Standard strategy:
Post your SMARTMONTOOLS log file,
How to extract SMART parameters:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10910
post your TESTDISK log file here in the forum.
Idea: Getting as much as information from your disk without stressing it, determining further procedure.
The result of the smartmontools log file determines if you should clone your disk to prevent further deterioration.
Your disk should contain a partition table.
Problem: There are two different schemes, MBR and GPT.
MBR can only adress 2 TB, given a sector size of 512 bytes. One should assume that the partition table is GPT (more recent and can address storage beyond 2TB with a sector size of 512 byte) but
manufacturers of external hard disks sometimes install emulating electronics, that show a sector size of 4096 bytes.
If this is the case, 5TB can be addressed even with the MBR scheme.
The TestDisk log file contains information about the sector size that your computer sees.
Other ways to gather that information:
1. Ask your manufacturer!
OR
2. Buy the external disk again, look the information up using TestDisk and resell the external disk afterwards.
Having no partition table is rather the exception than the rule.
You have to select the partition table style in TestDisk that existed before the table disappeared.
A question arisen out of my personal interest: The language in your screenshots, is that Spanish or Portuguese?
