cgsecurity.org

Posted: **29 Sep 2022, 00:41**

Hello
My disk is a Toshiba MD04ACA400

On a 4TB disk formatted GPT with 4 partition, today, it has come up not recognized by the system.
It is a non-raid data-only disk drive
Each partition is 1TB
The formats for the partitions vary; namely NTFS, ext4
It is not recognized by any OS
In GParted is shows the complete drive as Unallocated; thus it does NOT show any partitions present on the disk
there have been no attempts at writing/changing anything on the drive
Gparted's Menu (Device>Attempt Data Rescue) running overnight does not find any partitions on the disk
Running Testdisk v7.1 shows a "D" in front its 4 entries while also showing their extents
It does NOT show filesystem types for any of the 4 entries

What is recommended to proceed to recovery? Are there some steps somewhere as I am unable find what to do via Google/Youtube searches.

Decided to give analyze a try on the 1st partition that has the "D" flag in its column 1. According to my rough calculations, it will 9 more hours before its completion. Did I do the right thing?

Thanks, in advance, for any leadership.

EDIT: - Found this CGsecurity info, BUT, I am a confused by what is said for recovery of partitions with "D". I AM LOST.
(See posts below)

Posted: **29 Sep 2022, 23:05**

The progress overnight for Testdisk is shown as follows:

: Testdisk.jpg (72.75 KiB) Viewed 5181 times

Then later this:

: Testdisk2.jpg (112.83 KiB) Viewed 5181 times

Posted: **29 Sep 2022, 23:08**

It completed: But I am lost to know what are the next steps to recovery of the drive with its original 4 partitions.

I am keeping the Testdisk screen open hoping for some recommendation of my next step(s).

: Testdisk3.jpg (149.05 KiB) Viewed 5180 times

Everything comes up "D". What does that prefix on each line mean?

Thanks in advance for ANY guidance

Posted: **29 Sep 2022, 23:23**

P.S. I am not sure of why SG2D is showing up on this drive as I have NOT knowingly ran that ISO file on this system. And I certainly have never knowingly made an attempt to write its ISO to this drive...ever. That/those labels showing on this drive is suspect to me.

Could my running Linux system been used to hack this drive? Or ??? why this problem surfaced...much less what I must do to recover it or its data.

Posted: **30 Sep 2022, 20:34**

Did you buy your drive "naked" or did it come built into an enclosure?

Need2know wrote: 29 Sep 2022, 23:23 P.S. I am not sure of why SG2D is showing up on this drive as I have NOT knowingly ran that ISO file on this system. And I certainly have never knowingly made an attempt to write its ISO to this drive...ever. That/those labels showing on this drive is suspect to me.

Could my running Linux system been used to hack this drive? Or ??? why this problem surfaced...much less what I must do to recover it or its data.

Sounds like a defense in front of a court.

Of course your LInux system could have been hacked.
Please accept point 17 on the list below:
viewtopic.php?p=34916#p34916

Posted: **01 Oct 2022, 00:27**

Thanks @recuperation for your comment to my rhetorical question.

But could you or anyone suggest what I should do at the screen that I present. What is it telling me that could be done for data recovery/

I have read this section in the Testdisk manual: But I am at a lost as something in its language is foreign to me even though I am English speaking. It uses the word "let" on several occasions which is contributing to my lack of understanding the sentences meaning. I recognize that guessing wrongly could prove disastrous.

For example what does this mean???

...if you let them listed as deleted...

and what does this mean

..Let this partition...

I have not moved from the screen, shown above, as I am hoping for a suggestion to action such as go back and ??? or hit this key and ???

Posted: **01 Oct 2022, 10:14**

Need2know wrote: 01 Oct 2022, 00:27 Thanks @recuperation for your comment to my rhetorical question.

But could you or anyone suggest what I should do at the screen that I present. What is it telling me that could be done for data recovery/

I have read this section in the Testdisk manual: But I am at a lost as something in its language is foreign to me even though I am English speaking. It uses the word "let" on several occasions which is contributing to my lack of understanding the sentences meaning. I recognize that guessing wrongly could prove disastrous.

For example what does this mean???
...if you let them listed as deleted...
and what does this mean
..Let this partition...
I have not moved from the screen, shown above, as I am hoping for a suggestion to action such as go back and ??? or hit this key and ???

I found "let" twice and it means "leave unchanged".

cgsecurity.org

What todo when the partitions show up with "D"

What todo when the partitions show up with "D"

Re: What todo when the partitions show up with "D"

Re: What todo when the partitions show up with "D"

Re: What todo when the partitions show up with "D"

Re: What todo when the partitions show up with "D"

Re: What todo when the partitions show up with "D"

Re: What todo when the partitions show up with "D"