Help an Old fart with MBR

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
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Alexo229
Posts: 5
Joined: 20 Jan 2017, 13:40

Help an Old fart with MBR

#1 Post by Alexo229 »

As must of all of us the unthinkable happened. A brand new spanking 750MG HDD decided to go Raw with "Important" data in it. Total to save probably is 400GB the rest was empty. I've tried Testdisk but get stuck (afraid) to screw the whole thing. I've used Photorec_win and was able to save 'whole' to another 1TB drive, but as you know, it's all over the place and it will take time to put the puzzle together, yet I'm not sure that everything has been saved. I've tried Ubuntu live cd with no luck, it won't mount it even if I tried to force it. I get the Record ) has no FILE magic (0x0); Failed to load $MFT: input/output error; NFTS is either inconsistent etc..Mind you the HDD does not "tick". So I will upload a set of screen shots with as much explanation as to where I'm stuck at, but with a little help from the experts, I hope to be able to recover all my data.
Test disk screen after clicking on Proceed
Test disk screen after clicking on Proceed
Capture1.JPG (51.5 KiB) Viewed 2520 times
After clicking on Analyse / Quick Search
After clicking on Analyse / Quick Search
Capture2.JPG (56.39 KiB) Viewed 2520 times
I click on P to list files and this is the result
I click on P to list files and this is the result
Capture3.JPG (41.38 KiB) Viewed 2520 times

Alexo229
Posts: 5
Joined: 20 Jan 2017, 13:40

Help an Old fart with MBR Part II

#2 Post by Alexo229 »

Rest of screen shots:
Switch to Advance Menu
Switch to Advance Menu
Capture4.JPG (60.56 KiB) Viewed 2520 times
Choose Boot, hit Enter
Choose Boot, hit Enter
Capture5.JPG (45.81 KiB) Viewed 2520 times
This is where I'm stuck at.
This is where I'm stuck at.
Capture6.JPG (54.75 KiB) Viewed 2520 times
If I hit
  • I get the same message as on image #3.

    Any guidance will be helpful.
    Thank you.

Alexo229
Posts: 5
Joined: 20 Jan 2017, 13:40

Help an Old Fat Part III

#3 Post by Alexo229 »

Forgot to mention important facts:
It's an external HDD, not on an enclosure, but on a USB dock, like so:
17-182-311-V06.jpg
17-182-311-V06.jpg (152.47 KiB) Viewed 2519 times
so its just for storage, not a boot drive.
thank you.

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cgrenier
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Re: Help an Old fart with MBR

#4 Post by cgrenier »

Run "cmd" and "chkdsk /f d:" (replace d: by the correct drive letter).
If it doesn't work, run TestDisk, in Advanced, Try Boot and RepairMFT.
If it doesn't work, use PhotoRec.

Alexo229
Posts: 5
Joined: 20 Jan 2017, 13:40

Re: Help an Old fart with MBR

#5 Post by Alexo229 »

cgrenier wrote:Run "cmd" and "chkdsk /f d:" (replace d: by the correct drive letter).
If it doesn't work, run TestDisk, in Advanced, Try Boot and RepairMFT.
If it doesn't work, use PhotoRec.
I've run "cmd" and "chkdsk /f f:" (f being the drive letter) it quits after a few moments.
I will try Testdisk in Advanced mode and report back this afternoon.
I don't have the drive with me.

I've run PhotoRec before and it will take me the rest of my living years to put it all together, thus the need to hopefully be able to fix it with Testdisk.

Thank you for your time and advise.

Alexo229
Posts: 5
Joined: 20 Jan 2017, 13:40

Re: Help an Old fart with MBR

#6 Post by Alexo229 »

Alexo229 wrote:
cgrenier wrote:Run "cmd" and "chkdsk /f d:" (replace d: by the correct drive letter).
If it doesn't work, run TestDisk, in Advanced, Try Boot and RepairMFT.
If it doesn't work, use PhotoRec.
I've run "cmd" and "chkdsk /f f:" (f being the drive letter) it quits after a few moments.
I will try Testdisk in Advanced mode and report back this afternoon.
I don't have the drive with me.

I've run PhotoRec before and it will take me the rest of my living years to put it all together, thus the need to hopefully be able to fix it with Testdisk.

Thank you for your time and advise.
Well, I've tried your suggestion, didn't work: "MFT and MFT mirror are bad. Failed to repair them"

Hope you have one more "ACE" under your sleeve. By the time I get to 1/3 of sorting what PhotoRec has done, I'll hit menopause! I'm just kidding, but you know what I mean.

Thank you.

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