How to fix the Hard drive Format Error

[nshin313]

I have a western digital 1 TB Hard Drive with movies, pictures, etc. But when I try to open it, it asks me to format it. I tried using the EaseUS Data Recovery software free version, but it can only recover files 100 MB or smaller, Since I used the Hard Drive to store movies, it is useless. In Computer Management>Storage>Disk Management, the Hard Drive shows up as Layout: Simple, Type: Dynamic, File System: RAW Status Healthy. How can I recover the data in it with files as large as 3GB? So how can I recover the data in the hard drive for FREE?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, nshin313!

I'm very sorry to hear about your WD drive. 🙁
The RAW file system indicates that Windows cannot read the drive. I'd recommend professional data recovery companies, since they are your best chance at recovering those big files. You can check the ones Western Digital works with on our website: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=TdZBZc
However, it is a rather costly solution.
If you insist on recovering the files yourself, I'd suggest to check this thread for other possible utilities and solutions:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/278914-32-recover-drive-format

Keep me posted! Hope this works for you!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[fzabkar]

@nshin313, the first thing you should do is to determine the physical state of the drive. To this end I would examine the SMART report with a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo.

http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

Look for reallocated, pending, or uncorrectable sectors.

If the drive is physically OK, and if the logical damage is not too severe, you could try accessing the file system from a bootable Ubuntu Live CD.

A free data recovery alternative to EaseUS is DMDE, but the "Free Edition supports recovery of up to 4000 files from the current panel only".

http://dmde.com

 

[nshin313]

I solved this problem on my own! I just Formatted the Hard Drive and used the Recava data recovery software freeware to retrieve the data.

 

[fzabkar]

@nshin313, formatting is data destructive. You managed to recover your data despite formatting your drive, not because you formatted it.

 

[nshin313]

@nshin313, formatting is data destructive. You managed to recover your data despite formatting your drive, not because you formatted it.

I know. However; formatting it and recovering the partitions was probably the only free way.