Please, I Need Help Recovering My 2TB Data Hard Drive

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
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vince
Posts: 7
Joined: 14 Apr 2012, 06:03

Please, I Need Help Recovering My 2TB Data Hard Drive

#1 Post by vince »

Basically, the 2tb samsung hard drive was a second internal data hard drive.

About 2 wks ago i uninstalled a freeware which forced a restart and since then i haven't been able to access the data hard drive . All i've been getting is error msg: 'the file or directory is corrupted or unreadable'. It has about 1.6TB data in it.

The HDD is bitlock encrypted but i have now set it to automatically unlock on my pc, and i have also removed it from inside the pc and it is now attached via a USB cable.

Here is the screenshot and the log file. Thanks.

Image

Testdisk logfile:

Wed Apr 18 01:06:16 2012
Command line: TestDisk

TestDisk 6.14-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, March 2012
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org
OS: Windows 7 (7601) SP1
Compiler: GCC 4.6, Cygwin 1007.9
Compilation date: 2012-03-25T21:26:26
ext2fs lib: 1.41.8, ntfs lib: 10:0:0, reiserfs lib: 0.3.1-rc8, ewf lib: 20100226
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(/dev/sda)=160041885696
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(/dev/sdb)=2000398934016
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\PhysicalDrive0)=160041885696
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\PhysicalDrive1)=2000398934016
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\C:)=159934054400
filewin32_getfilesize(\\.\D:) GetFileSize err Incorrect function.

filewin32_setfilepointer(\\.\D:) SetFilePointer err Incorrect function.

Warning: can't get size for \\.\D:
filewin32_getfilesize(\\.\E:) GetFileSize err Incorrect function.

filewin32_setfilepointer(\\.\E:) SetFilePointer err Incorrect function.

Warning: can't get size for \\.\E:
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\F:)=2000396289024
Hard disk list
Disk /dev/sda - 160 GB / 149 GiB - CHS 19457 255 63, sector size=512 - Hitachi HDS721616PLA380, S/N:202020202020565039463437485a35304c484e35, FW:P22OABEA
Disk /dev/sdb - 2000 GB / 1863 GiB - CHS 243201 255 63, sector size=512 - SAMSUNG HD204UI, S/N:152D20337A0C

Partition table type (auto): Intel
Disk /dev/sdb - 2000 GB / 1863 GiB - SAMSUNG HD204UI
Partition table type: Intel

Analyse Disk /dev/sdb - 2000 GB / 1863 GiB - CHS 243201 255 63
Geometry from i386 MBR: head=255 sector=63
check_part_i386 failed for partition type 07
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=2
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=8 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=16 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=32 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=64 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=128 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=240 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=2
Current partition structure:
Invalid NTFS or EXFAT boot
1 * HPFS - NTFS 0 1 1 243200 254 63 3907024002
1 * HPFS - NTFS 0 1 1 243200 254 63 3907024002
Ask the user for vista mode
search_vista_part: 1

search_part()
Disk /dev/sdb - 2000 GB / 1863 GiB - CHS 243201 255 63
Search for partition aborted

Results
Change partition type:
HPFS - NTFS 0 0 1 243200 254 63 3907024065

interface_write()

No partition found or selected for recovery

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

Re: Please, I Need Help Recovering My 2TB Data Hard Drive

#2 Post by Fiona »

I would suggest to have try to rebuild your boot sector.

Start TestDisk.
Confirm through until you see the menu Analyse.
Don't confirm at Analyse but Advanced.
Confirm at Boot with enter also.
Please, upload a screen to check your backup of the boot sector.
Highlight Rebuild BS and hit Enter.
Rebuild your BS will be in progress.
Normally, it takes some minutes.
If it's finished, please post the infos or upload a screen.
If you see a menu List, please highlight it and press enter.
Please let me know, do you see your data or an error message.
To get back to the previous screen, easily press q for Quit.

Infos will follow.

vince
Posts: 7
Joined: 14 Apr 2012, 06:03

Re: Please, I Need Help Recovering My 2TB Data Hard Drive

#3 Post by vince »

Thank you for your prompt reply.
I will do that and get back to you.
Cheers

vince
Posts: 7
Joined: 14 Apr 2012, 06:03

Re: Please, I Need Help Recovering My 2TB Data Hard Drive

#4 Post by vince »

I've started the 'bs rebuild', which i'm guessing would take hours to complete, but i thought maybe you should see this screen.

Thanks.

Image
Attachments
image at boot.png
image at boot.png (54.73 KiB) Viewed 6330 times

vince
Posts: 7
Joined: 14 Apr 2012, 06:03

Re: Please, I Need Help Recovering My 2TB Data Hard Drive

#5 Post by vince »

and i don't know if this helps my cause, but yesterday i was following one of your replies to another post and here is the screenshot when i attempted to rebuild the bs
Attachments
Latest 1.jpg
Latest 1.jpg (70.29 KiB) Viewed 6330 times

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

Re: Please, I Need Help Recovering My 2TB Data Hard Drive

#6 Post by Fiona »

Your screen from your scan displays partitions beyond the disk limit.
That's why TestDisk displays the message that they are not recoverable.
TestDisk often finds partitions based on remnants or just recognize them this way.

Important would be the result of rebuild BS to find out does it find a path to your file system and data or not.
Please finish it and check it.
If it's not successful, please use PhotoRec to scan your disk.
Important is, does PhotoRec find your data?
If not, it could be a hint that your decryption after your crash was not successful?
Although decrytion worked and your partition appears as the partition type NTFS, but it's unformatted without boot sector and its backup (practically without a file system).
Thats why it's important to have a try to get data off of it.

vince
Posts: 7
Joined: 14 Apr 2012, 06:03

Re: Please, I Need Help Recovering My 2TB Data Hard Drive

#7 Post by vince »

Ok, thanks.
I'll get back to you once the bs rebuild finishes.
cheers

vince
Posts: 7
Joined: 14 Apr 2012, 06:03

Re: Please, I Need Help Recovering My 2TB Data Hard Drive

#8 Post by vince »

I would suggest to have try to rebuild your boot sector.
Start TestDisk.
Confirm through until you see the menu Analyse.
Don't confirm at Analyse but Advanced.
Confirm at Boot with enter also.
Please, upload a screen to check your backup of the boot sector.
Highlight Rebuild BS and hit Enter.
Rebuild your BS will be in progress.
Normally, it takes some minutes.
If it's finished, please post the infos or upload a screen.
If you see a menu List, please highlight it and press enter.
Please let me know, do you see your data or an error message
Hello Fiona,

I did as you suggested which, in itself, took about 40hrs to finish.

another thing, i was going to copy the log but the text file is showing 50GB in size. Is all this normal?

Anyway, attached is the screenshot, please advise.

Thanks again.
Attachments
testdisk size.png
testdisk size.png (4.09 KiB) Viewed 6284 times
bs rebuild.png
bs rebuild.png (87.17 KiB) Viewed 6284 times

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

Re: Please, I Need Help Recovering My 2TB Data Hard Drive

#9 Post by Fiona »

I did as you suggested which, in itself, took about 40hrs to finish.

another thing, i was going to copy the log but the text file is showing 50GB in size. Is all this normal?
It's not normal and looks like nothing was found.
You can delete your atachment testdisk.log, as it's to big to get somthing reasonable out of it.
Please have a try to scan your Disk for data.
You can use PhotoRec or a Trial of commercial software like Restorer Ultimate.
It's only important to see,do you see your data or not?
Some enclosure have a key chip integrated for encryption.
Especially WD My Book etc...
Then you woudn't find your data.
Would it be possible in your case?

vince
Posts: 7
Joined: 14 Apr 2012, 06:03

Re: Please, I Need Help Recovering My 2TB Data Hard Drive

#10 Post by vince »

Thanks for your reply, Fiona.

Basically, i'd been trying to fix this hard drive for about 2 weeks before joining this forum for help, but i'm guessing i must have messed it up somewhere along the line.

Luckily i recently backed up my data to 2 other hard drives before this on crashed, but i was only trying to fix it purely for educational purposes.
I think i'm gonna call it a day, 'diskpart' clean the hard drive and copy my data back to it.

Thank you very much for your help.

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