the request could not be performed because of an i/o device error

[mpc007]

Title is the exact notification I get my I try to approach my old HDD. Goes for all partitions of the drive. Sometimes I can read the top folders of some partitions, sometimes I can't.

The drive contained my old W7 system partition (C, and I messed with the MBR / BCD on it in order to get my upgrade to W10 working. I couldn't get it done, so I ended up doing a fresh install of W10 on my new SSD, which works fine. But I guess my work with the HDD left it partly unapproachable under the new OS. Then ransomware got over it as well, so I think its a bit messed up. I don't want to use it for program files or OS anymore, but I want to use it for simple data storage.

Formatting is not an option, theres a lot of data on the drive which I hope to retrieve at some point.

There are no easy solutions here, thats why I'm asking here:
- I cannot use chkdsk /r commands, it sees the drive as RAW
- I cannot read SMART data, it says there is none
- I cannot immediately see it as a bootable device, waiting in BIOS usually have it pop up after some time. Same in Windows, it only appears in Explorer after a while, and loading is very slow. When I set SATA to hotswap it only appears after I physically pull and plug the SATA power cable.
- I cannot use Partition Manager, it loads forever and to no avail.

The old W7 installation might or might not be still functional, sometimes its tries to boot me to that but in order to not do further damage i hit reset on the case and boot to the SSD.

 

[mpc007]

Try changing sata controller mode to IDE in BIOS before running mhdd. You'll need to change it back after you're done with mhdd.

Useful commands:

PORT - command gives list of model names for available drives and lets choose with witch one to work.
From that you should be able to understand, witch drive has what number. Google those model names, if still not clear.

SMART ATTR - prints out SMART data of selected disk, look for relocated sectors count and current pending sectors (raw column).
Anything above 0 in those values is bad.

SCAN - select REMAP ON option with this command - it scans surface of selected disk and tries to relocate unusable sectors to spare area. It also shows map of sectors and each sector response time.

Post screenshots, if something still not clear.

OK, was able to list my drive now. Smart output uploaded. Scan / Remap went fine until if found a UNC sector, which triggered ABRT error. It had only scanned one percent I think. Uploaded screen shot. How can I make it resume scanning and repair the sectors that cause it to ABRT?

 

[SkyNetRising]

That drive is dying. Lots of relocated sectors there.

To continue scanning, you reboot the PC, launch scan again, but this time specify starting LBA value past one, where lockup occurred.

 

[mpc007]

I know it is, it has seen almost eight years of very active service. It was also the reason I switched my OS to a new SSD a few months ago. I want to use the HDD for data storage, not keep it in the system running all the time.

I'm still busy with MHDD, scanned around 20 percent right now. Got some UNC errors, restart and resumed at the next LBA number just as you said. I guess these UNCs are also the causes of me not being able to approach the drive correctly in Windows, right? Is there functionality in MHDD to automically correct these UNCs? If it has to be done manual, I also noted their numbers down..

My goal is to make the drive workable in Windows again, so I can at least extract my data safely.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Mhdd can remap unusable sectors to spare area. But if that area is all used up, then no more remapping is possible.
I'm not sure, how to resolve drive locking up and if it's possible at all.

I guess you could recover part of your data, if you take image of broken drive and somehow exclude those sectors, where lockup occurs. That would be extremely tedious job to do, though.

But continuing to use that drive for storage is more trouble than worth. I would not do that.

 

[mpc007]

Mhdd can remap unusable sectors to spare area. But if that area is all used up, then no more remapping is possible.
I'm not sure, how to resolve drive locking up and if it's possible at all.

I guess you could recover part of your data, if you take image of broken drive and somehow exclude those sectors, where lockup occurs. That would be extremely tedious job to do, though.

But continuing to use that drive for storage is more trouble than worth. I would not do that.

Hm okay, then I'll stop using it. But I want to retrieve my data. How can I do that the best way, and using which tool? Remember, it's only partly approachable in Win Explorer and some partitions are seen as raw.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Try DataRescue's DD. It can create partial image of drive that locks up during access.
http://www.datarescue.com/photorescue/v3/drdd.htm

After you have made image, you can load it in some data recovery program and try to recover files.
For example - GetDataBack can do that.

(both of those software pieces have to be run with admin privileges)