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Unallocated non partition 2TB External HDD recovery
Posted: 04 Oct 2020, 19:36
by shoaibali1989
Dear Sirs
I am using WD 2TB Hard Drive with no partitions I stored my data in this hard disk making without any partition.
I plugged in this drive after 4 months so it shows unallocated drive not showing in My computer with no letter of
drive. I have most important data of my PC's in this hard dive.
When i checked on disk manager so it shows like that
I used test disk with No Log option
Select my 2TB Drive
I select non partitioned media (cause i didn't make partition)
I select NTFS type.
In boot Option i found Bad boot sector, backup boot sector was also bad but sectors are identical
When i select Rebuild BS so it taking tooo much time
When i am calculating so it will take 366 days to complete this process means a year and its
not possible to open my PC for a year.
Does anybody have good idea how can i recover my data from this hard disk and after that make
this hard disk again usable. I am not really pro i am trying to understand the test disk software.
I recovered my old hard disk before but how can i recover this type of hard disk in easy way.
I didn't used photorec before with test disk. Please describe me how can i get my data from this
hard disk without formatting.
Re: Unallocated non partition 2TB External HDD recovery
Posted: 05 Oct 2020, 08:23
by recuperation
shoaibali1989 wrote: 04 Oct 2020, 19:36
I am using WD 2TB Hard Drive with no partitions I stored my data in this hard disk making without any partition.
I don't understand what " making without any partition" should mean.
Creating a log file helps diagnosing the problems of a hard drive.
Selecting "non partitioned media" seems to be wrong. Your disk had been partitioned with either "Intel" or "EFI GPT" when you purchased it new from the manufacturer.
Stop the current analysis and rerun it with the settings described above.
Re: Unallocated non partition 2TB External HDD recovery
Posted: 07 Oct 2020, 15:49
by shoaibali1989
Now i am on deeper search on test disk in quick search didn't found any partition so now i am on deeper search 2 days required to finish this search then i will let you know i found any partition or not.
Re: Unallocated non partition 2TB External HDD recovery
Posted: 10 Oct 2020, 09:05
by BitterColdSoul
Hi,
TestDisk seems to be excruciatingly slow. Doesn't seem normal. First thing to check would be the SMART status, with something like CrystalDiskInfo or HDTune. If either of those softwares fails to report the SMART status for that drive, or recognize it altogether, you won't be able to fix it by yourself. If the SMART status reports abnormal values, like many “reallocated sectors” or “pending sectors”, things are looking slightly better, but your chances of successful recovery as a beginner are rather low.
If the SMART status is normal (“good” in CrystalDiskInfo), then you could try opening the device with DMDE, which should be really quick if there's no serious issue. I've had a situation once where a 2TB drive was, likewise, no longer recognized after a few months of inactivity, TestDisk could not fix it, DMDE showed that three important MFT records were corrupted, so, after a safety recovery, and some in-depth research about the structure of MFT records, I went on to attempt an in-place fix, and succeeded,
but that was quite advanced stuff...
One possibility with external drives is that some models are encrypted at the USB controller level, and when plugged outside of their enclosure their contents won't be accessible -- but you would have mentioned something it, I suppose, if there was something wrong with the enclosure and you had to plug it another way this time.
Re: Unallocated non partition 2TB External HDD recovery
Posted: 10 Oct 2020, 11:12
by shoaibali1989
Not successful on Intel Partition search even on deeper search no partition found now i am on EFI & GPT search. Quick search will take 2 days and deeper search will take 4 days
Re: Unallocated non partition 2TB External HDD recovery
Posted: 10 Oct 2020, 11:18
by shoaibali1989
BitterColdSoul wrote: 10 Oct 2020, 09:05
Hi,
TestDisk seems to be excruciatingly slow. Doesn't seem normal. First thing to check would be the SMART status, with something like CrystalDiskInfo or HDTune. If either of those softwares fails to report the SMART status for that drive, or recognize it altogether, you won't be able to fix it by yourself. If the SMART status reports abnormal values, like many “reallocated sectors” or “pending sectors”, things are looking slightly better, but your chances of successful recovery as a beginner are rather low.
If the SMART status is normal (“good” in CrystalDiskInfo), then you could try opening the device with DMDE, which should be really quick if there's no serious issue. I've had a situation once where a 2TB drive was, likewise, no longer recognized after a few months of inactivity, TestDisk could not fix it, DMDE showed that three important MFT records were corrupted, so, after a safety recovery, and some in-depth research about the structure of MFT records, I went on to attempt an in-place fix, and succeeded,
but that was quite advanced stuff...
One possibility with external drives is that some models are encrypted at the USB controller level, and when plugged outside of their enclosure their contents won't be accessible -- but you would have mentioned something it, I suppose, if there was something wrong with the enclosure and you had to plug it another way this time.
I just saw your post ok i am downloading crystal disk info let's see what SMART status is saying to us.
Re: Unallocated non partition 2TB External HDD recovery
Posted: 10 Oct 2020, 11:20
by recuperation
Rerunning the search should not make a difference.
Please post a log file from smartmontools.
An example for the syntax can be found here:
viewtopic.php?p=27477#p27477
viewtopic.php?p=31992#p31992
Re: Unallocated non partition 2TB External HDD recovery
Posted: 10 Oct 2020, 11:24
by shoaibali1989
Thanks GOD seems to be SMART status is good !
Now i am trying to follow the other steps as you told me. I am trying to do this maybe need your help between these steps
Re: Unallocated non partition 2TB External HDD recovery
Posted: 10 Oct 2020, 11:27
by shoaibali1989
Sorry dear i run this search with no log option.
Re: Unallocated non partition 2TB External HDD recovery
Posted: 10 Oct 2020, 11:32
by recuperation
I am not refering to your second run of Testdisk but to smartmontools (different software).