genz
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You can't recover a FAT formatted drive that has lost both allocation tables, sorry but that's by design. FAT as a file system was made long before file recovery as a concept existed and as a result is quite brittle. You have to format. You can also try with third party file recovery tools to some extent, and maybe testdisk's Quick Search for Partitions (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step#Quick_Search_for_partitions) can see it. That's really your only chance.
NTFS whenever possible if you care about your data. RAID if you really care, ZFS if you've got deep enough pockets to care more than that.
genz
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It means windows doesn't see your drive as having the bare minimum to constitute as data (a File System). When it says RAW, it is saying that either there was no data there in the first place, or the bit that says what File System you were using was corrupted too leaving them to believe that there is just raw data with no structure. You will need to find yourself Partition Recovery software such as Acronis Disk Director (http://www.acronis.com/en-gb/personal/disk-manager/) and use it's Partition Recovery feature to fix that without serious messing around. If the data is not important you can just reformat and go.
Hi I already done it, the chkdsk, but my hard drive (E) is still not accessible Access denied. I tried repeating it start accesories run as administrator type chkdsk E: /f fixing some files after that stop exit cmd check drive (E) still not accessible. I already run it with admisnistrator. Is there any wrong? I followed it correctly and repeatedly whenever it fail but to same outcome. But I can acces my data through the usb in our tv after I run chkdsk but when on computer, thats the problem I am encountering. Not Acessible. Acess is denied although I run cmd as an administrator for chkdsk. I want to burn my whole files in a cd to back up but I cant access it using computer but appears on the tv if I plug it. Help please any answers so I can get it...
Hello,
My WD external hard drive fell off the dresser and when I plug it in it makes clicking noises while revolving for a few seconds then stops. The light is still on but it doesn't show under devices nor drivers and it doesn't show in my computer. It does however show in the 'safely remove hardware/eject external media' app.
I also used UVCView and it shows when I plug it in.
I am on Windows 8.1 pro.
I have attempted to use chkdsk (f and r) in command prompt which do not work in the case. I get the message: 'Cannot open volume for direct access'. I am assuming this is because the hard drive isn't showing in the first place.
Is there anything I can do to access the hard drive and back up some or all of the data? I simply need to back it up on another hard drive as it contains a lot of music I have been working on over 8 years and also 1000s of music files I perform with.
Please let me know if there is way to access the data and back it up even in MS DOS.
Best wishes!
My WD external hard drive fell off the dresser and when I plug it in it makes clicking noises while revolving for a few seconds then stops. The light is still on but it doesn't show under devices nor drivers and it doesn't show in my computer. It does however show in the 'safely remove hardware/eject external media' app.
I also used UVCView and it shows when I plug it in.
I am on Windows 8.1 pro.
I have attempted to use chkdsk (f and r) in command prompt which do not work in the case. I get the message: 'Cannot open volume for direct access'. I am assuming this is because the hard drive isn't showing in the first place.
Is there anything I can do to access the hard drive and back up some or all of the data? I simply need to back it up on another hard drive as it contains a lot of music I have been working on over 8 years and also 1000s of music files I perform with.
Please let me know if there is way to access the data and back it up even in MS DOS.
Best wishes!
I've had this problem many times on my external hard drives. There seems to be a number of issues that can cause this. 1) disk errors - use chkdsk to fix this. 2) Ntfs security permissions - usually if you use the drive in more than one computer - I just changed all my files to 'everyone' as owner - careful with sensitive files of course. 3) Corruption of the Master File Table and/or NTFS boot sector. When you right click the drive in windows the properties box shows 0 kb = no files and most of the tabs are missing - including the security tab. After a bit of searching I found software called Testdisk http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download
I used version 7.0 just the other day to rescue 300GB of files - I have backups but this way of recovering my files only took 60 seconds!!! versus a number of hours recopying files or using recovery software. Use the right version i.e. 32bit or 64bit. So.....open the downloaded folder (after extracting it if zipped). testdisk_win.exe - right click run as admin. Opens a command type window. Select 'create', select your drive from the list, hit proceed, select type of drive - usually intel/pc partition for most windows pc's. Select 'Advanced' Filesystem utils. Select 'Boot'. The program checks your ntfs boot partition - it will tell you if the boot sector and it's backup are the same or not. If the same then the boot sector is fine. If different you need to select 'Rebuild BS' option at the bottom. It should say 'sectors are identical' after running and your files / folders should reappear - you may have to close and open file manager and / or re-connect your drive. If the boot sector is not the problem then try 'Repair MFT' option. Hope this helps the many frustrated users out there. Not really sure what causes the problem in the first place - it may be removing the external drive while it's busy or not using 'remove hardware safely option'. If anyone knows please tell. Cheers.
themrvladek
Thank you for being willing to help all of us total strangers. You are the definition of a good neighbor.
I'm perplexed with the problem I'm having with my WD My Book 1TB external USB drive. Here is what happened.
-Several months ago there were multiple thunderstorms resulting in sudden electrical outages as well as another sudden outage not related to a storm.
I left HD powered up thinking it was powered down as it usually is when not in use.
It was essentially full showing a red capacity line rather than the typical blue line on the space available indicator under Computer.
I didn't access the drive for maybe 3 months.
When I did access it I got the error message: "The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.:
I also got the Windows message asking me to Format the Drive. I made multiple attempts to access the drive but always cancelled and NO Format was done.
Before finding this thread with your solution, read on other forums saying to take the drive out of housing and connect it as an internal drive and that would allow it and the data to be accessed..
I removed the drive from the housing and connected it via SATA connection internally on my desktop. The drive was recognized and accessible but showed that there was no data.
I reassembled drive into the My Book housing and connected it to the PC via USB and the drive was recognized and accessible but still showed that there was no data.
Do you have any ideas on how my data was erased?
I ran Chkdsk as per your instructions while the drive was connected internally via SATA connection. I don't see how that could have resulted in data being erased. It doesn't seem that running Chkdsk with the drive connected via USB as designed or via internal SATA connection with the drive removed from the housing should make any difference to the Chkdsk operation.
I'm currently running Recuva which is showing it will be a day before it finishes scanning for just my photos on this first pass.
Do you know of any problems associated with data recovery using Recuva? Do you recommend a data recovery software other than Recuva?
Thank you for your help.
Thank you for being willing to help all of us total strangers. You are the definition of a good neighbor.
I'm perplexed with the problem I'm having with my WD My Book 1TB external USB drive. Here is what happened.
-Several months ago there were multiple thunderstorms resulting in sudden electrical outages as well as another sudden outage not related to a storm.
I left HD powered up thinking it was powered down as it usually is when not in use.
It was essentially full showing a red capacity line rather than the typical blue line on the space available indicator under Computer.
I didn't access the drive for maybe 3 months.
When I did access it I got the error message: "The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.:
I also got the Windows message asking me to Format the Drive. I made multiple attempts to access the drive but always cancelled and NO Format was done.
Before finding this thread with your solution, read on other forums saying to take the drive out of housing and connect it as an internal drive and that would allow it and the data to be accessed..
I removed the drive from the housing and connected it via SATA connection internally on my desktop. The drive was recognized and accessible but showed that there was no data.
I reassembled drive into the My Book housing and connected it to the PC via USB and the drive was recognized and accessible but still showed that there was no data.
Do you have any ideas on how my data was erased?
I ran Chkdsk as per your instructions while the drive was connected internally via SATA connection. I don't see how that could have resulted in data being erased. It doesn't seem that running Chkdsk with the drive connected via USB as designed or via internal SATA connection with the drive removed from the housing should make any difference to the Chkdsk operation.
I'm currently running Recuva which is showing it will be a day before it finishes scanning for just my photos on this first pass.
Do you know of any problems associated with data recovery using Recuva? Do you recommend a data recovery software other than Recuva?
Thank you for your help.
Drive E 'main data partition which contains all my important files' becomes RAW (not NTFS) after extending OS Drive C using partition wizard 9 software which finished successfully without errors! (all details available below):
MY HARDDISK WAS RUNNING WITHOUT PROBLEMS BEFORE USING THIS SOFTWARE AND WAS CHECKED FOR ERRORS PERIODICALLY
I installed partition wizard 9 and used it to extend drive C by taking 12 GB of space from my drive E which contain all my data and clicked apply it runs perfectly without problems and all finished successfully !! and it's done without asking me for restart then when I go to my computer found space applied successfully but I can't access drive E and it tells me drive is corrupt and can't be accessed so I checked it with check file system in this software and I found some sort of issue in stage 2 also checked it using chkdsk e: /x /r and gives me same issue and stop continuing check and fix process!!:
stage 2 examining file name linkage
correcting error in index $SDH for file 9
unspecified error occurred (766f6c756d652e63 461)
tried to restart.. windows automatically run into automatic repair for drive E and boot to windows and still drive E not accessible also tried disk management says healthy drive but I found it read drive E as RAW not NTFS!! ... tried to rerun extend again with small space (100MB) and finished successfully and gives me same result as mentioned above.. tried to seek technical support of partition wizard their answer was to try using partition wizard bootable CD and re apply the extend again which I did and extended it by 5 GB again which applied successfully without any problems and when I logged back to windows it gave me same result (space applied to C but E isn't accessible) ..
as a note I am running windows 8.1 64bit on HDD with 2 partitions (C 'OS', E 'full data') and have USB stick always plugged in and was having in that partition couple of mklink folders and I am using ramdisk too. I also recovered some important files .. under support second advice using their recovery software thanks to them.. but it's large partition and can't recover all important files there and wasn't sure all the files will still run or not after the recovery takes place and if I formatted this drive now my chances to recover these files to its original place are little (as it will destroy itself by rewriting itself on same partition if I intended to recover this large partition files to its original place after formatting as I don't have this space available on other partition or HDD also I can't understand what's wrong (as checking drive gives unspecified error and stop continuing and there is no undo process or restore point I can go back to and I can't get it how the extend completed successfully while I can't enter my drive !)... I tried to apply extend back to drive E but gives me message which says there is a known bug in the software which makes overlapping partition if extended back!!. also tried resize it which finished successfully but still drive E not accessible and gave me same result!.
help me if there is a way to solve file name linkage issue or another way to check desk and fix errors without need to format partition and take the risk of losing all my data in it or make this partition read again as NTFS not RAW so I can log into it or.. is it related to master boot record or some sort of error I can't figure out and give me some technical details if u require some logs or want me install any other program! to solve this issue completely
these are the screenshots :
after using partition wizard 9 pc version first time:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/beohp5dkqii47sf/Capture.PNG?dl=0
after using partition wizard 9 bootable CD and running surface test to drive E (no errors found) and chkdsk e: /r (which gives me file linkage error).
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cek1zd8tg4zg9ia/Capture%202.PNG?dl=0
after trying to extend back Drive E by taking space from Drive C (says this will create overlapping partition and gave me this bug):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xslr542nc53u6ym/capture%203.PNG?dl=0
finally I tried active partition recovery software with superscan and fix boot sector and recovery partition (which asked me to delete partition which has problem before recover it which I did using disk management) and applied recovery partition but gave me same result and same issue (and to make sure that it has no negative effect on files after this deletion I tested some files using recovery again and files looks okay) and I also tried some check disk in utilities (like tuneup utilities which not proceed on raw partition!)...
couple of thoughts:
I used minitool power data recovery from their support: and chose damaged partition recovery then opened biggest partition (without full scan just opening) and it processed with virtual file system and gave me recovered files (note: partition didn't have letter unlike others and its type was NTFS not RAW in that software) then I filtered to show only normal files and I recovered some important data and they works fine so is there a way to recover all partition in its place without take the risk of formatting it and try to recover data again in it after formatting (which may destroy all recovered files) as I don't have that space.. is there a way to get rid of some data in that inaccessible drive and make a new partition from it to use it for safe recovery or guide the recovery process to overwrite certain files which not that important as files in recovery process for safer recovery and to overcome overwritten data..
I know it's couple of thoughts but who knows.. may be geek around help
MY HARDDISK WAS RUNNING WITHOUT PROBLEMS BEFORE USING THIS SOFTWARE AND WAS CHECKED FOR ERRORS PERIODICALLY
I installed partition wizard 9 and used it to extend drive C by taking 12 GB of space from my drive E which contain all my data and clicked apply it runs perfectly without problems and all finished successfully !! and it's done without asking me for restart then when I go to my computer found space applied successfully but I can't access drive E and it tells me drive is corrupt and can't be accessed so I checked it with check file system in this software and I found some sort of issue in stage 2 also checked it using chkdsk e: /x /r and gives me same issue and stop continuing check and fix process!!:
stage 2 examining file name linkage
correcting error in index $SDH for file 9
unspecified error occurred (766f6c756d652e63 461)
tried to restart.. windows automatically run into automatic repair for drive E and boot to windows and still drive E not accessible also tried disk management says healthy drive but I found it read drive E as RAW not NTFS!! ... tried to rerun extend again with small space (100MB) and finished successfully and gives me same result as mentioned above.. tried to seek technical support of partition wizard their answer was to try using partition wizard bootable CD and re apply the extend again which I did and extended it by 5 GB again which applied successfully without any problems and when I logged back to windows it gave me same result (space applied to C but E isn't accessible) ..
as a note I am running windows 8.1 64bit on HDD with 2 partitions (C 'OS', E 'full data') and have USB stick always plugged in and was having in that partition couple of mklink folders and I am using ramdisk too. I also recovered some important files .. under support second advice using their recovery software thanks to them.. but it's large partition and can't recover all important files there and wasn't sure all the files will still run or not after the recovery takes place and if I formatted this drive now my chances to recover these files to its original place are little (as it will destroy itself by rewriting itself on same partition if I intended to recover this large partition files to its original place after formatting as I don't have this space available on other partition or HDD also I can't understand what's wrong (as checking drive gives unspecified error and stop continuing and there is no undo process or restore point I can go back to and I can't get it how the extend completed successfully while I can't enter my drive !)... I tried to apply extend back to drive E but gives me message which says there is a known bug in the software which makes overlapping partition if extended back!!. also tried resize it which finished successfully but still drive E not accessible and gave me same result!.
help me if there is a way to solve file name linkage issue or another way to check desk and fix errors without need to format partition and take the risk of losing all my data in it or make this partition read again as NTFS not RAW so I can log into it or.. is it related to master boot record or some sort of error I can't figure out and give me some technical details if u require some logs or want me install any other program! to solve this issue completely
these are the screenshots :
after using partition wizard 9 pc version first time:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/beohp5dkqii47sf/Capture.PNG?dl=0
after using partition wizard 9 bootable CD and running surface test to drive E (no errors found) and chkdsk e: /r (which gives me file linkage error).
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cek1zd8tg4zg9ia/Capture%202.PNG?dl=0
after trying to extend back Drive E by taking space from Drive C (says this will create overlapping partition and gave me this bug):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xslr542nc53u6ym/capture%203.PNG?dl=0
finally I tried active partition recovery software with superscan and fix boot sector and recovery partition (which asked me to delete partition which has problem before recover it which I did using disk management) and applied recovery partition but gave me same result and same issue (and to make sure that it has no negative effect on files after this deletion I tested some files using recovery again and files looks okay) and I also tried some check disk in utilities (like tuneup utilities which not proceed on raw partition!)...
couple of thoughts:
I used minitool power data recovery from their support: and chose damaged partition recovery then opened biggest partition (without full scan just opening) and it processed with virtual file system and gave me recovered files (note: partition didn't have letter unlike others and its type was NTFS not RAW in that software) then I filtered to show only normal files and I recovered some important data and they works fine so is there a way to recover all partition in its place without take the risk of formatting it and try to recover data again in it after formatting (which may destroy all recovered files) as I don't have that space.. is there a way to get rid of some data in that inaccessible drive and make a new partition from it to use it for safe recovery or guide the recovery process to overwrite certain files which not that important as files in recovery process for safer recovery and to overcome overwritten data..
I know it's couple of thoughts but who knows.. may be geek around help
Appyonline12345
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- Apr 19, 2015
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wow 
m so happy that i want to thank u a ton!! I was tensed about the WD drive and its access. And today saving it from all kind of stuff i have finally recovered!! Thankss
m so happy that i want to thank u a ton!! I was tensed about the WD drive and its access. And today saving it from all kind of stuff i have finally recovered!! ThankssAhmed Elmulla
Reputable
- Apr 28, 2015
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excuse me guys that what chkdsk told me I don't know what to do can anybody help me pleaseeee...
13782 large file records processed.
Deleting orphan file record segment 64767.
0 bad file records processed.
Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
64914 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
CHKDSK is creating new root directory.
An unspecified error occurred (766f6c756d652e63 461).
C:\Windows\system32>
13782 large file records processed.
Deleting orphan file record segment 64767.
0 bad file records processed.
Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
64914 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
CHKDSK is creating new root directory.
An unspecified error occurred (766f6c756d652e63 461).
C:\Windows\system32>
genz
Distinguished
- Oct 8, 2012
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Everyone here that did Chkdsk and found that the volume could not be accessed, or that there simply wasn't a drive reported, you should be using Testdisk and you have nobody to blame but yourself if you cannot get your drive working.
Testdisk is NOT chkdsk, and your drive is already unstable, so 'repairing' your drive is basically a bad idea anyway. If you want to keep your data you need another drive for it to go on.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download
Windows version should be used, not the Windows64bit, even on 64bit OS. Then run as admin, [Create] log, pick your drive (remember that what happens when you press enter is shown at the bottom and changed with the left and right keys so if when you press enter it does down one instead of selecting, you need to move the white box over the words {proceed] with the left and right keys), then select Intel (or EFI GPT for 2TB+ drives, it will usually highlight the correct setting by default) then select Analyse, then select quick search.
Now if it doesn't find it you can select [Deep search] and if it does, you can select [Write].
Chkdsk is an extremely basic tool. You do more damage than good trying to fix a disk with Chkdsk, because Windows will automatically run Chkdsk when it detects a drive damaged in a way that chkdsk can repair on startup, or bring up a notification box if you plug in a drive while the system is running. if you drive starts disappearing or otherwise, then it's already too much of a problem for chkdsk and you are only further harming your drive trying to fix it with chkdsk.
Testdisk is NOT chkdsk, and your drive is already unstable, so 'repairing' your drive is basically a bad idea anyway. If you want to keep your data you need another drive for it to go on.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download
Windows version should be used, not the Windows64bit, even on 64bit OS. Then run as admin, [Create] log, pick your drive (remember that what happens when you press enter is shown at the bottom and changed with the left and right keys so if when you press enter it does down one instead of selecting, you need to move the white box over the words {proceed] with the left and right keys), then select Intel (or EFI GPT for 2TB+ drives, it will usually highlight the correct setting by default) then select Analyse, then select quick search.
Now if it doesn't find it you can select [Deep search] and if it does, you can select [Write].
Chkdsk is an extremely basic tool. You do more damage than good trying to fix a disk with Chkdsk, because Windows will automatically run Chkdsk when it detects a drive damaged in a way that chkdsk can repair on startup, or bring up a notification box if you plug in a drive while the system is running. if you drive starts disappearing or otherwise, then it's already too much of a problem for chkdsk and you are only further harming your drive trying to fix it with chkdsk.
Thank you so much Izukami -- I didn't even think of the dos command prompt under accessories -- I was transferring to a new computer with en External Back-up HD from the old computer -- and after running your suggested solution was advised the whole problem came from Windows Easy Transfer - where files were corrupted. Not so easy. Now I just want to get that whole MIG file off the Ext HDD! But thanks again for at least getting me to a diagnosis and a possible fix!
Hi bro
My wed hard disk got corrupted and my windows laptop is not recognising the same. Although it is visible in the device manager but couldn't access it. I have tried using ur chkdsk method but I Dunn know the drive name so it is not happening I randomly picked the letters. Also I have tried using easeus but it is only recovering the hard disk system files none of my files are visible and recovered.
Please help as I have loads of data in it.
My wed hard disk got corrupted and my windows laptop is not recognising the same. Although it is visible in the device manager but couldn't access it. I have tried using ur chkdsk method but I Dunn know the drive name so it is not happening I randomly picked the letters. Also I have tried using easeus but it is only recovering the hard disk system files none of my files are visible and recovered.
Please help as I have loads of data in it.
Hi Lucyfranklin,
Thanks for your response.
However I have tried that but I don't know the name of the drive as it is not showing up. Also, I have got the same checked from the local vendor he is saying its head is not working properly.
What to do in that case??
Thanks for your response.
However I have tried that but I don't know the name of the drive as it is not showing up. Also, I have got the same checked from the local vendor he is saying its head is not working properly.
What to do in that case??
Hi All,
I opened the HDD and everything seems fine except the scratch on the disk area around the border of the disk. I dunno how it happened as the plastic chip (holding the head) is not touching the disk area. I think its the header touching it while running.
It is still making clicking sound and then stops????
Please help I need the data on it.
I opened the HDD and everything seems fine except the scratch on the disk area around the border of the disk. I dunno how it happened as the plastic chip (holding the head) is not touching the disk area. I think its the header touching it while running.
It is still making clicking sound and then stops????
Please help I need the data on it.
genz
Distinguished
- Oct 8, 2012
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Your Hard Drive is dead.
You should NEVER open the unit. Your data is not stored on the plate, it's stored in a magnetic field floating about it's surface.Just opening the case would have caused dust particles in the air to destroy your data.
Toru Ikeda
Reputable
- Aug 3, 2014
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Hello themrvladek i cant seem to run chkdsk program through command promp
i already did the open as admin but it wont start..am i doing something wrong? thanks guys!
i already did the open as admin but it wont start..am i doing something wrong? thanks guys!
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