Harddisk is too small

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
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Refrayin
Posts: 2
Joined: 20 Feb 2013, 18:40

Harddisk is too small

#1 Post by Refrayin »

As the title says, testdisk claims that my disk is too small. I recently got a usb to IDE/SATA cable, and when i tried to connect my old harddrive windows only wants to format it. It's filesystem is now RAW, and when i used testdisk, it seems it thinks it's smaller than it is. I reports up as 33gb / 31 gib in testdisk, but it's actually 120gb.

Is there anyway i can fix this? Testdisk said i should check the jumper on the HDD, but they're in the same place they've always been (master).

Lito
Posts: 83
Joined: 08 Sep 2012, 06:58

Re: Harddisk is too small

#2 Post by Lito »

If your system have SATA disks already installed, remove any jumper in the IDE HDD. Another way to do it would be to disconnect the SATA drives of your rig and then run Testdisk from a Linux Live CD (or DVD).

Best of luck

Refrayin
Posts: 2
Joined: 20 Feb 2013, 18:40

Re: Harddisk is too small

#3 Post by Refrayin »

I thought about that, but apparently the IDE HDD has to be set to master to be recognized by Windows through the IDE to USB cable. I also have another IDE HDD around here that has no jumper at all, because it was a slave in it's original computer, and that HDD isn't detected at all by Windows when i hook it in.

Lito
Posts: 83
Joined: 08 Sep 2012, 06:58

Re: Harddisk is too small

#4 Post by Lito »

I assume that you did not try it. I think the model Master - Slave is somewhat changed for a motherboard with SATA connectors. You can take a look at your BIOS. Most likely the Master role would be taken by the SATA disks, but there is no apparent role for Slaves. It is more like an equal partnership. But this does not matter for Testdisk because it only loks for the partitions and their roles or properties: Primary (boot or not boot) Extended and Logical. Might be you can lie to Testdisk about the geometry of the disk, without actually writing anything to it. It is only a trick to be able to see and save your data.
There are many examples of that around this forum.

The pictures are from my own Dynamode USB connected IDE/SATA external adapter. Without the jumper it works.
With the jumper on it does not. In any case most IDE hardisks without a jumper on worked as Master .
The disk is a Seagate 160 GiB IDE. I use it to backup some downloads before committing them to DVDs.

Please do check that your IDE (PATA) cable is fully connected. Or you can try a different USB port. There is no harm in checking.
You can also try running Testdisk from a Linux Live CD.

Best of luck
Attachments
Picture of the same drive - Just to show you that there is no jumpers- It works!
Picture of the same drive - Just to show you that there is no jumpers- It works!
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Picture of a Seagate 160 GiB IDE -No jumpers - Works like a dream
Picture of a Seagate 160 GiB IDE -No jumpers - Works like a dream
image_one.jpg (38.43 KiB) Viewed 3455 times

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

Re: Harddisk is too small

#5 Post by Fiona »

What's your OS?
How is your disk recognized by your OS?
Installing jumper can limit a disk to 32 GB.
That's why it's important to have a try to remove any existing slave jumper!
TestDisk dispays your disk as 33 GB and 31 GiB (Gigabyte in binary).
In rar cases, the firmware of the disk was hanging.
Can be fixed using hdat2 or capacity restore tool.
Before you use any tools, you should exclude any other problem.
Please be aware, using such utilities you'll touch your firmware of your disk.

Fiona

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