No Change in External HD after reboot

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
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Author
Aandrew
Posts: 3
Joined: 22 Jan 2013, 06:33

No Change in External HD after reboot

#1 Post by Aandrew »

Hi,

I just started learning Testdrive as I have a external HD which suddenly went unreadable. It appears as "Local Disk, unformatted" in windows OS. Having gone through the tutorial and documentation, I tried Testdrive and everything went smoothly. I can see the directory when I type P. I followed the prompts which asked me to "write", "y" and "OK". After I reboot my WIndows PC, I am still unable to see the contents of the HD. Can someone advise if I missed out any step?

Alternatively, would it be safe to copy the contents of the HD to another disk using Testdrive, after the List, P. I dare not explore too much for fear of permanently destroying the data.

Appreciate any help.

Thanks, Andrew

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

Re: No Change in External HD after reboot

#2 Post by Fiona »

In any case, copy/backup your data to another disk/partition is always a good idea!
Did you run your diagnose as admin with privileges or root?
It's depend on your OS, please let me know!
Background processes like Antivirus, Norton GoBack etc.. can prevent TestDisk from modifying or writing your mbr!
That's why backround processes and services should be disabled during a TestDisk diagnose.

Fiona

Aandrew
Posts: 3
Joined: 22 Jan 2013, 06:33

Re: No Change in External HD after reboot

#3 Post by Aandrew »

Thanks for the advise. I am running Windows 7 Pro. I am the only user so it should be runnning as Administrator. The antivirus program I am using is AVG Free. I do not have Norton programs. Will definitely take up your suggestion to copy the files to another HD first before I start doing anything else. I am currently travelling and will try

1. Copy data if possible
2. Disable Antivirus
3. Run test disk again

in 2 weeks when I am back home.

Thanks again... :)

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

Re: No Change in External HD after reboot

#4 Post by Fiona »

You also can use msconfig to disable everything at startup and click the tab services.
You should activate hide microsoft services and disable all other services too.
Restart your PC and have another try.
Please run TestDiskthrough rightcklick and run as administrator.
Normally TestDisk ask you to run as administrator as long as UAC (user access control) is enabled.

Fiona

Aandrew
Posts: 3
Joined: 22 Jan 2013, 06:33

Re: No Change in External HD after reboot

#5 Post by Aandrew »

Thanks for the additional tips. It is very helpful. Will post to update once I have a go at it.

Cheers, Andrew

LuigiHodges
Posts: 1
Joined: 29 Jan 2013, 03:55

Re: No Change in External HD after reboot

#6 Post by LuigiHodges »

Thanks for the additional tips. It is very helpful.

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