Think I just lost everything...?

MrJoeSoap

Hi all,

Probably in vain, but maybe somebody here can help me.

First off, this is the equipment I am using:

• Medion Akoya laptop
• LaCie La Cinema Classic HD 2TB (contains all my movies, TV shows etc)
• ZyXel 2TB Media, Data and Storage Center (brand new, first time to use it)
• Toshiba 1TB External Hard Drive (has/had all my photo's and music)
• Standard Thompson UPC modem/router

The router was connected to the Zyxel and LaCie by ethernet, and I plugged the Toshiba hard-drive into the front USB port of the Zyxel media server with the intention of then backing up everything from the Toshiba onto the Zyxel. The copy/sync light came on, so I assumed it was doing it automatically and left it alone for an hour or so. When I went to check the Zyxel, it didn't appear as though anything had been copied (1.78tb of 1.79tb we still unused) so I safely removed the Toshiba USB connection from the front of the Zyxel.

Now, when I try to connect the Toshiba to my laptop I get the message:



Anyone know if there is a way to salvage the data that was previously on the Toshiba hard-drive? There are about 7 years worth of photo's and over 100gb's of music on there, so any help would be massively appreciated.

If I need to give more information just ask.

Thanks in advance,
MJS

MrJoeSoap

When I use the Disk Management tool to see the drive status, it says 931.51gb capacity and 931.51gb free space, which isn't too encouraging.

But when I use Easeus software it says I have used 211.94gb of the capactiy, which sounds about right.

Now the question is how do I access that 211.94gb of data?

Kimbot

Right click on the Drive and go into properties, then goto the populate button and see if that gives the right sizes etc. If it does go back out and right click the drive and explore.

MrJoeSoap

jonny24ie wrote: »

Right click on the Drive and go into properties, then goto the populate button and see if that gives the right sizes etc. If it does go back out and right click the drive and explore.

When I click on Populate here it brings me back to the previous window and nothing seems to have changed.

Kimbot

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

When I click on Populate here it brings me back to the previous window and nothing seems to have changed.

Does it have a drive letter assigned?

If so how about Start-> Run -> Type in cmd -> then type x: (where x is your drive letter) -> then type dir

Do you see the files then?

Auvers

what disk format does the ZyXel use?

i.e ntfs\fat\raw

MrJoeSoap

jonny24ie wrote: »

Does it have a drive letter assigned?

If so how about Start-> Run -> Type in cmd -> then type x: (where x is your drive letter) -> then type dir

Do you see the files then?

The drive letter is F: and when I type that into Command Prompt

edanto

The first thing that I would try is to boot into a Linux live environment such as Hirens or Ubuntu Live, see if you can mount the Toshiba drive (by just connecting it to the computer) and then if it mounts, copy all the data to the Zyxel over your local network.

That's non-desctructive - ie, you can't make things any worse.

If that didn't work, I'd try some data recovery software like recuva, which is free.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056431257

And if you are feeling anyway unsure of yourself and the data is valuable, see if you can get a nerdy friend to come by or else ask a computer shop.

There are many things to try before this data would be consider lost, so have hope.

MrJoeSoap

Thanks all, will try a few different things tonight after work and see what I can do. The fact that EaseUs is at least detecting that there is or may be data on the drive is encouraging. I may try and clone that data onto another hard drive, then re-format the drive.

Auvers, I'm not sure at the moment, will check that later. I'm thinking it may be Raw and that may be why it tried to format the Toshiba drive to that.

edanto

Formatting the drive will make it harder to recover the data - don't do it. Glad you mentioned on the thread that you are considering doing it!

After you have all the data safely on to another drive, and a copy made of that, then you might want to reformat the Toshiba drive to see if you can re-use it. Personally, I wouldn't trust it though and would probably dump it.

MrJoeSoap

edanto wrote: »

Formatting the drive will make it harder to recover the data - don't do it. Glad you mentioned on the thread that you are considering doing it!

After you have all the data safely on to another drive, and a copy made of that, then you might want to reformat the Toshiba drive to see if you can re-use it. Personally, I wouldn't trust it though and would probably dump it.

Don't worry, I won't be formatting the drive until everything is safely on at least two other drives.

edanto

Yeah I wasn't 100% sure if you understood the implications of formatting and wanted to be crystal clear. Hope it didn't read like I was speaking down to you.

Best of luck!

massy086

have u try,d the partition recovery wizard in easeus that should bring it back to life it worked for me a good few times

ronkmonster

I've used this to recover files from a disk that lost it's partition before
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

It's not the easiest program to use so I'd try the easier programs like recuva first.

Allyall

Don't use ANY recovery programs, Nothing is lost..


Get Minitool Partition Wizard Home Edition.

Double click on the drive and you should see everything there. You can do a surface test and check the drive/filesystem and set a drive letter (The last may make no difference). You can also copy/move it etc... Running any recovery program without checking that first, may deplete the drive even further.

I suspect the drive is not damaged but isn't communicating with your PC correctly. Taking the drive out and placing it in a cradle WON'T help.

After checking that everything is still intact, which i'd imagine, it is. then you can start to copy over all the files to another drive, or you can try repairing it, (Which i am not 100% sure - is available only in the paid version). You can also, at a later time, use their other free tool,

PowerData Recover - Free Edition

It's been a while since i've had to do something similar, so i'm a bit rusty on it, but everything should be visible within that program (Minitool Partition Wizard).

Easeus do similar tools, which may or may not help, where Minitools failed.

After you are happy have copied the drive, you can format it, and use it again. (If there are no disk errors - Which i think not, Most likely the External case which caused the initial problem on the drive).

EDIT

I just noticed

massy086 wrote: »

have u try,d the partition recovery wizard in easeus that should bring it back to life it worked for me a good few times

That will do the same..

MrJoeSoap

massy086 wrote: »

have u try,d the partition recovery wizard in easeus that should bring it back to life it worked for me a good few times

When I try to use this it tells me I have no unallocated space to search.

MrJoeSoap

Allyall wrote: »

Don't use ANY recovery programs, Nothing is lost..


Get Minitool Partition Wizard Home Edition.

Double click on the drive and you should see everything there. You can do a surface test and check the drive/filesystem and set a drive letter (The last may make no difference). You can also copy/move it etc... Running any recovery program without checking that first, may deplete the drive even further.

I suspect the drive is not damaged but isn't communicating with your PC correctly. Taking the drive out and placing it in a cradle WON'T help.

After checking that everything is still intact, which i'd imagine, it is. then you can start to copy over all the files to another drive, or you can try repairing it, (Which i am not 100% sure - is available only in the paid version). You can also, at a later time, use their other free tool,

PowerData Recover - Free Edition

It's been a while since i've had to do something similar, so i'm a bit rusty on it, but everything should be visible within that program (Minitool Partition Wizard).

Easeus do similar tools, which may or may not help, where Minitools failed.

After you are happy have copied the drive, you can format it, and use it again. (If there are no disk errors - Which i think not, Most likely the External case which caused the initial problem on the drive).

EDIT

I just noticed


That will do the same..

Doing this now, thanks to everyone for the replies. Much appreciated. Will let you know how this goes.

MrJoeSoap

Allyall wrote: »

Don't use ANY recovery programs, Nothing is lost..


Get Minitool Partition Wizard Home Edition.

Double click on the drive and you should see everything there.

I can indeed. All the folders and files are there.

Allyall wrote: »

You can do a surface test and check the drive/filesystem

The program crashes when I try to run the surface test.

Allyall wrote: »

and set a drive letter (The last may make no difference).

The drive already has been assigned the letter F.

Allyall wrote: »

You can also copy/move it etc... Running any recovery program without checking that first, may deplete the drive even further.

I will try and run the surface test in EaseUs now and report back. EDIT : Surface test will take 9hrs :eek: so will report back this evening...

Allyall

How did it go?
Was there Any problems?

Did you get anything about Aligning sectors?

Easeus, - i'm not sure if they report that problem, they may in the newer versions.

MrJoeSoap

Allyall wrote: »

How did it go?
Was there Any problems?

Did you get anything about Aligning sectors?

Easeus, - i'm not sure if they report that problem, they may in the newer versions.

I started the surface scan yesterday morning at about 10.30am, and it was going steady about an hour later when I checked it, and said it would take about 10 hours in total to complete. When I next checked it at about 10pm last night, it had slowed down completely and was only 66% done.

Eventually it just froze. At the time that it froze, with about 66% or so done, there was only 1 bad sector discovered.

What do you think I should do next?

Allyall

In Minitool Partition Wizard - Highlight your drive, and select "Check File System" fromthe menu on the left, When that opens, choose "Check & Fix detected errors".

After that has run, you can then use the same program to copy the partition over to another drive.

Alternatively, Using Easeus Similar Product, you can use "Check Partition" - Right Click on the drive, and from the menu select "Advanced", then select "Check Partition".

Both do the same thing, but the newest version of Minitool crashed on your surface test, so i just showed an alternative.
I prefer Minitool PW, I find it does a better job, but as i said, they will both do the same thing, primarily, that you need them for,


Your problem could be caused by it being an "Advanced Format Drive". What drive is inside the case do you know?
I would imagine it is a Toshiba, but it may not be.

If it is - RUN THIS TOOL and it may fix you initial problem, but as a precaution, i would try and copy the drive first. It shouldn't be lost, but, as always, better to be safe..

WD also have tools for Alignment, as do many other manufacturers, if that is your problem.

After all these have run, Your drive will hopefully be okay, as i don't think the drive itself, is damaged, but if you want to check afterwards,

HDD REGENERATOR Trial version will check the disk, but in Trial verson, will only repair one bad sector.






http://www.hdtune.com/download.html

MrJoeSoap

Allyall wrote: »

In Minitool Partition Wizard - Highlight your drive, and select "Check File System" fromthe menu on the left, When that opens, choose "Check & Fix detected errors".

After that has run, you can then use the same program to copy the partition over to another drive.

Alternatively, Using Easeus Similar Product, you can use "Check Partition" - Right Click on the drive, and from the menu select "Advanced", then select "Check Partition".

Both do the same thing, but the newest version of Minitool crashed on your surface test, so i just showed an alternative.
I prefer Minitool PW, I find it does a better job, but as i said, they will both do the same thing, primarily, that you need them for,


Your problem could be caused by it being an "Advanced Format Drive". What drive is inside the case do you know?
I would imagine it is a Toshiba, but it may not be.

If it is - RUN THIS TOOL and it may fix you initial problem, but as a precaution, i would try and copy the drive first. It shouldn't be lost, but, as always, better to be safe..

WD also have tools for Alignment, as do many other manufacturers, if that is your problem.

After all these have run, Your drive will hopefully be okay, as i don't think the drive itself, is damaged, but if you want to check afterwards,

HDD REGENERATOR Trial version will check the disk, but in Trial verson, will only repair one bad sector.






http://www.hdtune.com/download.html

Thanks again. Home in an hour and will try it then.

MrJoeSoap

Getting this message when doing the "Check File System" in Minitool.



When I do it in Easeus I get this (very quickly I must add, takes about a second):



The hard-drive with the issue is a Toshiba, yes. It is about 3-4 years old.

Allyall

You can try to rebuild the MBR (Master Boot Record) in Minitools Partition Wizard. But i'm not sure how successful that will be. It seems to have become corrupt or deleted the first sector, Probably due to the housing it is in.
External hard drives often lose their partition information, The very beginning sector of the hard drive has the MBR on it which holds your partition table. I'd imagine that it is this, that has become corrupted. (I'd bet on it.)


Incidentally, have you tried this plugging this drive into a different OS? E.G. XP, or any Linux? Sometimes drives with similar problems show up.

Anyway, a Very good free tool to use, is TestDisk, it can Rebuild FAT/NTFS drive Boot Sectors, and it will recover all your data onto another drive.

Everything should be good from here on. Your drive has not lost anything, nor is it "corrupt" per say, but the Boot Record is corrupt or deleted.

Also, all the documentation is on that link. It's not as neat as other paid tools, but it has done the job for me plenty of times.

After you are sure you have backed up all the data on the drive, try this.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Menu_MBRCode

MrJoeSoap

Allyall wrote: »

You can try to rebuild the MBR (Master Boot Record) in Minitools Partition Wizard. But i'm not sure how successful that will be. It seems to have become corrupt or deleted the first sector, Probably due to the housing it is in.
External hard drives often lose their partition information, The very beginning sector of the hard drive has the MBR on it which holds your partition table. I'd imagine that it is this, that has become corrupted. (I'd bet on it.)

When I did the scan yesterday, the very first sector was the one that showed up as bad so you're more than likely right there.

Allyall wrote: »

Incidentally, have you tried this plugging this drive into a different OS? E.G. XP, or any Linux? Sometimes drives with similar problems show up.

I don't have any other operating systems handy, but will call to my parents tonight to try it on XP.

Allyall wrote: »

Anyway, a Very good free tool to use, is TestDisk, it can Rebuild FAT/NTFS drive Boot Sectors, and it will recover all your data onto another drive.

Everything should be good from here on. Your drive has not lost anything, nor is it "corrupt" per say, but the Boot Record is corrupt or deleted.

Also, all the documentation is on that link. It's not as neat as other paid tools, but it has done the job for me plenty of times.

After you are sure you have backed up all the data on the drive, try this.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Menu_MBRCode

Will give them a whirl in a bit. Thanks (again!).

MrJoeSoap

This is what I got after the 2hr "quick" search in TestDisk. Doing a deeper search now.

ronkmonster

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

This is what I got after the 2hr "quick" search in TestDisk. Doing a deeper search now.

What option did you pick to get to that point?

If you go to Advanced on main screen. Then with bigger partition, choose List. Does that list any files? If it does, you can try copy the files to another drive to recover them.

MrJoeSoap

ronkmonster wrote: »

What option did you pick to get to that point?

If you go to Advanced on main screen. Then with bigger partition, choose List. Does that list any files? If it does, you can try copy the files to another drive to recover them.

Can I copy them from within the program? Sorry if that may be a stupid question...

I followed the instructions on this page as far as the second sentence on step 8:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

ronkmonster

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

Can I copy them from within the program? Sorry if that may be a stupid question...

I followed the instructions on this page as far as the second sentence on step 8.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

Yes if it can see the files.

Try the advanced option and see if it can list out the files.

MrJoeSoap

ronkmonster wrote: »

Yes if it can see the files.

Try the advanced option and see if it can list out the files.

Will do that once it has finished the deep search. Thanks

MrJoeSoap

ronkmonster wrote: »

What option did you pick to get to that point?

If you go to Advanced on main screen. Then with bigger partition, choose List. Does that list any files? If it does, you can try copy the files to another drive to recover them.

If I copy the files from the troublesome FAT32 drive in question onto my NTFS drive on my laptop temporarily before then moving them to my LaCie La Cinema, could that cause a problem do you think?

edanto

No, the underlying file system won't make any difference.

Good luck

Allyall

Nope that won't make a difference at all.
(Remember to run Testdisk as Administrator, when recovering)
Once you've backed it up, you can try to change the geometry, using TestDisk, although i am not 100% sure that's the problem.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Menu_Geometry

It won't do any damage unless you save the changed settings. A small tutorial is there, I have a good one at home, that may be a bit dated, but will help you understand a little more, what you are doing. When i get home i'll add the link.
Did it work in XP or Ubuntu?

MrJoeSoap

Allyall wrote: »

Nope that won't make a difference at all.
(Remember to run Testdisk as Administrator, when recovering)
Once you've backed it up, you can try to change the geometry, using TestDisk, although i am not 100% sure that's the problem.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Menu_Geometry

It won't do any damage unless you save the changed settings. A small tutorial is there, I have a good one at home, that may be a bit dated, but will help you understand a little more, what you are doing. When i get home i'll add the link.
Did it work in XP or Ubuntu?

My parents PC was a disaster, didn't show up on that. In the process of transferring the files now. Once everything is backed up I'll get cracking on trying to fix the drive. But saving the files was priority number one.

A massive thanks to you and everyone else on this thread for assisting me with this, I owe you all one.

bette

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

My parents PC was a disaster, didn't show up on that. In the process of transferring the files now. Once everything is backed up I'll get cracking on trying to fix the drive. But saving the files was priority number one.

A massive thanks to you and everyone else on this thread for assisting me with this, I owe you all one.

I would be wary of using that disk again. You went through some moments of panic and near despair! Now is that not worth insuring yourself against by purchasing a new one?

MrJoeSoap

bette wrote: »

I would be wary of using that disk again. You went through some moments of panic and near despair! Now is that not worth insuring yourself against by purchasing a new one?

I have plenty of space on other drives, I'd only be using this one as a 2nd backup or for non-essential stuff.

Nothingbetter2d

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

I have plenty of space on other drives, I'd only be using this one as a 2nd backup or for non-essential stuff.

how old is the drive? if it is still under warranty i highly recommend u return it for a new one.

MrJoeSoap

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

how old is the drive? if it is still under warranty i highly recommend u return it for a new one.

Easily 4 or 5 years old now I'd say.

Clooney George

Right click on the drive and go to properties, then the live button and see if it is the right size, etc. If you do go back and right click the drive and explore.