Hello Everyone,
I'm looking for some help in identifying what the exact fault on a hdd might be and then hopefully fix/recover some data.
Perhaps this topic will help others too if with everyone's help we compile a full list of issues and solutions.
A couple of weeks ago my PC froze and I had to force a shutdown. This may be equivalent to the pc / hdd experiencing a power failure. When i restarted later that day the pc booted very slowly. The hdd was still visible but no longer accessible under Windows, with no free/total space details.
I ran a Recuva scan which listed all the files but the recovery seemed to freeze shortly into the process.
I tried Macrium to try make an image of the hdd but it stops straight away with 'Error reading MFT - Error code = 2'
EaseUS also stops straight away after analyzing partition as it 'Cannot open volume for direct access'
DMDE like Recuva finds all the files and structure and like with Recuva some files do recover but fails on many others and often stops in the middle of a file citing frequent CRC errors.
I'd like to stress that before this one incident the hdd was working fine and all files (so I assume all sectors) were fully accessible.
The hdd is not always seen by BIOS/Windows (which seems to detect it less often than before but still sometimes does) and loads very slowly so i tried a Linux live boot but the hdd is still not accessible.
I didn't think it was worth a professional recovery service so decided to carefully and cleanly as possible open the hdd to check for visible faults but there were none.
I'd like to give a summary of all the observations I have made so far:
very slow startup in Windows (at BIOS and Win splash screens) but not slow in Linux
slow access to My Computer when hdd is detected but again not slow in Linux
RAW format under Windows Disk Management but still shown as Healthy
list of all files detected by some programs but not others
recovery works on some files, mostly smaller files, but not others ie larger files
recovery success/failure of files seems identical between programs down to the % it fails at
not always detected by Windows/BIOS
during start up, occasional SMART error listed, sometimes slave error, sometimes no error
when detected hdd is visible under Vista/7/Linux but not accessible
hdd size incorrect under BIOS when it is detected (801.6GB as opposed to 2794.39GB)
the platter still spins
the arm moves and parks correctly
arm movement seems mostly between outer edge to around half in, and possibly erratic
Given these symptoms what could the possible problems and solutions be?
corrupt boot record?
physical damage?
pcb damage?
I'd appreciate advice from as many people as possible who have experience, solutions or thoughts on what the problem(s) might be.
Many thanks in advance.
Many thanks in advance.
I'm looking for some help in identifying what the exact fault on a hdd might be and then hopefully fix/recover some data.
Perhaps this topic will help others too if with everyone's help we compile a full list of issues and solutions.
A couple of weeks ago my PC froze and I had to force a shutdown. This may be equivalent to the pc / hdd experiencing a power failure. When i restarted later that day the pc booted very slowly. The hdd was still visible but no longer accessible under Windows, with no free/total space details.
I ran a Recuva scan which listed all the files but the recovery seemed to freeze shortly into the process.
I tried Macrium to try make an image of the hdd but it stops straight away with 'Error reading MFT - Error code = 2'
EaseUS also stops straight away after analyzing partition as it 'Cannot open volume for direct access'
DMDE like Recuva finds all the files and structure and like with Recuva some files do recover but fails on many others and often stops in the middle of a file citing frequent CRC errors.
I'd like to stress that before this one incident the hdd was working fine and all files (so I assume all sectors) were fully accessible.
The hdd is not always seen by BIOS/Windows (which seems to detect it less often than before but still sometimes does) and loads very slowly so i tried a Linux live boot but the hdd is still not accessible.
I didn't think it was worth a professional recovery service so decided to carefully and cleanly as possible open the hdd to check for visible faults but there were none.
I'd like to give a summary of all the observations I have made so far:
very slow startup in Windows (at BIOS and Win splash screens) but not slow in Linux
slow access to My Computer when hdd is detected but again not slow in Linux
RAW format under Windows Disk Management but still shown as Healthy
list of all files detected by some programs but not others
recovery works on some files, mostly smaller files, but not others ie larger files
recovery success/failure of files seems identical between programs down to the % it fails at
not always detected by Windows/BIOS
during start up, occasional SMART error listed, sometimes slave error, sometimes no error
when detected hdd is visible under Vista/7/Linux but not accessible
hdd size incorrect under BIOS when it is detected (801.6GB as opposed to 2794.39GB)
the platter still spins
the arm moves and parks correctly
arm movement seems mostly between outer edge to around half in, and possibly erratic
Given these symptoms what could the possible problems and solutions be?
corrupt boot record?
physical damage?
pcb damage?
I'd appreciate advice from as many people as possible who have experience, solutions or thoughts on what the problem(s) might be.
Many thanks in advance.
Many thanks in advance.
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