Question One of my drives crashed. Can I recover any data? How to go about it?

[Beachhead1985]

*UPDATE.

After a series of restart-F12 cycles, I got some repair options and out of desperation, settled on "Windows Reset." That does not appear to have happened.

Instead, everything is back, minus that drive, which does not show up in file explorer, but does show up in drive manager. Can't make heads or tails out of the error logs.

I checked drive health on the others in defraggler and they are all good. No, I did not defrag the SSDs. Not looking to start that fight again. I just leave them alone.

Not sure what my next step is, but I *THINK* it's best to start with pulling the drive from the tower and installing it in an external box (have one) and seeing what I can do from there???

Data-loss shouldn't be bad...but does include some spreadsheets I use to keep track of my finances, my book and movie collections, ect, as well as some more esoteric reference files for tabletop games. Everything else might as well be "Cold storage" and is backed up and hasn't been changed in over a year. I'd really like those spread sheets and other documents back from the same folder. The other stuff is just nerd stuff and represents lost time and effort. Irksome, but not fatal.

Thanks once again for your time. Hope this covers all the bases.

System custom build by me, about 8-10 years ago.

Gigabyte GA-F2A78M-D3H motherboard w. 32gb ram
AMD A6-6400K APU with Radeon
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super
Win 10
Kingston SHF37A120G 128gb SSD 99% full
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500gb 75% full
Hitachi 3 TB Turo HDS723030ALA640 (former external drive) 99.9% full
WD WD4003FZEX-00Z4SA0 10TB drive 75% full
ST10000VN0008-2JJ101 (I think this is the drive at fault) No data

Not sure what a "PSU" is, but it sounds like the power source and it was new when I bought it, 8-10 years ago, now.

https://imgur.com/a/qYAdAhB

View: https://imgur.com/a/qYAdAhB

 

[Ralston18]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

Open Disk Management. Expand the window so all can be seen. Take a full window screenshot and post the screenshot here via imgur (www.imgur. com).

= = = =

As a generic fix attempt run "dism" and "sfc /scannow".

FYI:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

As for data:

Ensure that all important data is backed up at least 2 x to locations away from the current host computer/drive. Verify that the backups are recoverable and readable.

For backup purposes Macrium Reflect is recommended.

 

[stonecarver]

So what I've done now is reset windows and that seems to have allowed it to try self-repair and that's going as described, but obviously non-viable. It's been a while since I backed-up last, so I'll loose some data, but not much.

the PC systems run off an SSD and four HDDs of varying sizes in a mix of WD and Hitachi. The one that failed is, I *think* the oldest, but there is no special array or partitions; they are each their own drive.

If I'm understanding correctly the drive that is making life hell is not the drive that is your "C" OS drive.

What does it say when you get into the self-repair menu or when the PC boots. Is it asking to repair Windows Or a drive.



As your booting do you get that message your " drive letter" C or D or E . needs repair press Y to scan or N to boot. What drive does it say is the issue?

It seems your not able to get to windows due to the repair on boot blocking you to fix the drive, yes?


If it's NOT your "C" drive that is needing the repair to fix the booting issue than I would shut down and pull the cables off the drive and than try to boot without the bad drive.

If it's your "C" OS drive we need to go a little different

 

[Misgar]

this is just a data-drive and not the one I use to run the PC, I can't see why it's doing this, so I want to open it up and see if I can spot any damage to anything else anyways. A burn-out, something of that nature.

It's "doing this" because it's starting to fail. Hard disks can can die in a matter of hours, days, weeks, months or years after purchase. They often fail at the least convenient time, or before you've got around to backing them up. That's your lookout, not the manufaccturer's fault.

If this is a hard disk drive, NEVER, EVER, under ANY circumstances remove the screws securing the top cover and expose the heads and platters to particles of dust in the room, unless you've junked the drive. Hard disks should only be disassembled in a "clean room" with special air filtering.

Failure to observe this simple precaution could make matters far worse for a professional data recovery agency, if a small spec of dust gets trapped in the minuscule gap between the read/write heads and the discs. Note the size of the head (shown in blue) in the diagram below, compared with the thickness of a finger print on a disc, let alone a dust particle or hair.

https://acsdata.com/data-recovery-3tb-seagate-hard-drive/

Your chances of recovering data from the bad drive vary from average to none at all. The more you mess around with "recovery" programs, especially if they write back to the hard drive, the greater the risk you'll be making things even worse. If you're really desperate, get out your credit card and throw hundreds of dollars at a professional repair agency. You might get some of your data back for $500.

 

[Ralston18]

PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, used, refurbished, used)?

Kingston 128gb SSD - is that the C: (boot drive)? How full?

Make, model, and capacity for other system drives? How full?

Open Disk Management. Expand the Window so all can be seen.

Take a full screenshot and post the screenshot here via imgur (www.imgur.com) > New post.

 

[Beachhead1985]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

Open Disk Management. Expand the window so all can be seen. Take a full window screenshot and post the screenshot here via imgur (www.imgur. com).

= = = =

As a generic fix attempt run "dism" and "sfc /scannow".

FYI:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

As for data:

Ensure that all important data is backed up at least 2 x to locations away from the current host computer/drive. Verify that the backups are recoverable and readable.

For backup purposes Macrium Reflect is recommended.

I think I was able to add most of the info you wanted. Situation has now changed.

 

[Beachhead1985]

If I'm understanding correctly the drive that is making life hell is not the drive that is your "C" OS drive.

What does it say when you get into the self-repair menu or when the PC boots. Is it asking to repair Windows Or a drive.



As your booting do you get that message your " drive letter" C or D or E . needs repair press Y to scan or N to boot. What drive does it say is the issue?

It seems your not able to get to windows due to the repair on boot blocking you to fix the drive, yes?


If it's NOT your "C" drive that is needing the repair to fix the booting issue than I would shut down and pull the cables off the drive and than try to boot without the bad drive.

If it's you "C" OS drive we need to go a little different

That's correct. I called this one my "G:" Drive. "C:" is fine.

It doesn't/did not say anything that I ever saw.

The first time I knew anything was wrong, it was just doing the drive repair after a restart. Never asked or showed me anything. I got up to stretch my legs while it rebooted and came back to a few hours of drive repair.

I never saw any messages.

I wasn't able to get to windows, no. After a few rounds of restart-F12, it finally gave me some repair options and after trying all the others, I finally settled on "Windows Reset". That...as described does not appear to have happened. I went to bed, woke up and it was working on a drive repair that looked like it would take about 2 months. I came back and now my computer is back up and running, minus that drive.

 

[Beachhead1985]

It's "doing this" because it's starting to fail. Hard disks can can die in a matter of hours, days, weeks, months or years after purchase. They often fail at the least convenient time, or before you've got around to backing them up. That's your lookout, not the manufaccturer's fault.

If this is a hard disk drive, NEVER, EVER, under ANY circumstances remove the screws securing the top cover and expose the heads and platters to particles of dust in the room, unless you've junked the drive. Hard disks should only be disassembled in a "clean room" with special air filtering.

Failure to observe this simple precaution could make matters far worse for a professional data recovery agency, if a small spec of dust gets trapped in the minuscule gap between the read/write heads and the discs. Note the size of the head (shown in blue) in the diagram below, compared with the thickness of a finger print on a disc, let alone a dust particle or hair.

https://acsdata.com/data-recovery-3tb-seagate-hard-drive/

Your chances of recovering data from the bad drive vary from average to none at all. The more you mess around with "recovery" programs, especially if they write back to the hard drive, the greater the risk you'll be making things even worse. If you're really desperate, get out your credit card and throw hundreds of dollars at a professional repair agency. You might get some of your data back for $500.

I'd never consider opening it, unless I was destroying it.

Hm. Sounds dismal.

 

[USAFRet]

I'd never consider opening it, unless I was destroying it.

Some people do, only to later discover that this was the 100% wrong move.

 

[Ralston18]

Disk C: (Operational Disk) is not fine as I understand the Disk Management screens.

C: drive - that is the Kingston 128 GB drive - correct? At a minimum C: should be at least 256 GB capacity.

Plus C: drive only has 4% free space. Free space should be 20 - 30%\

[Note: Drive F: (Audio-Visual) is even worse - much larger drive and only 2% free space.]

Also: where is the Pagefile located?

Leave the drive alone and do not do anything to it - least of all open it. Destruction/data loss is guranteed.

My recommendation is to clone the drive to a 256 GB or greater SSD and swap in the SSD.

Back up all files beforehand and disconnect all other drives during the cloning procedure.

Use Macrium Reflect to clone the drive.

There may be other thoughts and suggestions.

 

[SkyNetRising]

System custom build by me, about 8-10 years ago.

Kingston SHF37A120G 128gb SSD 99% full
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500gb 75% full
Hitachi 3 TB Turo HDS723030ALA640 (former external drive) 99.9% full
WD WD4003FZEX-00Z4SA0 10TB drive 75% full
ST10000VN0008-2JJ101 (I think this is the drive at fault) No data

ST10000VN0008-2JJ101 - This is 10TB drive. It looks fine.

WD WD4003FZEX-00Z4SA0 10TB drive 75% full
This is 4TB drive (not 10TB)
This drive - you have problems with. It's all unallocated. Partition table corruption - most likely.

Try Minitool Partition Wizard free and
use Partition Recovery wizard functionality in it.
You should be able to recover lost partition on WD4003FZEX.

 

[JeffreyP55]

*UPDATE.

After a series of restart-F12 cycles, I got some repair options and out of desperation, settled on "Windows Reset." That does not appear to have happened.

Instead, everything is back, minus that drive, which does not show up in file explorer, but does show up in drive manager. Can't make heads or tails out of the error logs.

I checked drive health on the others in defraggler and they are all good. No, I did not defrag the SSDs. Not looking to start that fight again. I just leave them alone.

Not sure what my next step is, but I *THINK* it's best to start with pulling the drive from the tower and installing it in an external box (have one) and seeing what I can do from there???

Data-loss shouldn't be bad...but does include some spreadsheets I use to keep track of my finances, my book and movie collections, ect, as well as some more esoteric reference files for tabletop games. Everything else might as well be "Cold storage" and is backed up and hasn't been changed in over a year. I'd really like those spread sheets and other documents back from the same folder. The other stuff is just nerd stuff and represents lost time and effort. Irksome, but not fatal.

Thanks once again for your time. Hope this covers all the bases.

System custom build by me, about 8-10 years ago.

Gigabyte GA-F2A78M-D3H motherboard w. 32gb ram
AMD A6-6400K APU with Radeon
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super
Win 10
Kingston SHF37A120G 128gb SSD 99% full
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500gb 75% full
Hitachi 3 TB Turo HDS723030ALA640 (former external drive) 99.9% full
WD WD4003FZEX-00Z4SA0 10TB drive 75% full
ST10000VN0008-2JJ101 (I think this is the drive at fault) No data

Not sure what a "PSU" is, but it sounds like the power source and it was new when I bought it, 8-10 years ago, now.

https://imgur.com/a/qYAdAhB

View: https://imgur.com/a/qYAdAhB

Maybe unrecoverable. Always make backups. Drives die sooner or later.

 

[Beachhead1985]

Disk C: (Operational Disk) is not fine as I understand the Disk Management screens.

C: drive - that is the Kingston 128 GB drive - correct? At a minimum C: should be at least 256 GB capacity.

Plus C: drive only has 4% free space. Free space should be 20 - 30%\

[Note: Drive F: (Audio-Visual) is even worse - much larger drive and only 2% free space.]

Also: where is the Pagefile located?

Leave the drive alone and do not do anything to it - least of all open it. Destruction/data loss is guranteed.

My recommendation is to clone the drive to a 256 GB or greater SSD and swap in the SSD.

Back up all files beforehand and disconnect all other drives during the cloning procedure.

Use Macrium Reflect to clone the drive.

There may be other thoughts and suggestions.

Hm.

It sounds like you're telling me to do this for my C-Drive and not for the drive that crashed? That's my focus right now.

But, okay. So the small size-thing was an economic choice years ago when I built the thing, but you're right; it's never been smoothly-functional. It works just fine and they told me that was all I needed when i built it to just run the computer.

But, I learned in time that the dump folders (pictures, downloads, video, documents) all have to live on the same drive as the OS. That's cumbersome.

The whole idea with the 480gb SSD was to transfer those functions over. But at the time, I understood that was impossible without another windows product code. You're telling me now that is not the case, if I clone the drive?

 

[Beachhead1985]

ST10000VN0008-2JJ101 - This is 10TB drive. It looks fine.

WD WD4003FZEX-00Z4SA0 10TB drive 75% full
This is 4TB drive (not 10TB)
This drive - you have problems with. It's all unallocated. Partition table corruption - most likely.

Try Minitool Partition Wizard free and
use Partition Recovery wizard functionality in it.
You should be able to recover lost partition on WD4003FZEX.

Ah. Okay. That sounds right and makes sense.

Should I remove the drive to my external shell to do this, or leave it where it is?

 

[Ralston18]

C: and F: both being extremely full is a problem.

And where is the PageFile (Virtual Memory)?

Cloning to a larger drive is one way of resolving space problems.

Checking for corrupted files being just a matter of troubleshooting.

Power problems (PSU) being one means of file corruption.....

= = = =

Is that 4 TB WD4003FZEX-00Z4SA the drive that is crashing and the drive shown as Disk 1 in Disk Management? [Reference Post #1.]

And the drive you are calling "G:"?

= = = =

As I follow this thread, the immediate objective is to recover, if possible, data etc. on the WD4003FZEX-00Z4SA drive.

I suggest taking fresh screenshots of Disk Management and add applicable notes mapping physical make and model drives to Disk #'s.

Post accordingly.

With all of those drives and likely other problems it is all too easy to make some error of omission or commission. Or things otherwise simply just go wrong.....

Keep the bigger picture in view. Ensure that other important data is backed up and protected away from the current host system.