Huge Problem with HDD!! Please Help

[Nesh]

It shows some gibberish in the scanning which makes me worried. Is it natural or is it an indication that things are really messed?

 

[Zaphod]

Could be actual files that have gone the way of the dodo, could be that it's just picking up old junk in the file system from stuff long since deleted and overwritten on purpose.

 

[Mize]

rarely do you lose actual files. typically the mbr is corrupted or the partition table. Both are easy to fix, but it's low-level stuff. Sometimes a full crash trashes all and all you can get are the bits and pieces of the files...that's really bad.

 

[Davros]

Ive used a file recovery program in the past (cant remember the name)
the point is is doesnt know what files to recover so it tried to recover every file that had ever been on the hdd including all the files ive ever deleted, every temporary internet file thats ever been on the hdd, the files from every program ive uninstalled ect

 

[BRiT]

I suggest you read GDB's Step by Step Recovery Guide to see how GDB works.

In short, once it's done scanning, it presents a screen similar to File Explorer. It's then up to you to select which files you want to recover and where it should recover them to. It's really nothing more than you using a File Explorer to copy directories or files.

 

[Mize]

I'm curious, did you use fdisk (old DOS app) to see if it's simply the partition table? I once had a guy lose a drive and all he'd really lost was the partition table. I used another OS's equivalent of fdisk to re-write the partition table (based on knowing what his block size and volume size were) and all the files were intact without any recovery baloney.

 

[Nesh]

I'm curious, did you use fdisk (old DOS app) to see if it's simply the partition table? I once had a guy lose a drive and all he'd really lost was the partition table. I used another OS's equivalent of fdisk to re-write the partition table (based on knowing what his block size and volume size were) and all the files were intact without any recovery baloney.

No I didnt. I am clueless with such things

 

[Mize]

If it's not too late you simply run fdisk.exe and view the partition table. If you don't see a primary partition then the table is messed up. If that's the case you can re-write the partition table and often recover the whole drive. Don't try the latter step without help.

 

[Nesh]

Does the fdisk exist in my windows or is there a particular version I ll have to download?

 

[Nesh]

btw I want to add my HDD inside my old desktop computer for a quick access. I tried but I am doing something wrong with the slave.

My PC stucks when I have the HDD inserted. I dont know how to set primary and secondary slave. Its been ages since I did that. I remember only that there is some tiny square thing I ll have to put behind the HDD. Or am I completely clueless?

 

[Davros]

what make is your hdd ?
this is for seagate

 

[Nesh]

Yeah mine's a seagate too. Which option should I choose? The second, right?

 

[Davros]

it depends is it going on the same cable as your other hdd or will it be on its own cable ?
same = 2
own = 1

 

[BRiT]

The easiest should be to set it up as Cable Select. That way you will not have to change jumpers anymore, regardless of how you have it connected.

 

[Nesh]

I ran GetDatback but nearly at the end of the scanning I got error messages. Something about I/O Error. I continued regardless but the folders it showed after it finished didnt have any relation with the original. Is it doomed? I think its something with the I/O error since when the program scans I can see the name of the folders and files in the scanning window.

 

[Davros]

lets hope he has a cable select cable....
plus if he has a single drive on the wrong connection adding another hdd to the other connection with make them swap drive letters

 

[BRiT]

Of all the cables I've ever used, all of them have supported cable-select. I didnt even know there was some special cable to be used.

 

[Davros]

I ran GetDatback but nearly at the end of the scanning I got error messages. Something about I/O Error.

You wouldnt make a good spy would you nesh
head of the c.i.a : "did you study the enemies plans"
Nesh : "yes"
head of the c.i.a : "what did they say"
Nesh : "er something about tanks i think"

From the faq

Q. While running GetDataBack I receive a disk error. What does this mean?

A. GetDataBack is a solution for software related problems, it cannot help you with failed hardware. A disk error is a sign for a hardware problem. We recommend to stop working with the corrupted drive until you make a disk image. (Every try to access data can increase corruption!) After successfully creating an image you can use the image file as an input for GetDataBack.


You learn something new every day Brit

 

[Zaphod]

For what it's worth: I/O errors, which I for an internal drive would interpret as a drive failure, have also been a symptom for the aforementioned enclosure failures. In those cases, the drives themselves were just fine.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

For what it's worth: I/O errors, which I for an internal drive would interpret as a drive failure, have also been a symptom for the aforementioned enclosure failures. In those cases, the drives themselves were just fine.

I find enclosures either work or not. I've only encountered I/O errors with GetDataBack and internal drives that were still semi-functional. Same goes for just strict copying via robocopy.