Seagate 2tb GoFlex Desktop External HD

Using TestDisk to repair the filesystem
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derpierce
Posts: 5
Joined: 09 Sep 2012, 01:33

Seagate 2tb GoFlex Desktop External HD

#1 Post by derpierce »

Thank you in advance for the wealth of knowledge and info I have already gained after stumbling onto your programs & website during a frantic google search to retrieve the data from my hard drive. I have an HP Pavilion Desktop running Window 7 Home Premium 64-bit. The Hard Drive has its own power source and is operating utilizing an usb 3.0 port via a PCI express card I installed on the computer (I have several external hard drives running on the 3.0 and have never had any problems). Everything was operating as normal and after a system re-boot I noticed one of my external hard drives was not showing up. I tried everything to get the hard drive to reappear but to no avail. Although it will not show up in “my computer”, it does show up in disk management saying I need to initialize the disk before I can access it; which of course is not an option considering that would erase all the data (the disk is about 2/3 full).

My main objective is to retrieve as much of my data off of the disk as possible. I have already purchased another 2tb disk and have it standing-by to copy any retrievable files to if the disk itself is not repairable. I found, downloaded & began running your program 2 days ago. I understand that there is quite a bit of information on a 2tb disk and have no problem being patient and letting things run as they need to; but want to make sure I am headed in the right direction. The program appears to be running through the analyse cylinder phase and so far is at 716/243200 & 00% with a read error (see screen shot). My first question is should I just let the program continue to run (which I have no problem with) realizing it might take a week or two to get through all the data? My other question is concerning whether I should limit my activity on my computer while the program is running (is it OK to let the program run in the background while I run other programs or download files or would that activity interfere with the program)? My last question concerns my other external hard drives…I disconnected all of my additional hard drives before I started running your program. Would it be OK to reconnect those hard drives and utilize them while the program is running or could that interfere with the process? And lastly, what happens to the program’s progress if for some reason I were to loose power (say a thunderstorm) or a necessary reboot after an automatic windows update or an automatic virus protection software update? I can turn those features off if needed and realize the chances of one of those things happening increases over time. Again, I have no problem with being patient and letting things run if that means the possible rescuing of my data. I just wanted to make sure I am headed in the right direction. Again, Thank
you.
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derpierce
Posts: 5
Joined: 09 Sep 2012, 01:33

Re: Seagate 2tb GoFlex Desktop External HD

#2 Post by derpierce »

Please Help!...I've been run test disk at the analyse cylinder phase since 8 Sept (it is now 12 Sept) and it is only up to 4% (See Screen Shot Below). As I predicted, automatic updates for windows has installed important security updates on my computer and is now demanding a computer restart...how do I handle this since it is in the middle of this analyse? Am I going to have to start all over again? And I am still wondering about additional computer use and the connecting of my other hard drives as I mentioned above and how that might affect this process. Than you in advance for your assistance.

derpierce
Posts: 5
Joined: 09 Sep 2012, 01:33

Re: Seagate 2tb GoFlex Desktop External HD

#3 Post by derpierce »

Here's The Screen Shot...
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dragonfly41
Posts: 67
Joined: 14 Sep 2012, 20:51

Re: Seagate 2tb GoFlex Desktop External HD

#4 Post by dragonfly41 »

I've just joined this forum so I'm no expert. But I've been using testdisk with some success over the years and I've read your post.

I'm in a similar situation right now using testdisk 6.14-WIP to recover files from a failed SATA drive. I'm in dual boot mode with Windows Vista in one partition and linux ubuntu in other partitions.

I removed my faulty drive (containing Vista and ubuntu and various data only partitions) and I've placed this SATA drive in a SATA USB 2.0 enclosure. I've reinstalled Vista in a new drive and I'm running testdisk in windows (but I've also got ubuntu on a spare USB drive).

The advice from testdisk developer Christophe Grenier is to actually clone your failed drive so that you are trying to recover files from the clone .. as explained here.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Damaged_Hard_Disk

But that would require you to start using Linux ubuntu for data recovery and this may be a step too
far. It could be useful at some stage to go through the exercise of

downloading ubuntu 12.4 desktop iso
burn onto a CD
install on a bootable USB (unetbootin can do this)
boot up into ubuntu
use linux file recovery to complement testdisk for file recovery.

....

Now a few points you raise.

The Windows update can be annoying in the middle of a (very long) recovery process. I found that myself in recent days after reinstalling Vista with hundreds of updates and some updates arrived requiring reboot as I was using testdisk and I'd left my laptop running for some hours. Annoying.

So I suggest that you disable auto windows updates before any recovery using testdisk.
Before running testdisk go to Control Panel > Windows Update > change settings
and set to "check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them".

The next point you might explore is rather than going into "Analyse" .. which takes many hours ..

first try "Advanced" from this menu ...

Analyse
Advanced
Geometry
Options
MBR Code
Delete
Quit


next page

use up/down arrows to select select Windows (or other) partition
then right/left arrows to select "List"
then enter

The file structure of Windows (or other) will (with luck) be seen from List.
I found this out by reading some answers from Christophe Grenier.

Search the forum with keyword "advanced" to pick up some clues.

In short I've been needlessly applying "Analyse" and "Deep Search" (waiting hours for each run to complete) when I
found I could just go into "Advanced" to access my files within minutes and copy files to a target directory.

http://forum.cgsecurity.org/phpBB3/post5101.html#p5101

Another tip is to pre-prepare folders to receive the files copied by testdisk (although I believe that testdisk can select any drive or folder as target). In the testdisk installation folder I added a new folder /file_recovery and in that various folders to reflect the file structure in different partitions. Otherwise you'll find that your copied files are all mixed up in the testdisk root. You'll be prompted by testdisk to point to the directory to receive recovered files.

I hope this helps. I've just recovered all of my Vista files and I'm moving on to recover other partitions.

and look up the data recovery tips in ubuntu forum.

derpierce
Posts: 5
Joined: 09 Sep 2012, 01:33

Re: Seagate 2tb GoFlex Desktop External HD

#5 Post by derpierce »

dragonfly:

Thank you SO much for your response. I am going to go through your suggestions step by step. I amy have other questions along the way. But again, thank you.

dragonfly41
Posts: 67
Joined: 14 Sep 2012, 20:51

Re: Seagate 2tb GoFlex Desktop External HD

#6 Post by dragonfly41 »

I should add that I'm now into recovering another 250 GB drive from an old laptop and this one is not so easy as my earlier one where I could go straight to Advanced and start recovering files.

There is a partition error and I'm having to go into deep search first to recover the partition and then later recover the files

One resolution I've made as disk drives get much larger in size (you've got a 2 TB disk) is to split the disk into multiple logical partitions so that in event of disaster recovery I hope I won't have to wait long periods for deep search specific partitions to finish analysis.

My current testdisk exercise is on Ubuntu recovering files from the disk in a USB enclosure.

derpierce
Posts: 5
Joined: 09 Sep 2012, 01:33

Re: Seagate 2tb GoFlex Desktop External HD

#7 Post by derpierce »

I tried to run advanced and it would not let me so i began running testdisk again. I get to the following window and can't find any documentation that tells me where to go from here to try to recover files. What should I do?
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Lito
Posts: 83
Joined: 08 Sep 2012, 06:58

Re: Seagate 2tb GoFlex Desktop External HD

#8 Post by Lito »

The advise to read and follow the instructions in this page:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Damaged_Hard_Disk

is good advise. Follow it. Clone your damaged disk and then you can run either TestDisk or PhotoRec on the clone.
The Knoppix CD is good for the task. Parted Magic could be another option (it carries a good selection of tools).
Ubuntu does not give you inmediate access to the Shell (Terminal) and you need that to start to follow the instructions.
It can however, use the same method for updating and installing software as Knoppix: apt-get
You can issue the command:

sudo -s apt-update

to sync with the relevant servers (connect direct to the router and the PC, with a cable).
and the command:

sudo -s apt-get install gddrescue

to install (without compiling) the GNU ddrescue required programme.
It will then be ready to be executed, just by typing its name.
You can test this by typing: sudo -s drescue -help
at the user terminal (shell).

Using disk recovery software and staying connected to the internet does not seem to be a good idea.

Best of luck

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