Problem with hard drive partitioning and file recovery!

[Geo15]

Hello! A week ago, when I plugged my drive in the computer, Windows (7) asked me to format my external hard drive ( WD 10EAVS External USB Device). Since there is almost a terabyte of valuable data, I searched the net for a solution. First, I tried TestDisk, which did not seem to fix my porblem, even though I managed to recover one folder. Next, I searched more and found that I need stronger partition recovery software. So, I found the full version of Active@ Partition Recovery. I SuperScaned my drive, but the program was not able to find parititons. Well, then I pressed the Create/Fix Partitioning, and -as I was not so wellinformed- I pressed the GPT option... Then after some research again, I found out that my drive had originally MRB partion syle. When I tried to convert it with this software back to MBR (without deleting the volume) it gave me an error message saying that it was unable to convert it, as GPT was damaged. Needless to say, when I reselected the Create/Fix Partitioning option, selecting GPT again, so it could fix it and then convert it back to MBR, it was not able to fix the GPT damage. Now, I would like to ask you how can I fix my drive without losing my data. Thank you in advance!

 

[fzabkar]

If I were you, I would refrain from writing anything else to the drive. I would first examine the critical sectors (MBR, partition table, boot sector) with a disc editor in readonly mode. Once you understand what your software tools have done to the drive, then you can decide on the best plan for recovery.

I would start by examining sector 0. My favourite freeware disc editor is DMDE.

Alternatively, try Partition Find and Mount. This tool will attempt to locate and mount your missing partition, and you can then drag and drop your files to a backup drive.

 

[Geo15]

Hello again!! So I opened the drive with DMDE and I was able to find my files! Now, I saw the option "Reset GPT+MBR Signatures (GPT Off)". Could you tell me what does it do?

 

[fzabkar]

Sorry, I can't answer your question. If I were you, I would copy your files to a backup drive now that you can see them. Note that the free version of DMDE is limited to 4000 files.

Alternatively, I would use DMDE to locate the backup NTFS boot sector at the end of the drive, and then use it to reconstruct the MBR partition in sector 0. If the original boot sector is missing, then it could also be reconstructed from the backup.

To this end, launch DMDE, uncheck the Show Partitions box, select your Physical Drive, then OK.

Type Ctrl-End to go to the end of the drive.

Select Tools -> Search for Special Sector -> NTFS Boot Sector. Select the Backward radio button.