1 TB external Hard disk filesystem damaged

[Simran102]

Hi, my Toshiba 1 TB external HDD didnt show up in the Explorer today when i plugged it in.. googled around... started disk management.. it was uninitialised... i tried initialising it as MBR, it showed a data error(CRC error)...previous experience told me something to do with bad sectors.. then i tried the GPT... it assigned way too fast.. and showed up in explorer... but asked me to format... I unplugged it, put it back again, didnt show up -_- i think i made a mistake

then i found this software(awesome btw)... started it up, it detected the drive. i selected the drive(1000GB/931GB) analysed it(intel/pc, i assume it is correct?) it shows up a single partition. the drive indeed had only 1 partition... i pressed p to list files... it said filesystem damaged.. i tried the MBR option. rebooted... nothing, so repeated all the steps till analyse and i went into deeper search... it's going on in the background.. cylinder 821/121601.... only 2 read errors till now
1. 0/0/7
2.391/191/63

will this repair the HDD or just waste time?
INFO:
toshiba 1 TB
HPFS -NTFS
win 7 ultimate 32 bit
i did not format, partition, encrypt or anything such thing with the HDD...

any help would be really helpful... i cannot try photorec as i dont have additional 1 TB to recover

[Fiona]

At least a diagnose might be a good idea to judge it.
I'd need a screen in TestDisk after confirm at analyse from your current partition table.
Might be a check if any partition exists?
Also to convert your hdd didn't help as much.
It looks klike that you have problems about your file system.
If there would be a partition, a boot sector diagnose helpt in some cases and user were able to list their files and copy them.

[Simran102]

the deep search is still goin on... should i quit it ?(to post the screens)... a simple analyse doesnt show up any partition... quick search shows up the partition.. but doesnt list any files

[Fiona]

Nope!
If Deeper Search finds something, please check it.
Check that partition and press p to list your files.
If you receive an error message, please let me know.

[Simran102]

no error message as of yet... just read error at 2 more sectors... only 2% done >.< this is gonna take forever..

[Fiona]

If you have only 2 percent, just quit it!
Need a screen from your partition table (current partition structur is described) from the menu analyse.

[Simran102]

this the screen of analyse



this is after confirming the quicksearch


this after continue on the previous screen

[Fiona]

Sry for late!
Your MBR looks damaged.
I assume it would be not possible to write anything to your MBR.
A boot sector diagnose is not possible either, because you need a partition where you can have a boot sector diagnose from.
In your case it might be safe to use datarecovery software.

Might be an idea to check the status of your disk using smartmon or CrystalDiskInfo portable (it doesn't need to be installed and provides smart values also - easy to use).

Another hard way would be.
Convert your disk back using intel.
hdat2 tries to repair bad sectors.
But often difficult to use on USB?
Then to have a try to register your partition in your partition tabel / MBR.
Chkdsk is an utility to have a try to repair a file system, but is not intended to recover data.
It can increase damage.
Everything is on your own risk!

[Simran102]

i'll use ddrescue to make a backup... then try repairing it...
i used crystal info before.. here's the screenshot


any hint on how it might have got damaged?

[Fiona]

It's a good idea to backup your disk.
If you make an image you can use TestDisk to work with it also.
Infos;
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Media_Image

Your situation is difficult to judge.
I've seen users were have been unable to format their disk.
An USB HUB with power adapter helped to solve that problem.
In case diagnose your disk using chkdsk /r to determine, do you have soft bads (repairable) or bad sectors (physically damaged).
In case of bad sectors, replace it.
Check your warranty.