my wifes HDD has recently failed in her HP Netbook, and I am desperate to as a minimum recover some word files from the drive, which are university assignments. The drive is a Samsung Spinpoint 250GB Model HM250HI
History as a I remember it is:
1) Netbook has recently been dropped, but still booted. Netbook crashed running Windows 7 starter, failed to reboot a couple of times then automatically went into windows recovery and then I presume went into some kind of chdsk, but you couldn't see it progress. Went to bed, following morning netbook didn't even recognise there was a HDD. I suspect that there is physical damage to the HDD.
2) Tried Spinrite, it couldn't detect HDD either !
3) Removed HDD from Netbook, connected up to HP laptop (windows 7) via 2.5HDD USB board. Laptop detected partitions but would not let access them, except for the recovery drive.
4) Ran Testdisk see log below: no screen grabs sorry

Sat May 12 18:32:41 2012
Command line: TestDisk
TestDisk 6.14-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, May 2012
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org
OS: Windows 7 (7601) SP1
Compiler: GCC 4.6, Cygwin 1007.9
Compilation date: 2012-05-08T10:52:46
ext2fs lib: 1.42.2, ntfs lib: 10:0:0, reiserfs lib: 0.3.1-rc8, ewf lib: 20100226
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(/dev/sda)=320072933376
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(/dev/sdb)=250059350016
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\PhysicalDrive0)=320072933376
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\PhysicalDrive1)=250059350016
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\C:)=305130373120
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\D:)=14623440896
filewin32_getfilesize(\\.\E:) GetFileSize err Incorrect function.
filewin32_setfilepointer(\\.\E:) SetFilePointer err Incorrect function.
Warning: can't get size for \\.\E:
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\F:)=108355584
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\G:)=108191744
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\H:)=17887657984
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\I:)=231852736512
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\J:)=208666624
Hard disk list
Disk /dev/sda - 320 GB / 298 GiB - CHS 38913 255 63, sector size=512 - TOSHIBA MK3276GSX, S/N:5 I1D3U0BZ, FW:GS00
Disk /dev/sdb - 250 GB / 232 GiB - CHS 103936 127 37, sector size=512 - SAMSUNG HM250HI, S/N:152D20337A0C
Partition table type (auto): Intel
Disk /dev/sdb - 250 GB / 232 GiB - SAMSUNG HM250HI
Partition table type: Intel
Analyse Disk /dev/sdb - 250 GB / 232 GiB - CHS 103936 127 37
Geometry from i386 MBR: head=255 sector=63
BAD_RS LBA=2048 1216
NTFS at 0/55/14
heads/cylinder 255 (NTFS) != 127 (HD)
sect/track 63 (NTFS) != 37 (HD)
file_pread(5,4095,buffer,137897(29/43/36)) ReadFile Data error (cyclic redundancy check).
file_pread(5,1,buffer,137897(29/43/36)) ReadFile Data error (cyclic redundancy check).
NTFS: Can't read MFT
BAD_RS LBA=409600 122174
NTFS at 87/21/11
heads/cylinder 255 (NTFS) != 127 (HD)
sect/track 63 (NTFS) != 37 (HD)
file_pread(5,4095,buffer,6701057(1426/7/25)) ReadFile Data error (cyclic redundancy check).
NTFS: Can't read MFT
NTFS at 96456/6/11
heads/cylinder 255 (NTFS) != 127 (HD)
sect/track 63 (NTFS) != 37 (HD)
file_pread(5,2,buffer,488183809(103891/0/1)) ReadFile Data error (cyclic redundancy check).
check_FAT: can't read FAT boot sector
check_part_i386 failed for partition type 0C
Current partition structure:
Warning: number of heads/cylinder mismatches 255 (NTFS) != 127 (HD)
Warning: number of sectors per track mismatches 63 (NTFS) != 37 (HD)
1 * HPFS - NTFS 0 55 14 87 21 10 407552
Bad relative sector.
Warning: number of heads/cylinder mismatches 255 (NTFS) != 127 (HD)
Warning: number of sectors per track mismatches 63 (NTFS) != 37 (HD)
2 P HPFS - NTFS 87 21 11 96456 6 10 452837376
Warning: Bad starting sector (CHS and LBA don't match)
Warning: number of heads/cylinder mismatches 255 (NTFS) != 127 (HD)
Warning: number of sectors per track mismatches 63 (NTFS) != 37 (HD)
3 P HPFS - NTFS 96456 6 11 103890 126 36 34936832 [RECOVERY]
Warning: Bad starting sector (CHS and LBA don't match)
check_FAT: can't read FAT boot sector
Invalid FAT boot sector
4 P FAT32 LBA 103890 126 37 103935 123 4 211312
4 P FAT32 LBA 103890 126 37 103935 123 4 211312
Warning: Bad starting sector (CHS and LBA don't match)
search_vista_part: 1
search_part()
Disk /dev/sdb - 250 GB / 232 GiB - CHS 103936 127 37
NTFS at 0/55/14
heads/cylinder 255 (NTFS) != 127 (HD)
sect/track 63 (NTFS) != 37 (HD)
filesystem size 407552
sectors_per_cluster 8
mft_lcn 16981
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -10
clusters_per_index_record 1
file_pread(5,4096,buffer,137896(29/43/35)) ReadFile Data error (cyclic redundancy check).
file_pread(5,1,buffer,137896(29/43/35)) ReadFile Data error (cyclic redundancy check).
NTFS: Can't read MFT
HPFS - NTFS 0 55 14 87 21 10 407552
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 208 MB / 199 MiB
NTFS at 87/21/11
heads/cylinder 255 (NTFS) != 127 (HD)
sect/track 63 (NTFS) != 37 (HD)
filesystem size 452837376
sectors_per_cluster 8
mft_lcn 786432
mftmirr_lcn 7602175
clusters_per_mft_record -10
clusters_per_index_record 1
file_pread(5,4096,buffer,6701056(1426/7/24)) ReadFile Data error (cyclic redundancy check).
file_pread(5,1,buffer,6701056(1426/7/24)) ReadFile Data error (cyclic redundancy check).
NTFS: Can't read MFT
HPFS - NTFS 87 21 11 96456 6 10 452837376
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 231 GB / 215 GiB
NTFS at 96456/6/11
heads/cylinder 255 (NTFS) != 127 (HD)
sect/track 63 (NTFS) != 37 (HD)
filesystem size 34936832
sectors_per_cluster 8
mft_lcn 786432
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -10
clusters_per_index_record 1
HPFS - NTFS 96456 6 11 103890 126 36 34936832 [RECOVERY]
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 17 GB / 16 GiB
file_pread(5,16,buffer,488183808(103890/126/37)) ReadFile Data error (cyclic redundancy check).
file_pread(5,1,buffer,488183808(103890/126/37)) ReadFile Data error (cyclic redundancy check).
file_pread(5,7,buffer,488183809(103891/0/1)) ReadFile Data error (cyclic redundancy check).
file_pread(5,2,buffer,488397312(103936/55/14)) lseek err Invalid argument
file_pread(5,1,buffer,488397312(103936/55/14)) lseek err Invalid argument
file_pread(5,2,buffer,488397349(103936/56/14)) lseek err Invalid argument
file_pread(5,1,buffer,488397349(103936/56/14)) lseek err Invalid argument
file_pread(5,2,buffer,488398848(103936/96/33)) lseek err Invalid argument
file_pread(5,1,buffer,488398848(103936/96/33)) lseek err Invalid argument
file_pread(5,7,buffer,488398849(103936/96/34)) lseek err Invalid argument
file_pread(5,8,buffer,488398856(103936/97/4)) lseek err Invalid argument
file_pread(5,3,buffer,488398864(103936/97/12)) lseek err Invalid argument
file_pread(5,3,buffer,488398911(103936/98/22)) lseek err Invalid argument
file_pread(5,8,buffer,488398927(103936/99/1)) lseek err Invalid argument
file_pread(5,11,buffer,488398974(103936/100/11)) lseek err Invalid argument
file_pread(5,2,buffer,488400896(103937/25/9)) lseek err Invalid argument
Warning: the current number of heads per cylinder is 127 but the correct value may be 255.
Results
* HPFS - NTFS 0 55 14 87 21 10 407552
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 208 MB / 199 MiB
P HPFS - NTFS 87 21 11 96456 6 10 452837376
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 231 GB / 215 GiB
P HPFS - NTFS 96456 6 11 103890 126 36 34936832 [RECOVERY]
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 17 GB / 16 GiB
interface_write()
1 * HPFS - NTFS 0 55 14 87 21 10 407552
2 P HPFS - NTFS 87 21 11 96456 6 10 452837376
3 P HPFS - NTFS 96456 6 11 103890 126 36 34936832 [RECOVERY]
write!
write_mbr_i386: starting...
write_all_log_i386: starting...
No extended partition
You will have to reboot for the change to take effect.
TestDisk exited normally.
5) On reboot, now my laptop does not see any partitions at all, just one unspecified drive. So it feels like I'm going backwards. I'm running test drive again now, and it is currently analysing cylinders.
Wish I'd found the forum first because Now I think I made a couple of mistakes. I did not check the content by pressing "P" to confirm the partitions were correct, and as you see I did a write. Have I made an irreversible mistake? should I just try photorec and try to recover the word file *.doc. I did try this previously but it looked like it was going to take about a week to complete!
Thanks for any help/advice in advance