Hard Drive Partition Raw - Data Recovery

[Munwalker]

Hi all,

First I am not an English speaker so please forgive my mistakes.


My colleague just give me this Friday a laptop who won't start. I found what was wrong, the hard drive was damaged.

I connected the HDD to my laptop, through a SATA/USB connector (just out of his box for the first time, the cables and connectors are ok). Windows detected the disk and I can access to 2 of the 3 partitions. The last one, the primary, is recognized as a RAW partition so Windows is unable to browse inside it.

I used the software Testdisk to recover the data. I selected the file I wanted to back up and here we go, the copy last from friday to yesterday night I guess. This morning the copy was stopped and the Hard drive is no longer detected by Windows and Testdisk.

But after a reboot I succeeded to access to the disk, but there was a "Partition: read error" in TestDisk so I try to repair the partition table but since this try I can't access anymore to it. When I plug the drive, it appears few seconds in the disk management window, sometimes I can see the three partitions in this screen and sometimes only a big one in RAW who takes the all space of the disk. And it disappear quickly, I can't access anymore with Testdisk.

I can't clone it because I can't see it, there is no way I can recover the data before trying to repair it.
Is anyone who know what to do in that case?

Thank you in advance

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Munwalker.

It sounds like the drive just got from bad to worse. When it disappears from Windows Explorer, does it still spin or can you feel it vibrate?
I'd recommend that you try to access it via Linux Live DVD/USB, to see if the partitions can be properly recognized and accessed and if you can get to your data. You could also try with a different data recovery tool: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1644496/lost-data-recovery.html.
If nothing seems to work, then I guess your only option remains a data recovery company.

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD

 

[Munwalker]

The disk is spinning correctly, no particular sound so I don't think there is a mechanical issue.

So I try with GParted and he can see the damaged disk, but only one partition RAW of 465 GB (size of the disk).
And with a live Ubuntu I can't access to the disk by the explorer (it simply missing) but at the end there is good news, testdisk on this linux can analyse the disk.

Always the same error: "Partition: read error" and when I make a "Quick Search" I have a read error on all cylinder.


But I just remember that I have a similar disk (same model, size, same configuration, partition).
There are many options in TestDisk, I can restore the mbr of my disk on the damaged disk. Or add the partition manually with their size and start and end cylinders.

Is it a good idea?

 

[Boogieman_WD]

I wouldn't mess with the MBR of the drive as this could further complicate things in case it's not the cause for the issue. Something else might have triggered the partition corruption. Go ahead and check if you have any luck with one of those programs: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm