Wrong file system

[Addrock2]

Hey, I have a question on a bad drive. I have a Seagate external 4tb drive that failed. I used recuva before to save my most important files. Recently I went on to save other files but recuva wouldn't work so I used another program called file scavenger. It saw all my old files, but when I actually recovered them from the bad drive I would receive an error message that's says file type not supported. I think the problem may be when I was hooking up the bad drive externally it would keep dissappearing from Windows so I would unplug it and plug it back in. I think this caused the partition tables to get corrupted. Has anyone else run into something like this before?

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Addrock2.

Are you referring to the initial problem? If the drive has started to disappear from time to time and get disconnected on its own, this should've been a sign for you to backup immediately and then try the drive with a different USB cable, to see if this fixes things up and test it afterwards with an HDD diagnostic tool. At least you were able to recover your most important files.
As for the data your recover, perhaps the files you're able to retrieve are corrupted or not full and that's why you're not able to open them.
You could try accessing the drive via Ubuntu Live USB/DVD, to see if it's properly recognized and if you can get to those files, but if the partition has been corrupted, chances are not on your side. 🙁

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD

 

[Addrock2]

The drive started Messing up about a year ago. I just immediately recovered my important files and unplugged the drive and stored it till I had time to mess with it. Recently I started trying to recover my other files and this is when it would show up in Windows then go away. So if the partition is corrupted it's pretty much useless?

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Well you should try (if you haven done that already) what I've suggested in my previous post - trying the drive with a different USB cable (preferably shorter than 12"). It would be nice if it turns out to be a small issue like that and if you could keep using that drive afterwards.
As for your question, if the partition is corrupted and the drive is still fine, you might be able to recover your data if you keep trying different data recovery programs. However, if the HDD itself has issues and thus the computer is unable to read the data off of it, only a data recovery company might be able to recover the files.

There's another possibility - the external enclosure might have become faulty. You might try connecting the drive internally via a standard SATA connection, to see if the drive is working fine, but note that this is really not recommended due to the following reasons: taking the drive out of its original enclosure will void its warranty; if the HDD is hardware encrypted, most likely you won't be able to get to your data without its original enclosure; some drive models have proprietary connectors and it would be impossible for you to connect the drive in any other way besides with its original enclosure, even if you take it out. So if you decide to go with that, please do it at your own discretion.