Recover data from dead hard drive

[Skxawng85]

Hi, I need a file from a WD caviar 80gb SATA hard drive. It doesn't show up in my computer. Its in disk management but you can't assign a drive letter. it says cyclic errors so i tried chkdsk but the partition that has all the stuff on is not there. Its a 80gb capacity but it says on diskpart that there are no partitions and the capacity of the drive is only 5.7gb the other 70gb has dissapeared. Tried a few recovery programs but they can't see the lost partition either and think its only a 5.7gb drive. I think the original problem occured when the computer was unexpectedly cut off from the power. Any suggestions to recover my llost file?
Many thanks, Laurie

 

[n3cw4rr10r]

If the file is critical you could get something like this and see if the computer will recognize the hard drive as a usb drive.

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-SATA-Drive-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00HJZJI84/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1483467301&sr=8-3&keywords=sata+to+usb

 

[Skxawng85]

If the file is critical you could get something like this and see if the computer will recognize the hard drive as a usb drive.

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-SATA-Drive-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00HJZJI84/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1483467301&sr=8-3&keywords=sata+to+usb

Hi, thats pretty much what im using to connect the hdd to the computer. well, its a usb caddy with a power supply.

 

[n3cw4rr10r]

Other than chckdsk /f I am not sure. Sorry.

 

[Skxawng85]

Other than chckdsk /f I am not sure. Sorry.

Would be good but It doesnt have a drive letter. In cmd prompt I used mountvol then list drive to get the info of the drive and did chkdsk with that but it could only see the 5.7gb partition and checked that. Said it had no errors. So far nothing has been able to detect the missing partition.
Thanks anyhow

 

[ac13044]

plug the hdd into mobo and not an usb caddy as this has limitations

 

[Skxawng85]

plug the hdd into mobo and not an usb caddy as this has limitations

Hi, I've tried plugging it directly into my mobo with the sata cable but exact same story. Bios can see it but gets the capacity wrong. Thanks though

 

[ac13044]

well it could be corrupted data that is lost sorry doe try this method then run recovery tools


1)go to start
2)type"cmd"
3)type"diskpart"
then write all these comands
list disk
select disk 1(replace 1 with your disk,u can check your disk by checking the size of your disk in "list disk")
clean
create partition primary
format fs=NTFS
exit

 

[Skxawng85]

well it could be corrupted data that is lost sorry doe try this method then run recovery tools


1)go to start
2)type"cmd"
3)type"diskpart"
then write all these comands
list disk
select disk 1(replace 1 with your disk,u can check your disk by checking the size of your disk in "list disk")
clean
create partition primary
format fs=NTFS
exit

When I've done the list disk earlier it found it as "disk 1" but it only had 5925mb. For it to work would it have to had discovered the full 80gb capacity?
Also just wondering before i try your suggestion, would it erase any data? I don't care about the drive at all except to recover a file. Thanks

 

[ac13044]

format it using above method then it should be 80gb you can use recovery tools to help get some data. you should backup data as i have experienced in the past.

 

[Skxawng85]

well it could be corrupted data that is lost sorry doe try this method then run recovery tools


1)go to start
2)type"cmd"
3)type"diskpart"
then write all these comands
list disk
select disk 1(replace 1 with your disk,u can check your disk by checking the size of your disk in "list disk")
clean
create partition primary
format fs=NTFS
exit

Tried it but after i cleaned it (which succeeded) I did the create partition primary command and it said;
"DiskPart has encountered an error: Data error (cyclic redundancy check)."

 

[ac13044]

try this method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgOJb6Qmq_w

 

[Skxawng85]

try this method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgOJb6Qmq_w

Thanks for finding that but i've already tried chkdsk. There isn't a drive letter and I can't assign one or give it a path in diskmgmt.msc. I did find a work around by using mountvol then using the volume data after chkdsk to direct it at the disk in question but it only checked the visible (and empty) 5.7gb partition. It found no errors and said the drive was working correctly... :/
Starting to look like it's a job beyond the ameture DIYer..

 

[ac13044]

try this method

http://www.howtogeek.com/123268/windows-hard-drive-wrong-capacity/

 

[Skxawng85]

try this method

http://www.howtogeek.com/123268/windows-hard-drive-wrong-capacity/

Thanks but doesn't work unfortunately. Is there any kind of program out there (I'd pay for it at this point) that can read the entire 80gb drive as raw data and then interpret that into files?

 

[The Paladin]

have you tried this?
http://blog4mark.blogspot.com/2012/11/convert-raw-to-ntfs-without-data-loss.html

 

[Skxawng85]

Thanks I'll try the recovery programs mentioned in your link. Though I'm starting to wonder if it's hardware failure rather than partition table being corrupted or some other formatting error.

 

[GreenSmurf]

I dont know if this will help you since you already format the disk, but when it comes to disk errors i think SpinRite is one of the best.

It is not free, but if you like, you can find it here:
https://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

 

[DR_Luke]

My guess is that the drive is loading into kernel mode and likely needs professional data recovery assistance. If you don't care about the data on the drive, follow all the steps given above. But, if you'd like your files off the drive, contact a trustworthy, affordable data recovery lab.