QNAP issue / partition recovery

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
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Antjac
Posts: 1
Joined: 06 Dec 2021, 22:23

QNAP issue / partition recovery

#1 Post by Antjac »

Hello,
I hope you can help me with this, or point me in the right direction.
I had an issue with my QNAP home NAS, set up as JBOD array, 4 drives.
In trying to interrogate the 'first' drive with a HDD docking device, I inadvertently formatted the drive in GPT? Anyhow, it now shows up as NTFS which is not recognised in the server any longer and denying the rest of the drives being read in the JBOD array.
I have not written to any of them, so am hoping all the data is retrievable, as I'm now in recovery software territory, but would like to know if TestDisk can recover the original QNAP Linux (UBUNTU) boot record? If that's what it is.
I have run TestDisk and it found a load of files under the NTFS partition, but I would like to know if it is possible to get rid of the NTFS partition tier and revert back to the original Linux, so I can employ the use of a RAID recovery software ?
I thankyou in anticipation...
recuperation
Posts: 3028
Joined: 04 Jan 2019, 09:48
Location: Hannover, Deutschland (Germany, Allemagne)

Re: QNAP issue / partition recovery

#2 Post by recuperation »

Antjac wrote: 11 Dec 2021, 20:43 Hello,
I hope you can help me with this, or point me in the right direction.
I had an issue with my QNAP home NAS, set up as JBOD array, 4 drives.
In trying to interrogate the 'first' drive with a HDD docking device, I inadvertently formatted the drive in GPT?
GPT is a partitioning scheme to divide a device like a drive or a bunch of drives into partitions/volumes.
Formating is an operation on a file system.
Anyhow, it now shows up as NTFS
If it has not been NTFS before you did formated something including partitioning before. As your description is vague at best I have no idea what has been before.[/quote]
which is not recognised in the server any longer and denying the rest of the drives being read in the JBOD array.
[/quote]In that case you destroyed the logical clamp in linux that maps all four drives as one JBOD. I have no experience with that. Testdisk needs to operate on the JBOD level that maps your four physical drives into a logical one. You destroyed the foundation, the level below. You will have to somehow restore that MDADM? structure so that your linux provides the emulated combined drive again. After that you can try to run Testdisk or continue directly with Photorec.
I have not written to any of them, so am hoping all the data is retrievable, as I'm now in recovery software territory, but would like to know if TestDisk can recover the original QNAP Linux (UBUNTU) boot record? If that's what it is.
I have run TestDisk and it found a load of files under the NTFS partition,
how can this be as you formated the drive?!
but I would like to know if it is possible to get rid of the NTFS partition tier and revert back to the original Linux,
I don't know.
so I can employ the use of a RAID recovery software ?
Only if it supports JBOD structures as well, otherwise it is useless.
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