3 TB HDD shows as RAW due to disk misalignment

[bloggo3]

I have 3 TB of data that i wish to keep.
I have used gdisk and it says: Partition 1 doesn't begin on a 8-sector boundary. How do I fix this? I have tried using testdisk and gdisk but am unsure how to proceed?

 

[Milheim]

Can you just backup and reformat the entire disk? I don't know what all you have installed/saved to that particular drive.

 

[bloggo3]

pc can't see a file system on the drive, so impossible to see the files on the HDD.

 

[Milheim]

In which case you'd need to backup in some other method other than Windows backup. Linux Live CD, Clonezilla, Acronis, etc because you boot into a virtual OS. In theory they should be able to see and backup the files. Granted, there may be a way to fix this without backing up and reformatting, but I'm sure if that's possible.

 

[Chicano]

1. Try asigning a driver letter to the partition from the Windows Disk Manager... I've had success doing that in such HDD issues. Proven here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/283116-32-recover-ntfs-partition-drive

2. Try using a partition manager such as Minitool Partition Wizard, AESEUS Partition Master, AOMEI Partition Aistant, etc. They can align partitions... just proceede with caution carefuklly following the instructions to prevent issues.

Powerful Partition Alignment Tool to Align Partition Perfectly
http://www.disk-partition.com/blog/partition-alignment-tool/

How to Align Partition (with AOMEI)?
http://www.disk-partition.com/help/align-partition.html

3. Active Partition Manager as well as AOMEI can see small unallocated disk spaces between partitions that appear with partition alignment issues... merging them can correct alignment errors though it's not the recommended fix.

4. Partition misalignment is introduced by the partition table and usually occurs in MBR partitions, converting your disk to GPT Partition tables should fix partition misalignment.

https://www.google.com./search?q=how+to+correct+partition+alignment+issues&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=FI6eVsXpAtjwjwOL1IHwAQ#q=safely+convert+mbr+to+gpt+without+losing+data
safely convert mbr to gpt without losing data

 

[bloggo3]

In which case you'd need to backup in some other method other than Windows backup. Linux Live CD, Clonezilla, Acronis, etc because you boot into a virtual OS. In theory they should be able to see and backup the files. Granted, there may be a way to fix this without backing up and reformatting, but I'm sure if that's possible.

 

[bloggo3]

I've tried Linux Live cd before and it couldn't see the files but that was as an external drive. I made a byte by byte copy of the original (it took 5 days) and this is the one I'm working with at present. I've tried among other things: G-Parted ,Ubuntu live dvd and partition recovery boot cd without success.