TestDisk doesn't detect my hdd. Please help if you can.

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
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Author
FareezAhmad
Posts: 3
Joined: 07 Aug 2012, 17:48

TestDisk doesn't detect my hdd. Please help if you can.

#1 Post by FareezAhmad »

Hi!

I've been trying to recover data from a problematic 2TB Western Digital My Book Studio external hdd. I have removed it from the casing and connected it to my computer using a SATA/IDE to USB adapter. I run Mac OSX 10.6.8.

I've tried using blacklisted_site, Data Rescue 3 and Diskwarrior to no avail. Data Rescue 3 'sees' the attached drive, but cannot detect any files at all using the Scan or Deep Scan functions. Diskwarrior cannot even detect the drive. (The disk does not show up on the Finder desktop.)

After browsing through the Diskwarrior FAQ page, I found out that the drive's partition may be damaged. TestDisk was my next option and seemed promising.

However, it doesn't detect the drive. I read somewhere that it might be an encryption issue? Would someone please help? I'm willing to try all stated solutions.

Thanks in advance.

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

Re: TestDisk doesn't detect my hdd. Please help if you can.

#2 Post by Fiona »

WD often uses hardware encryption through an internal key chip inside the enclosure.
Immediately after removing the disk from its enclosure, disk is not readable anymore.
Some infos about;
http://forum.cgsecurity.org/phpBB3/post ... tion#p1311
Not even the user did notice it.
To diagnose your disk, you should put it back into your enclosure and test to get access to any data.

Fiona

FareezAhmad
Posts: 3
Joined: 07 Aug 2012, 17:48

Re: TestDisk doesn't detect my hdd. Please help if you can.

#3 Post by FareezAhmad »

Thank you for the prompt reply Fiona. I will fix it back up and see if I can get it to work.

FareezAhmad
Posts: 3
Joined: 07 Aug 2012, 17:48

Re: TestDisk doesn't detect my hdd. Please help if you can.

#4 Post by FareezAhmad »

Hi Fiona,

I've attached the small printed circuit board back to the hdd (it slots into the power supply and SATA terminals on the hdd, and contains the 2 firewire ports, USB port and power supply pin connector).Now it doesn't even show up on Disk Utility. Are you able to tell me what's wrong?

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