Question Many issues with the same disk.

[todd harvey]

External usb HDD Seagate expansion portable drive. x 1TB (Samsung) model ST1000LM024. I suppose NTFS.

Here is the deal :
Accidentaly dropped the disk on the floor . would like to recover files. It is not detected in windows file explorer browser, and no letter assigned. However iz detected in Disk management but still no letter assigned and it also says no partition on it (unalocated) . Scanned it with seatools for windows, it said no MBR found. I've tried at least 10 different data/partition recovery programs , with each of them it freezes at about 3% scan progress. I only managed to fix , I think, master boot records files with one of hem freeware.

In properties, says driver is up to date .

in cmd prompt :
diskpart
list disk
#Says disk is online and with right size.
select disk 1
list volume
#no volumes for this disk

chkdsk not able to do it , since no letter assigned to the external drive.

Remember, I want to try and save the files because I have no backup. I already know that by formating I have better chances of using the disk again. Please do not tell me to go in disk management... omg I obviously tried this first !

Is it because of bad sectors ?
is it because of partition table lost?
is it because I have to throw the disk it in the recycle bin ?
It's like the partition has been erased...
Any tips ?

a good friend told me :
''sudo bash -c "apt update && apt install lilo && lilo -M /dev/sdb mbr"
but unfortunatly I am not a linux user.

 

[13thmonkey]

I think that by repairing the MBR you've lost the partitions, given what happened, if it was running at the time, then it's all gone. It if was not running at the time, given the trouble you've been having, it's all gone.

A data recovery shop might be able to recover it, but everything you do to it makes that less likely. Stop doing things, start assessing options. Get a big list together of everything you can do, then work through them least destructive first.

 

[popatim]

I know how you feel; I had a grandson knock one of my external 3tb Seagates off my desk while it was writing a backup. Bye bye HDD.

I did open it up to show him how they work and how the head became fused/stuck to the platter in that brief time.

If you do not have the funds* to send it out for data recovery (expensive) then you have nothing to lose by opening it up yourself and seeing what the issue is. Sometimes you get lucky and a head is stuck in the 'parked' area and is easy to move back where it should be. This would get you enough time to copy the data to another drive so make sure you have one before you open the drive up. A dust particle is as big to the heads as a boulder is to a car. This is why repair/recovery facilities only open drive up within a special clean room.

*If you do have the funds OR definitely need the data, then do not open the drive yourself even if it takes you a year to save up for it. Not many places will accept them if you've opened them.

 

[seagate_surfer]

For future reference use a god back up plan.

Basically you want:

3 copies of any data you don't want to lose.
2 different mediums it's stored on (so 2 different drives in your computer, for example).
1 copy kept offsite, to prevent against disaster.