Error checking external 1TB hard drive within Windows 7 has been running for over a day, and seems to be stuck.

[JohnNada]

Hi,

I have been having some issues with an external 1TB Seagate hard drive of late, so I decided to dismount the drive and run check disk within Windows 7 (Computer>Right clicked on F: drive>Properties>Tools>Error-checking>Check now>Checked 'Automatically fix file system errors' and 'Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors'). Check disk has now been running for over 24 hours, and has been stuck on '273666 files processed' for at least 4 hours. I have a lot of important files on this drive which I can't afford to lose. I backed up the drive a few days ago, but some of the files failed to backup correctly, which is the main reason I decided to check the disk.

I tried opening an important Photoshop file (which is one of the files that failed to backup) and received a 'Could not complete your request because of a disk error' error message. I really need to restore this file if possible, as hundreds of hours of work have gone into it, and starting from scratch is something I don't even want to think about. Should I wait it out even longer, in the hope that check disk completes, or should I click 'Cancel' and try again? If I cancel, will it have to start from scratch if I decide to check the disk again, or will it continue from where it left off? I welcome any other suggestions.

Thanks in advance

 

[Darkbreeze]

Clicking cancel will likely have further adverse effects, however, anything that was going to happen, would have, by now. Chances are very good that there are bad sectors on the drive or there has been a mechanical failure with the platter or head assembly and its no longer reading correctly. It could also simply be a corruption of the partition tables.

I would unfortunately have to probably recommend cancelling the operation and running Seatools for windows on the drive. Run the short drive self test and the long generic. If either test fails, try replacing the USB cable and testing again. If it still fails, I'd remove the drive from the enclosure and try it directly connected to a SATA header on your, or another, motherboard. Since you don't mention if you have a laptop or desktop, I'm uncertain which way to direct you in that regard.

Sometimes the problem isn't the drive at all, but the enclosure hardware. If that's the case, then connecting it directing to a motherboard via SATA cable will tell you if the drive itself is to blame. Retest the drive when connected via SATA.

Seatools for Windows: http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/seatools-win-master/

 

[inzgary]

Testing the drive further could cause you to lose more data. Install the drive as darkbreeze mentioned, but first focus on trying to access that file, and moving it safely onto another drive.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yeah, if possible, try copying the file to another location. It may not be possible though if the file has been written to a significant or even minor portion of the drive that has faulty sectors or if the drive is mechanically unsound. Try it, and if it won't do it, test the drive as outlined above.

 

[fzabkar]

Data recovery professionals warn that CHKDSK is a bad thing to run against a drive with serious head/media problems. Instead you should clone the drive, sector by sector, using a tool (eg ddrescue) that understands how to work around bad sectors.

Otherwise, if you need just a few files, then you could try Bad Block Copy for Windows:

http://alter.org.ua/soft/win/bb_recover/