Should i format my disk?

[mobius_13]

hello.first of all i'm not a tech-savy person but i'll try my best to explain my problems.

i have a 3 year old WD 1tb hdd split into 4 partition.its been sitting in a box for a while.i tried to connect the disk and somehow it has only one 32mb partition.there is no clicking noise and the hdd is detected in bios.i never tried clicking/opening the partition or moved any files at all.i disconnected the hdd, put it in its box and google for answers.

my question is

1-could formatting the disk restore its normal capacity?back to 1tb?
2-if can i still recover the files after formatting it?

 

[Hakeasahar]

To answer your questions directly: 1) Not exactly and 2) If you have the correct program to do so. I use DiskDigger (free) but there are others that I've seen mentioned here which may be better and still free.
I'll let others mention which program(s) they use.
To answer the issue you seem to be having more fully:
1) Formatting isn't the tool you use for re-partitioning a drive. If you're using Windows, the correct command to use is *Windows key* + R, then type in Compmgmt.msc (or you can right click "My Computer" and hit "Manage".
Click on "Disk Management" and after a few seconds you'll see how the physical drive is broken down into the component partitions you've mentioned.
Back up all the files from all of the partitions before making any changes here. If you don't, then make changes, I don't know of any way to retrieve your files.

 

[mobius_13]

so i need to delete the partition and create new ones?

 

[Hakeasahar]

If you have somewhere to move any current files you have on any of the partitions you have on that drive, then yes. Copy the files, then delete the partitions. Create a new partition (volume) afterwards (still in Computer Management) You'll be able to partition the drive however you wish. Then you format the partition(s) and use as you will.

 

[mobius_13]

the main problem is restoring the actual disk capacity.its says i have 32mbs instead of 1tb.how do i solve this?

 

[Hakeasahar]

If you're not worried at all about any of the files, go into Computer management, delete all the partitions on that physical drive. Then partition the drive, format the drive and it should be 100%.

 

[mobius_13]

if its possible i want to recover the files.

do you think that i can recover files in its current condition?

 

[Hakeasahar]

I guess I would have to say I am a bit confused at this point.

Do you recall what originally happened to the files? I am assuming they are unavailable, otherwise you would just copy them normally.

If you do not recall what happened, go to DiskDigger.org/download, download, and run it. It is a rather simple tool to use.

Hopefully your files are recoverable in this manner. If not, there may be other free tools which may work better that I am unaware of.

 

[mobius_13]

okay.my 1tb hdd shows that it now have only one,32mb partition.never tried opening the partition as i'm afraid i could ruin something.no idea if the files is still there or not.

i try post a screenshot.

 

[mobius_13]

here are the images i took.hope it'll help figure out what happened.

the hdd in question is disk 3.fyi i bought it together with hdd in disk 2.

 

[Hakeasahar]

First step: You need to figure out where to copy any/all of the files (assuming the drives are not full because of file corruption). If you do not have room to copy them, you cannot manage your partitions until after you do have room.
Second step: After you've moved the files, you can worry about the partitions.

 

[mobius_13]

so i can still recover files in its current condition,right?recover files then repair partitions?

 

[Hakeasahar]

What makes you think they need to be 'recovered' as opposed to just looking at the drive, and opening/looking at the files that are there? (then copying/moving them somewhere else)
This is becoming confusing. What makes you think the files are 'missing' or otherwise unavailable?

 

[mobius_13]

since i assume i can't access the files normally.

sorry for my english.

 

[Hakeasahar]

You assume you can't access the files or have you tried and you actually cannot access the files?

 

[mobius_13]

i didn't try because i've read somewhere that i shouldn't since i could overwrite my files or something.plus there was a "do you want to format your disk" message.

anyway i tried tinker about using this iCare data recovery software.did a partition recovery but i can only recover 32mb worth of files.i think i've figured out the file recovery bit so now i want to ask how do i fix the capacity/partition thing.any suggestion would be helpful.

 

[Hakeasahar]

At my current level of understanding, you cannot overwrite your files by just looking at the drive's contents.
If you had mentioned the 'Do you want to format your disk' earlier, it could have removed some confusion on my part. No worries, on to the next thing.
The previous formatting request tells me your files are most likely gone. If you have already run a partition recovery, I am not sure if the files are recoverable. I would have run a file recovery program instead of the partition recovery program first, but in any case, we are past that point.
The way to remove all the current partitions is to go into Computer Management and right click on each drive to delete the volume on each drive (except for C: of course). After you have done that, you can create new partitions and can modify the size of each to your liking.
From your screenshots, it almost looks as if some sort of RAID array was attempted but the volume/drive sizes were different. Was that the intent on the partitions being how they were?

 

[mobius_13]

the drive is an extra,been sitting in a box for a couple of months.no attempts on RAID.i don't even understand what it is.any good suggestion on a file recovery program?

 

[Hakeasahar]

http://diskdigger.org/

This is what I use but since you have already used the Icare data recovery (shown in your screenshots) I am unsure if you will get different results. Which did not look like much was recovered.

 

[mobius_13]

i'm guessing since it registers as one 32mb partition, only that much was recovered.if i fix the partitions, i might be able to recover all of them.

 

[mobius_13]

sorry for bumping old thread, but i finally bought a new disk and now started to try and fix the old one.someone suggested that i should delete all partition,create new ones and then try to recover files.but this happened instead.

it seemed that the total hdd volume is now just 32mb permanently.any ideas?

 

[quesionboy]

Hi, if you buy a new disk, I think you could try to use some clone software, to clone your source disk to your new disk, as i know some clone software(such as AOMEI Partition Assistant) offers the method of clone disk through sector-by-sector clone that means all the data will be cloned, even it was be destroyed.

 

[mobius_13]

hello again.sorry for being away for a while.i have found the solution to my problem.

found this a couple of days ago.didn't quite get it but gave it a try and it worked.

http://blog.atola.com/restoring-factory-hard-drive-capacity/

recovered the disk capacity but since i've deleted the partitions in attempt to fix it,i have to use the icare software to recover the files.

hope this will help anyone who might have the same problem.cheers.

 

[mobius_13]

yes.now i know.lol

i have recovered almost all the files i think.although the files are a mess since they sort it by type and renamed all of them.