Formatting external dd after used with Dish DVR Revisited

[Glitchie]

Hello,

I have an issue with my computer reading my Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 2TB hd. I believe the last I used it was to save movies from Dish Network when we moved, and we ended up getting Comcast, so I don't think I can watch them (haven't tried), but the computer will pick it up in one device list, but won't let me access it.

I thought I found a solution to this when I visited http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/282482-32-formatting-external-harddrive and saw Roger Girouard's suggestion of downloading the Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool for Windows, and I did get it, but there was another that said to look up by the device I had but they don't have my device listed. I didn't know if I should do a full format or a quick format so I didn't do anything yet.

I then saw kamicaz01dz's suggestion on April 12, 2013 6:09:20 PM, but when I pulled up my drives, my disc one is labelled C:, my disk 0 is my D and E drives, and then I have a disk 2 (I assume that's the one I need to format) but it has four partitions, one is 1 gb, one is 500 gb, another is 500 gb, and the the last is 862gb, so not sure which to delete using the suggested fix.

I would like to be able to recover any of the files that were on the drive before the Dish format if possible. I have been hunting and hunting for a program I had and I wonder if it was on this drive, because I haven't found it on my other ones.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Glitchie.

This is pretty common for drives which have been used with DVRs. It's a bit of a long shot to try and recover the files, but here are some data recovery software options, which might prove useful: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1644496/lost-data-recovery.html & http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm.

Other than that, would you please be so kind as to post a screenshot of what you see in Disk Management (you can use imgur.com to upload the image)?
I guess that the DLG has been recommended because if its low level format option (a.k.a. Write Zeros), which really wipes out everything on that drive (Full Eraze does it for every single sector of the drive) and after that you are left with a clean drive as if it was brand new. However, as you've already noticed, this will make it impossible for you to recover any of the files afterwards.

Please let me know if you give up on the data recovery idea and need instructions on how to perform a low level format, or if you have any other questions whatsoever.

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD