it and press p to have a try to list your data.

Fiona

I used the 32-bit version of 6.14 and here's the list of drives that came up:
Disk /dev/sda - 640 GB / 596 GiB - WDC WD64 00AAKS-75A7B
Drive G: - 250 GB / 232 GiB - WDC WD25 00JB-00GVC0

It's Drive G that's giving me problems and I'm trying to restore. Disk /dev/sda is good (so far).

Testdisk provided your Disk Modell and vendor.

I used the 32-bit version of 6.14 and here's the list of drives that came up:
Disk /dev/sda - 640 GB / 596 GiB - WDC WD64 00AAKS-75A7B
Drive G: - 250 GB / 232 GiB - WDC WD25 00JB-00GVC0

Using google I got the following result also;
http://datacent.com/datarecovery/hdd/we ... 0JB-00GVC0
At the moment, your partition table is not readable and often the LBA (Logical Block Addressing) doesn't fit either.
Might be possible if you would run Quick Search, that your disk causes read errors.
But it's a vague suspicion only.
Can you use CrystalDiskInfo to get some S.M.A.R.T values;
http://crystalmark.info/software/Crysta ... ex-e.html/

Thanks! I'll try CrystalDisk when I get back to my computer at home and read up a bit more. What's the risk of introducing further errors or other issues into the disk by running CrystalDisk on it?

Read errors are not readable sectors.
If you have too many, then it's not possible to get data off of your disk.
Might be appropriate to check your disk.
If you don't have too many then we can have a try to recover your data.
Currently I'm diagnosing your disk, without change.
Your read errors should be solved first.
Might be possible if you don't have as much read errrors, to clone your disk to another one or to create an image.
But now your diagnose would be important.

Fiona

I just got back to my computer and tried running CrystalDisk but it isn't seeing the drive -- getting a Code 43 error even though I followed the instructions from Windows 7 for handling a Code 43 (troubleshooter, uninstall driver, reboot, etc). I also consulted the website you sent me and they strongly suspect a firmware problem.

cylithera wrote:I have a 250 GB external USB hard drive that I can't access my data to anymore. My computer (Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64 bit) acknowledges its presence but I can't see anything on it. It was originally used for a Windows XP computer from 2003-2009 and on the Windows 7 computer ever since and it has never given me any trouble until yesterday.

I was using testdisk 6.14 to try and restore my data. Here is the of what I got prior to the initial search. When I did the quick search, it also didn't find any partitions. Any suggestions on what I should do next to try and retrieve my data? It's mostly text, Word, and music files as well as a fair number of pictures.

hi, guys,
i had same problem with this post, but i wish to re-format my external hardisk (1tb) and repair it as well,
any suggestions on what i should do or show me step by step of using testdisk, Please & Thanks!