Hard disk not showing up on Testdisk

Using TestDisk to repair the filesystem
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findsome
Posts: 6
Joined: 25 Jun 2012, 08:59

Hard disk not showing up on Testdisk

#1 Post by findsome »

Hi,
I have a 500GB external WD hard disk. Recently, it suddenly went blank. The properties say it is
Type: Local Disk
File system: RAW
Used space/ free space: 0

There used to be around 200MB of data in the disk, which somehow vanished.

I tried running TestDisk and PhotoRec, but the disk doesn't appear. Only my own laptop hard disk appears, although my hard disk is plugged into the computer and can be "read" (can get the above data).
Is there any way to have my hard disk appear for TestDisk?

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

Re: Hard disk not showing up on Testdisk

#2 Post by Fiona »

WD disks are often hardware encrypted.
Not even the user did notice it.
Exxample;
http://forum.cgsecurity.org/phpBB3/post ... pted#p1058
Might be advisable not to remove it from your enclosure, as long as you know exactly that your disk is not ancrypted.
If you remove an encrypted disk from its enclusere, windows doesn't regognize the file system abnd lists our disk as unformatted.
Otherwise if your disk is not encrypted, your boot sector or file system might be faulty.
Can you check your disk for encryption first?

Fiona

findsome
Posts: 6
Joined: 25 Jun 2012, 08:59

Re: Hard disk not showing up on Testdisk

#3 Post by findsome »

Hi, thank you for your reply. I'm not very good with computers; may I ask how do I check my disk for encryption? I tried googling it and point towards how to encrypt drives instead.
And for the removing the hard disk from the enclosure, do you mean the casing? I haven't removed it form the casing, only removed and inserted the usb cable to the computer in the past.

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

Re: Hard disk not showing up on Testdisk

#4 Post by Fiona »

Yes I meant your case! :)
If you didn't remove it from your case, you should be able to diagnose your disk.
Removing and inserting an USB cable is ok.
Would it be possible to check your device manager and disk management console?
Did you use testdisk-6.14-32bit?

Fiona

findsome
Posts: 6
Joined: 25 Jun 2012, 08:59

Re: Hard disk not showing up on Testdisk

#5 Post by findsome »

Ok, then I won't be touching the disk case anytime soon.
Yes, it is possible to check both.
When I checked the device manager, I got this:
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/ ... 54zi4f.jpg
http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/ ... 54zi6t.jpg
Which section should I be looking into?
For the disk management console (I assume is this), the hard disk doesn't show up too.
http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/ ... 54ziie.jpg
(There is a scrollbar at the bottom right, but there is just blank space when I scroll down)

I downloaded TestDisk 6.14 from the main download link at the right on this page:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download
So I guess it is the 32-bit version?

And I'm using windows XP, 32-bit version.

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

Re: Hard disk not showing up on Testdisk

#6 Post by Fiona »

Looks like that your disk doesn't appear in your disk management console.
Although it's listed in your device manager and the name looks right.
That's why you can't run any diagnose or recover any data.
Despite encryption, would it be possible to remove your disk from its case and plug it internally?
The purpose is, I'd like to see is your disk listed in your disk management console and the size also.
It'd indicate that your case is damaged.

Fiona

findsome
Posts: 6
Joined: 25 Jun 2012, 08:59

Re: Hard disk not showing up on Testdisk

#7 Post by findsome »

Plug it in internally?
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/ ... 554qw2.jpg
As, just plug the usb cable inside the case via the usb port? I tried that but It is still not detected on the disk management console.

Side note, here is a picture of my hard disk before removing the case:
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/ ... 554po6.jpg

findsome
Posts: 6
Joined: 25 Jun 2012, 08:59

Re: Hard disk not showing up on Testdisk

#8 Post by findsome »

Any help, please?

amritk
Posts: 2
Joined: 08 Jul 2012, 10:48

Re: Hard disk not showing up on Testdisk

#9 Post by amritk »

whoops double post
Last edited by amritk on 08 Jul 2012, 20:23, edited 1 time in total.

amritk
Posts: 2
Joined: 08 Jul 2012, 10:48

Re: Hard disk not showing up on Testdisk

#10 Post by amritk »

Hey, I have a similar problem with an old 1 TB WD USB drive. The same thing happens, it was working fine a week ago, now when I plug it in, it will install drivers, and show in device manager. However it does not show up in my computer, and in disk management it says it needs to be initialized. When I try to initialize it, it gives me an error "Incorrect Function."

So then I took it out of the enclosure and tried connecting it straight to my motherboard through sata. The device is connected correctly, but when I turn on my computer it gives an error that master HDD failed or something. I tried running several diagnostics including through UBCD (ultimate boot cd) but nothing even recognized that the HDD was there. I also loaded up parted magic, but it did not allow me to mount the HDD, and therefore didn't show up in testdisk.

Then I put it back into its USB enclosure, and its back to the same thing, doesn't show up in my computer, but it says its working correctly in device manager. I ran the latest testdisk through windows, and the HDD does not even show up there for me to select. Only my master as well as my optical drive show up.

Is there any hope left for this HDD? The TB was full so I would really like to fix this.

Thanks in advance for any help.

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