Dead hard drive somehow got corrupted, linked or slaved to another HDD while using TestDisk

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
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Zipgun
Posts: 2
Joined: 24 Feb 2018, 09:07

Dead hard drive somehow got corrupted, linked or slaved to another HDD while using TestDisk

#1 Post by Zipgun »

Hello all,

1st off hope this is the right area and 2nd I am 100% NOT saying or implying that it was TestDisk fault ..
:)

I had a Seagate Barracuda 3tb drive fail over a week ago, it was giving out warnings with SMART etc so it was sorta expected to fail at sometime. Anyway of course everything turned RAW so I used this program to try get anything off this Drive (Drive 1) just to see and was not an important drive. So I ran some Data scanning programs to see what was salvageable (I only scanned mind you). Heard about TestDisk so thought I give it a go, ran program from the drive (Drive 2) i was going to use for file recovery I was using just basic mode and for whatever reason program crashed as it was late I decided to just chuck the dead drive so removed it and called it a night.

Next day got a ACHI port error aka another dead disk logged on to Win (10) and found out that Drive 2 turned RAW.. I tried Drive 2 in different ports,IDE/USB adapter and powered external enclosure and rig etc and it would NOT mount at all

Now this is the weird thing I stuck the dead (Drive 1) back in and restarted the PC and of course got another bios post ACHI Port error but when in windows found out that the 2nd dead hdd or Drive 2 was now back up and running :shock: Further SMART and other scanning of said disk revealed it to be as it was before hardly used, couple of years old and in good health. So I thought maybe just fluke but when I took out Drive 1 again then on restart yet again Drive 2 would have a port error and be dead. Doesn't matter what port I use each alone would be dead but together Drive 2 would function with no problems.

Both drives are Seagate Barrracuda 3tb drives, they are not of the same age, both had light use as backup storage (this rig is only for storage btw). I was running 4 other drives in the case at the time (No RAID) none of the others were affected (one is also a Barracuda 3tb drive). I run more than enough power thru a tested frequently 1600+ watt PSU with UPS, cooling is also more than optimal all drives never top 35c lastly daily checks for viruses and malware. So completely puzzled as to how something like this could happen. Of course I removed these 2 drives and replaced with (non seagate drives) new HDD's and everything is back as it was before.

Pardon the long winded story but just want to know what would have caused this did I do something wrong with Testdisk or when the program crashed could it have mixed something up or windows etc? Everyone I asked so far has either said maybe SATA controller, cable, psu, dirty power etc etc etc But being anal about needing everything to in working order? Not likely never had a failed disk or serious hardware problem in over 10yrs. ;)

Its not a problem that needs fixing but I just hate it when I can't figure something out.

Thanks in advance hope I was clear enough I am not much of a online dude..

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cgrenier
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Re: Dead hard drive somehow got corrupted, linked or slaved to another HDD while using TestDisk

#2 Post by cgrenier »

What happened with your disks is really weird. I don't really know what may have caused the problem.
But when you get a SMART error, it's recommended to clone the HDD to a new empty one using ddrescue and to work on the clone once it's done.
Read https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf for details about ddrescue and how to create a Linux USB key.
To avoid further problem, it's best if only the damaged disk and the new disk are connected. Avoid USB adapters as they may be reseted after IO errors.

Zipgun
Posts: 2
Joined: 24 Feb 2018, 09:07

Re: Dead hard drive somehow got corrupted, linked or slaved to another HDD while using TestDisk

#3 Post by Zipgun »

cgrenier wrote: 25 Feb 2018, 20:56 What happened with your disks is really weird. I don't really know what may have caused the problem.
But when you get a SMART error, it's recommended to clone the HDD to a new empty one using ddrescue and to work on the clone once it's done.
Read https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf for details about ddrescue and how to create a Linux USB key.
To avoid further problem, it's best if only the damaged disk and the new disk are connected. Avoid USB adapters as they may be reseted after IO errors.
Thanks for replying... Yes I am totally stumped and kinda wary of the rig it happened on so much so I'm only running the OS on it now...

As I mentioned the disk had warnings so it was expendable and not one with any important info on etc. Since losing a disk over 10yrs ago any important disks are backed up when installed. By USB adapters did you mean external USB drives? I did have some connected by they were all asleep etc at the time. Other than that no USB was used storage wise. Basically the dead drive was loading slow and saw disk errors in event viewer etc ran chkdsk and as I expected turned the disk raw or wiped it etc. Scanned disk to see what could of caused it and the rest is in my OP.

Leaving cause aside how would these drives be working like this? Would it be something to do with the IO or the controller on the drives themselves or how would you slave 2 drives on purpose?

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