External HDD major problems, reading but won't assign letter.. please help!

[DuaneG]

I have a 1.5TB External HDD that's encrypted with PGP WDE..
It's showed no sign of failure up until RIGHT now?
When I plug it it, it will spin up, prompts for the WDE password, shows in DISKPART (reads "Disk 0 Online 465GB, Free 0 B, Disk 1 Online 1397 GB, Free 0 B) AND shows in Drive Manager (Computer>Manage>Storage), but when I try and right click on it and either go to Properties or Assign drive letter and path it says, "The operation failed to complete because the disk management console view is not up-to-date. Refresh view by .. blah blah.. then try again. If the problem persists restart console or your computer.

I've restarted PC, nothing.

It even shows in PGP Desktop under WDE encryption BUT it shows "Encrypt" instead of "Unencrypt" as it acts like it doesn't understand it's encrypted, even though you have to enter password..

I can't try in safe mode because PGP Desktop will not load in safe mode, and I can't unencrypt it to try...

This is over 15 years worth of data, and I had no warning to back up again.. Jesus, please, if there's anyone with any ideas, I'd owe you my soul.

 

[kwest]

Pull drive out and run recovery software like findmyfiles.

 

[DuaneG]

This is insane..

I'm about to try and pry open this ****** seagate casing and put it in another external or try and sata it to a desktop tomorrow..

I just ran SeaTools on it.. It saw it, ran it and the short generic was PASSED.. I haven't me a long generic with repair yet, but srsly, wtf.. How is it being seen everywhere, testing fine and won't freaking MOUNT?!

I don't want to do anything that may damage my files unless there no other option.. Long test with repairs says there's a chance, as does advanced..

 

[DuaneG]

Tried posting a pic, didn't go.. Of the test passing..
I downloaded TestDisk and am even able to copy files 1 by 1 thru DOS.. So there's some sort of boot error.

Any ideas..?

 

[DuaneG]

Pull drive out and run recovery software like findmyfiles.

Kinda hard to or to ghost my full 1.5 tb had when I only have roughly 250gb free on my second external.. :/

 

[lcoughey]

If you have 15 years of data on this drive that you don't want to lose get a full sector-by-sector clone of the drive before you do anything further. You may want to seek the assistance of a data recovery pro, if you want to be sure to get your files back.

That all said, it is imperative that encrypted drives be backed up. The point of encryption is to make recovery impossible.

After getting the clone, if it doesn't work better, remove the PGP encryption off the clone. If the files aren't then accessible, then run data recovery programs to search for your files.

Good luck

 

[citizensmith]

What he said ^^

I hope this isn't a lesson laernt the hard way. Get yourself an other big drive too. Backups are worth far more than the hardwear $$$ they cost.

 

[Larry Sabo]

What Luke said, plus use ddrescue to make the clone as it will improve the amount of data recovered from blocks with bad sectors.