Data Recovery Issues on a 1TB Drive

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
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Domenic
Posts: 23
Joined: 13 May 2019, 17:33

Data Recovery Issues on a 1TB Drive

#1 Post by Domenic »

This is the first time I'm using this form so please excuse any mistakes I may be making.

I currently have a Core i7, 16 GB machine running Win7 with a 1 TB primary hard drive. Three days ago I finally upgraded to windows 10 without any issues. I used the machine for at least four hours after updating to Windows 10 with no problems what so ever. I shut the machine down and went to sleep, when I woke up the next morning the machine would only boot into bios. The whole crash and what happened is something I would like to discuss but that’s for another forum. I purchased a new 2TB hard drive and was able to get the machine up and running again.

Since then I have been trying to recover the data off of the old blown hard drive.
Every time I connect it to my repaired computer Windows won’t initialize it and gives me I/O or cyclic redundancy errors.

So I purchased the latest version of parted magic, as mine was several years old, and tried the usual tricks...
Disk Health says the drive is passing all the self tests.
File Manager doesn’t show the drive, I'm assuming because it cant be mounted correctly.
Clonezilla - cannot clone the drive to another new drive.
Testdisk shows the drive but cannot analyze it, I get “Partition: Read Error”. I ran a quick scan and got read errors on what seemed like every cylinder.
When I attempt to run DDRescue to another 1TB drive it fails immediately, with no log.
Partition Editor just scans continuously for the partition and finds nothing.
Partition Editor running through Windows sees the uninitialized drive but wont let me repair the MBR or attempt anything else.

As I said, the drive is repeatedly passing diag tests and show no sings of mechanical problems (ie. clicking, grinding, etc).
So I have no choice at this point but to assume it’s a problem with the final structure, either the master boot record or the partition table but I’m at a lose...

Does anyone have any suggestions on something I'm doing wrong or what else I can try?

Any help would be eternally appreciated!
Thank you in advance!!

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cgrenier
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Re: Data Recovery Issues on a 1TB Drive

#2 Post by cgrenier »

You can try to clone your disk:
- create a Linux LiveUSB key
- boot from this key
- use ddrescue to create an image of your 1 GB, choose a destination on a partition from your 2 GB HDD
- once it's done, disconnect your 1 GB
- try testdisk on the image file.
More details can be found in https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf
If ddrescue failed to clone your disk, contact a data recovery company.

Domenic
Posts: 23
Joined: 13 May 2019, 17:33

Re: Data Recovery Issues on a 1TB Drive

#3 Post by Domenic »

Thank you for your reply!

When I attempt to run DDRescue to another 1TB drive it fails immediately, with no log.
I then tried Clonezilla and it cannot clone the drive to another new drive.

Thr drive contiuosly passes all diagnostic tests but I still cannot access the drive.

I have read the Testdisk.pdf almost cover to cover and attemped many things but I dont seem to see anytig pertaining to what I'm experiencing.

recuperation
Posts: 2720
Joined: 04 Jan 2019, 09:48
Location: Hannover, Deutschland (Germany, Allemagne)

Re: Data Recovery Issues on a 1TB Drive

#4 Post by recuperation »

Please post a SMART report of your drive using smartmontools or Crystaldiskinfo.

Domenic
Posts: 23
Joined: 13 May 2019, 17:33

Re: Data Recovery Issues on a 1TB Drive

#5 Post by Domenic »

Thank you for your response recuperation!!

Below is a copy of the SMART Log:

smartctl 6.6 2017-11-05 r4594 [x86_64-linux-5.0.1-pmagic64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-17, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Western Digital Green
Device Model: WDC WD10EZRX-00L4HB0
Serial Number: WD-WCC4J5XDUZLJ
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 2b6379095
Firmware Version: 01.01A01
User Capacity: 1,000,204,886,016 bytes [1.00 TB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate: 5400 rpm
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: ATA8-ACS (minor revision not indicated)
SATA Version is: SATA 3.0, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is: Tue May 14 14:56:56 2019 EDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x82) Offline data collection activity
was completed without error.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: (13920) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 158) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 5) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x3035) SCT Status supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.

recuperation
Posts: 2720
Joined: 04 Jan 2019, 09:48
Location: Hannover, Deutschland (Germany, Allemagne)

Re: Data Recovery Issues on a 1TB Drive

#6 Post by recuperation »

Please use the Parameter -a to provide the list of smart parameters.
Example:
smartctl -a /dev/sdX

where X is your device.

You can redirect the output to a file

smartctl -a /dev/sdX > wd10ezrx.txt

Domenic
Posts: 23
Joined: 13 May 2019, 17:33

Re: Data Recovery Issues on a 1TB Drive

#7 Post by Domenic »

Hi recuperation,

I cant tell you how much I appreciate your responses, thank you very much for your help!!

Below is the SMART Log with the -a parameter:

smartctl 6.6 2017-11-05 r4594 [x86_64-linux-5.0.1-pmagic64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-17, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Western Digital Green
Device Model: WDC WD10EZRX-00L4HB0
Serial Number: WD-WCC4J5XDUZLJ
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 2b6379095
Firmware Version: 01.01A01
User Capacity: 1,000,204,886,016 bytes [1.00 TB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate: 5400 rpm
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: ATA8-ACS (minor revision not indicated)
SATA Version is: SATA 3.0, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is: Wed May 15 10:48:30 2019 EDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x82) Offline data collection activity
was completed without error.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: (13920) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 158) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 5) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x3035) SCT Status supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 139 134 021 Pre-fail Always - 4050
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 1640
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 079 079 000 Old_age Always - 15554
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 1624
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 179
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 131 131 000 Old_age Always - 208821
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 119 105 000 Old_age Always - 24
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 1
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
Warning: ATA error count 28241 inconsistent with error log pointer 2

ATA Error Count: 28241 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
CR = Command Register [HEX]
FR = Features Register [HEX]
SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
ER = Error register [HEX]
ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 28241 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 15554 hours (648 days + 2 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 51 02 00 00 00 a0 Error: ABRT

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.934 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.934 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 46 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.934 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.933 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.933 IDENTIFY DEVICE

Error 28240 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 15554 hours (648 days + 2 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 51 46 00 00 00 a0 Error: ABRT

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
ef 03 46 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.934 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.933 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.933 IDENTIFY DEVICE
c8 00 08 00 00 00 e0 00 00:00:02.919 READ DMA
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.918 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]

Error 28239 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 15554 hours (648 days + 2 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 51 02 00 00 00 a0 Error: ABRT

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.933 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.933 IDENTIFY DEVICE
c8 00 08 00 00 00 e0 00 00:00:02.919 READ DMA
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.918 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.918 IDENTIFY DEVICE

Error 28238 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 15554 hours (648 days + 2 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 51 08 00 00 00 e0 Error: ABRT 8 sectors at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
c8 00 08 00 00 00 e0 00 00:00:02.919 READ DMA
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.918 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.918 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 46 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.918 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.917 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]

Error 28237 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 15554 hours (648 days + 2 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 51 02 00 00 00 a0 Error: ABRT

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.918 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.918 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 46 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.918 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.917 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:00:02.917 IDENTIFY DEVICE

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Short offline Completed without error 00% 15553 -
# 2 Short offline Completed without error 00% 10690 -
# 3 Conveyance offline Completed without error 00% 8589 -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

recuperation
Posts: 2720
Joined: 04 Jan 2019, 09:48
Location: Hannover, Deutschland (Germany, Allemagne)

Re: Data Recovery Issues on a 1TB Drive

#8 Post by recuperation »

Domenic wrote: 13 May 2019, 17:51 As I said, the drive is repeatedly passing diag tests and show no sings of mechanical problems (ie. clicking, grinding, etc).
I don't believe that at all after reading the smart log.

There is no sign of broken sectors, but -
you have more than 28000 ATA errors after 15000h running time,
I have 17 ATA erros after 42000h running time with my system drive.
You have an abort notice after the drive tried to read the sector 0.

If you don't get your drive running in a tested environment on a second machine, for instance a working docking station connected to a different computer to exclude connection problems you should consider a professional recovery service.

Domenic
Posts: 23
Joined: 13 May 2019, 17:33

Re: Data Recovery Issues on a 1TB Drive

#9 Post by Domenic »

Hi recuperation,

Thanks again for your help, this is exactly where I needed it.
As I siad in the original post, I have experience with low level recovery but was out of my depth on this one.
All the basic diagnostics were Passing even thought the drive would not connect and I just don't know enough to interpret the SMART logs.

Ill try a dock and a different machine to rule out those variables.

At this piont, if I send the drive to a recovery company, what are they going to do?
If they're going to just open it to switch the platter to a new chaise and run the same test I've been running, then I'll probably try that myslef.
I have switched out platters before with some success, I even built a static box to work in.

The major problem is I have about 15 years worth of data on that drive ranging from sensative corporate client info to sensative personal info and connot risk any of it being in someone elses hands. It will hurt but I'd rather lose the data then risk client info.

Domenic
Posts: 23
Joined: 13 May 2019, 17:33

Re: Data Recovery Issues on a 1TB Drive

#10 Post by Domenic »

Hi recuperation,

Just real quick, I don't know how to quote you like you did me but what I said about the basic tests is true.
That's why I've been so perplexed about this.

All the basic health tests I ran in Parted Magic have been Passing.
The drive is spinning up no problem and making no worrisome sounds at all (clicking, grinding, etc)
If it was I would have know right away and not gone to the forums.

The whole situation has been weird right from the initial crash.

Thanks again for everything!

Locked