Blank external Hard-drive. Windows says must format it.
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When asking for technical support:
- Search for posts on the same topic before posting a new question.
- Give clear, specific information in the title of your post.
- Include as many details as you can, MOST POSTS WILL GET ONLY ONE OR TWO ANSWERS.
- Post a follow up with a "Thank you" or "This worked!"
- When you learn something, use that knowledge to HELP ANOTHER USER LATER.
Before posting, please read https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf
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Blank external Hard-drive. Windows says must format it.
Hello.
I came across testdisk and thought it might help me out. I have an external hard-drive that I am trying to repair for someone else. It is a Western Digital usb3 My Book. It might have started to fail or it was hit by maleware. It is about 2 years old and has been left on a lot. It isn't shut off and packed away when not in use. The partition is RAW.
I installed testdisk on C drive. The external hard-drive is 2 TB. The C drive is smaller. I Created a new log file. I found the external hard-drive. I choose two different ways with the partition type.
1. I first choose Intel/PC partition. There was only one partition on it. It worked somewhat quickly, but I did not try to recover the partition table onto the external hard-drive. I shut-down the computer and the external hard-drive needed to be deep scanned again.
2. I then thought I should select Unknown partition the second time I scanned the hard-drive. This took a long time. I first had a Blue Screen Of Death and had to start over. Then I choose Unknown partition again and did a deep scan. After it ran on my computer for over twelve hours, it was only about 17% done and the log file became huge. Windows told me data will be over-written and I have to delete some files. So I stopped the testdisk program and deleted the 250 GB log file.
3. Before I continue I am wondering about the program.
- Where should I install testdisk and place the log file? Can I install testdisk on C drive and put the log file onto another external hard-drive?
- Will creating a log file make a successful recovery better? Is there more information for the external hard-drive? Is the chance of data retrieval with a program such as PhotoRec or Piriforms Recuva better?
- When the partition table is found should I try and place the partition table onto another hard-drive? I have one that is 2 TB also. It seems it should be re-applied onto the same external hard-drive which is 2 TB?
- The external hard-drive seems empty and even testdisk reported that. But there should be about 250 or more GB on it. Is this normal? This is why I think I need PhotoRec or Recuva.
- The external hard-drive is still RAW. But I tried to use PhotoRec and it actually recognized it. After the PhotoRec scan, nothing was found. For this program or another to work it would require a recognized partition?
Thank you.
I came across testdisk and thought it might help me out. I have an external hard-drive that I am trying to repair for someone else. It is a Western Digital usb3 My Book. It might have started to fail or it was hit by maleware. It is about 2 years old and has been left on a lot. It isn't shut off and packed away when not in use. The partition is RAW.
I installed testdisk on C drive. The external hard-drive is 2 TB. The C drive is smaller. I Created a new log file. I found the external hard-drive. I choose two different ways with the partition type.
1. I first choose Intel/PC partition. There was only one partition on it. It worked somewhat quickly, but I did not try to recover the partition table onto the external hard-drive. I shut-down the computer and the external hard-drive needed to be deep scanned again.
2. I then thought I should select Unknown partition the second time I scanned the hard-drive. This took a long time. I first had a Blue Screen Of Death and had to start over. Then I choose Unknown partition again and did a deep scan. After it ran on my computer for over twelve hours, it was only about 17% done and the log file became huge. Windows told me data will be over-written and I have to delete some files. So I stopped the testdisk program and deleted the 250 GB log file.
3. Before I continue I am wondering about the program.
- Where should I install testdisk and place the log file? Can I install testdisk on C drive and put the log file onto another external hard-drive?
- Will creating a log file make a successful recovery better? Is there more information for the external hard-drive? Is the chance of data retrieval with a program such as PhotoRec or Piriforms Recuva better?
- When the partition table is found should I try and place the partition table onto another hard-drive? I have one that is 2 TB also. It seems it should be re-applied onto the same external hard-drive which is 2 TB?
- The external hard-drive seems empty and even testdisk reported that. But there should be about 250 or more GB on it. Is this normal? This is why I think I need PhotoRec or Recuva.
- The external hard-drive is still RAW. But I tried to use PhotoRec and it actually recognized it. After the PhotoRec scan, nothing was found. For this program or another to work it would require a recognized partition?
Thank you.
- cgrenier
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Re: Blank external Hard-drive. Windows says must format it.
Run TestDisk, Advanced, Boot, RebuildBS, List. If you see your files, choose Write, confirm, Quit and restart your computer.
If you have problems, please copy/paste the testdisk.log file content in your message.
If you have problems, please copy/paste the testdisk.log file content in your message.
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- Joined: 09 Nov 2016, 23:10
Re: Blank external Hard-drive. Windows says must format it.
There is no partition recognized, it is RAW. Device Manager recognized the external hard-drive, not Disk Management. Windows says I have to re-format it, but I have not done that yet.
The log files were too big, most of the cylinders or bits/bytes were damaged. This message kept being stated in testdisk during the scans.
Since this external hard-drive was NTFS file system and used with Windows 7 should I just select the partition table type as Intel/PC partition?
When or why would I select Unknown? Can Unknown find more information and do a deeper scan?
Why does Unknown partition take up to 4 days for a 2 TB external hard-drive? As I said above The log files were too big, most of the cylinders or bits/bytes were damaged. That is probably why..?
Since the log files are becoming 250GB+, can I install testdisk onto another empty external hard-drive and have the log file there? Can I direct the log file onto a larger empty external hard-drive? I don't want to large log file to over-write the OS c-drive partition.
Can I apply a found partition table onto another different external hard-drive that is the same size as the original?
Thank you.
The log files were too big, most of the cylinders or bits/bytes were damaged. This message kept being stated in testdisk during the scans.
Since this external hard-drive was NTFS file system and used with Windows 7 should I just select the partition table type as Intel/PC partition?
When or why would I select Unknown? Can Unknown find more information and do a deeper scan?
Why does Unknown partition take up to 4 days for a 2 TB external hard-drive? As I said above The log files were too big, most of the cylinders or bits/bytes were damaged. That is probably why..?
Since the log files are becoming 250GB+, can I install testdisk onto another empty external hard-drive and have the log file there? Can I direct the log file onto a larger empty external hard-drive? I don't want to large log file to over-write the OS c-drive partition.
Can I apply a found partition table onto another different external hard-drive that is the same size as the original?
Thank you.
- cgrenier
- Site Admin
- Posts: 5432
- Joined: 18 Feb 2012, 15:08
- Location: Le Perreux Sur Marne, France
- Contact:
Re: Blank external Hard-drive. Windows says must format it.
Can you post a screenshot for each screen ? TestDisk, Disk selection, partition table type selection, Advanced, Boot
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- Posts: 20
- Joined: 09 Nov 2016, 23:10
Re: Blank external Hard-drive. Windows says must format it.
Hello cgrenier.
I attached 5 screenshots.
Testdisk 1-4 JPG's are when I select Intel/PC partition.
Testdisk 5 JPG is when I select None non partitioned media.
At the second screen (Disk selection) to detect all the blank media and HDD's, I blocked out everything else except Disk /dev/sdj (this is the external hard-drive).
Another question I have is: At the second screen (Disk selection) I also noticed some drive letters are not recognized. I have 4 internal drives. Drive E does not show up in the drive letter area at the bottom. But it's size shows up at the Disk /dev/sdb or c area. Is this normal? It is SATA 3, the other HDD's are SATA 2.
I am using Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit.
I attached 5 screenshots.
Testdisk 1-4 JPG's are when I select Intel/PC partition.
Testdisk 5 JPG is when I select None non partitioned media.
At the second screen (Disk selection) to detect all the blank media and HDD's, I blocked out everything else except Disk /dev/sdj (this is the external hard-drive).
Another question I have is: At the second screen (Disk selection) I also noticed some drive letters are not recognized. I have 4 internal drives. Drive E does not show up in the drive letter area at the bottom. But it's size shows up at the Disk /dev/sdb or c area. Is this normal? It is SATA 3, the other HDD's are SATA 2.
I am using Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit.
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- Testdisk1.jpg (226.15 KiB) Viewed 3640 times
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- Testdisk2.jpg (221.45 KiB) Viewed 3640 times
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- Testdisk3.jpg (223.95 KiB) Viewed 3640 times
Last edited by SyncroScales on 14 Nov 2016, 21:27, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Blank external Hard-drive. Windows says must format it.
Screen Shot 4 and 5.
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- Testdisk4.jpg (204.84 KiB) Viewed 3641 times
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- Testdisk5.jpg (206.88 KiB) Viewed 3641 times
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Re: Blank external Hard-drive. Windows says must format it.
Hello.
I ran the Unknown search and it took about 4 days. I did not do a deeper scan since I have to turn my computer off. Is it recommended that I redo the long scan and then a deeper scan?
I attached some screen shots. They are in order look at them from the first one down to the last.
Is it recommended that I try to image this unknown/corrupted partition onto another external hard-drive? I have one that is the same 2 TB size and empty.
I re-tried to use testdisk. I selected Intel/PC partition. The scan was much faster. I kept the log file. It is 1.59 GB. I then did a deeper search. The log file became 3.76 GB.
Nothing shows up.
Any advice?
I ran the Unknown search and it took about 4 days. I did not do a deeper scan since I have to turn my computer off. Is it recommended that I redo the long scan and then a deeper scan?
I attached some screen shots. They are in order look at them from the first one down to the last.
Is it recommended that I try to image this unknown/corrupted partition onto another external hard-drive? I have one that is the same 2 TB size and empty.
I re-tried to use testdisk. I selected Intel/PC partition. The scan was much faster. I kept the log file. It is 1.59 GB. I then did a deeper search. The log file became 3.76 GB.
Nothing shows up.
Any advice?
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- Testdisk-NoLog01.jpg (58.16 KiB) Viewed 3586 times
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- Testdisk-NoLog02.jpg (59.92 KiB) Viewed 3586 times
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- Testdisk-NoLog03.JPG (43.82 KiB) Viewed 3586 times
Last edited by SyncroScales on 21 Nov 2016, 20:33, edited 1 time in total.
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- Joined: 09 Nov 2016, 23:10
Re: Blank external Hard-drive. Windows says must format it.
More screen shots.
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- Testdisk-NoLog04.JPG (35.75 KiB) Viewed 3585 times
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- Testdisk-NoLog05.JPG (36.43 KiB) Viewed 3585 times
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- Testdisk-NoLog06.JPG (35.08 KiB) Viewed 3585 times
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- Posts: 20
- Joined: 09 Nov 2016, 23:10
Re: Blank external Hard-drive. Windows says must format it.
The last three screen shots.
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- Testdisk-NoLog07.JPG (39 KiB) Viewed 3584 times
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- TestDisk-IntelPC-DeeperSearch01.JPG (37.29 KiB) Viewed 3584 times
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- TestDisk-IntelPC-DeeperSearch02.JPG (37.58 KiB) Viewed 3584 times
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- Posts: 20
- Joined: 09 Nov 2016, 23:10
Re: Blank external Hard-drive. Windows says must format it.
Edited: For bold highlighting.
I thought I would add this information and screen shot.
When looking at the Testdisk menu I plugged in soem external hard-drives and media. I noticed that the corrupted Western Digital hard-drive is a smaller size than other external hard-drives. Some are Western Digital.
Look at Disk /dev sdj - 2000 GB / 1862 GiB - This is corrupted and not showing partitions. Western Digital My Book 2 TB.
Look at Disk /dev/sdk - 2000 GB / 1863 GiB -This is a Western Digital 3.5" 2 TB HDD in an enclosure.
Look above at Disk /dev sdb - 2000 GB / 1863 GiB - This is an internal Western Digital 3.5" 2 TB HDD. Drive D.
Please ignore these drives: There are some flash sticks and other external HDD's I plugged in to see what is happening with them. Drive C is partitioned into drive C and drive G.
The log files are large in GB's. I am having trouble opening them, so there isn't mush information I can post at this time. How can I post them up?
Thank you.
I thought I would add this information and screen shot.
When looking at the Testdisk menu I plugged in soem external hard-drives and media. I noticed that the corrupted Western Digital hard-drive is a smaller size than other external hard-drives. Some are Western Digital.
Look at Disk /dev sdj - 2000 GB / 1862 GiB - This is corrupted and not showing partitions. Western Digital My Book 2 TB.
Look at Disk /dev/sdk - 2000 GB / 1863 GiB -This is a Western Digital 3.5" 2 TB HDD in an enclosure.
Look above at Disk /dev sdb - 2000 GB / 1863 GiB - This is an internal Western Digital 3.5" 2 TB HDD. Drive D.
Please ignore these drives: There are some flash sticks and other external HDD's I plugged in to see what is happening with them. Drive C is partitioned into drive C and drive G.
The log files are large in GB's. I am having trouble opening them, so there isn't mush information I can post at this time. How can I post them up?
Thank you.
- Attachments
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- Testdisk-MultipleMedia,CorruptIsDifferentSize.JPG (61.08 KiB) Viewed 3580 times