3TB NTFS drive became "RAW" - TestDisk sees it as 801GB

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
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Author
Calab
Posts: 5
Joined: 25 Jul 2012, 01:37
Location: Alberta, Canada

3TB NTFS drive became "RAW" - TestDisk sees it as 801GB

#1 Post by Calab »

In short...
I installed a 3TB Seagate drive into my PC about a week ago. The BIOS detected it as 3TB. Windows 7 64bit formatted it fine. I moved all my documents, photos, etc. to this new drive. Once I ensured that it was all working, I formatted the old drives, etc. A few days later the 3TB drive appears as RAW. CRAP!

I'm trying to recover what I can using TestDisk v6.14-WIP. For some reason TestDisk reports that this drive is only 801GB.

Image

Is there a reason for this? Do I have any hope of recovering what is on this drive?

Thanks!

Calab
Posts: 5
Joined: 25 Jul 2012, 01:37
Location: Alberta, Canada

Re: 3TB NTFS drive became "RAW" - TestDisk sees it as 801GB

#2 Post by Calab »

Image

I'm still trying to recover what I can from this drive.

Using other software I've only been able to recover a few files that were recently saved. The older files aren't being found.

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

Re: 3TB NTFS drive became "RAW" - TestDisk sees it as 801GB

#3 Post by Fiona »

TestDisk gets data from your OS.
Did you already check the size in your windows disk management console and BIOS?

Until yet, don't change anything to your disk!
It's possible if your disk is recognized again, that all data are available.

Fiona

Calab
Posts: 5
Joined: 25 Jul 2012, 01:37
Location: Alberta, Canada

Re: 3TB NTFS drive became "RAW" - TestDisk sees it as 801GB

#4 Post by Calab »

It is detected as the proper size by Windows... 2794.39GB.

I am about to give up and just format the drive.

wargo
Posts: 8
Joined: 02 Aug 2012, 11:05
Location: Poland

Re: 3TB NTFS drive became "RAW" - TestDisk sees it as 801GB

#5 Post by wargo »

What partition table type did you select?

Calab
Posts: 5
Joined: 25 Jul 2012, 01:37
Location: Alberta, Canada

Re: 3TB NTFS drive became "RAW" - TestDisk sees it as 801GB

#6 Post by Calab »

I selected EFI/GPT, as that is the only format available when installing a 3TB drive in Windows.

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

Re: 3TB NTFS drive became "RAW" - TestDisk sees it as 801GB

#7 Post by Fiona »

Don't format it.
You'll override your file system with a new one.
It makes data recovery more difficult.
Did you already check your disk in your BIOS?
Please test TestDisk 6.13.
Could you test a Live CD;
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Livecd

Fiona

Calab
Posts: 5
Joined: 25 Jul 2012, 01:37
Location: Alberta, Canada

Re: 3TB NTFS drive became "RAW" - TestDisk sees it as 801GB

#8 Post by Calab »

6.13 reports the same 801GB/746GiB as 6.14 does.

I'm currently downloading the Hiren Boot CD v15.1 and will give that a try.

eugenetsou
Posts: 1
Joined: 16 Aug 2012, 08:22

Re: 3TB NTFS drive became "RAW" - TestDisk sees it as 801GB

#9 Post by eugenetsou »

Dear Fiona
I have exactly the same problem,any idea?

thx!

MrTorque
Posts: 3
Joined: 23 Nov 2012, 21:09

Re: 3TB NTFS drive became "RAW" - TestDisk sees it as 801GB

#10 Post by MrTorque »

Hey.

I do have a very similar Problem. Can someone please help me to recover the Data?

Originally I had the Drive formatted as
3 TB NTFS

Regards

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