My Hard drive became RAW format need to convert

[Majestic]

Hi all,

Suddenly out of nowhere my computer froze and on the reboot my 4th hard drive became RAW format. Double clicking on it gives me "error unreadable format" (of course). The drive had gone bad.

In any case, I cloned it using Easeus Todo Backup (1tb) to a new 2 tb I bought for this purpose. The new hard drive shows raw however I tried TestDisk to convert it to NTFS and on the reboot still no go. I can of course recover it using getdataback (I've checked it on the original hard drive and with another tool and the data is there). I don't want to go that route necessarily because it seems to me I just need to fix the partition table rather than recover to a healthy hard drive -- as it IS on a healthy hard drive now.

Keeping in mind I went from a 1 tb to a 2tb.. I'm hoping not to have a very time consuming experience here (I know.. I know..). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Majestic

 

[lcoughey]

Use WinHex to reconstruct the MBR and BS manually. When you cloned, you had absolutely no read errors? What did you use for the clone?

 

[Majestic]

Use WinHex to reconstruct the MBR and BS manually. When you cloned, you had absolutely no read errors? What did you use for the clone?

When I first cloned I had errors then I had to do a sector-to-sector copy and that worked fine. There are several areas of the hard drive that are bad.

That said, I have never used a hex editor to reconstruct my mbr? How do I do that exactly?

Majestic

 

[Coastalbendcomputers]

We use TestDisk
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

You can use this to rebuild the partitions it is pretty good about finding where the old partitions where and rebuilding them so it is just like it was before.

 

[lcoughey]

If you didn't read all the sectors, you may have unread sectors in the MFT...so, repair really isn't an option. You didn't specify which tool you used to make the sector by sector clone, but most software tools read in blocks. So, if 1 sector is unreadable, it will skip the entire block, possibly 256 sectors or more.

So, if you didn't do it already, you should clone with ddrescue, using a log file and after the initial clone, work to get the number of unread sectors down to zero.

However, if your intent is to boot up and carry on, I don't recommend it. 1 unread sector in a system file will be enough to make your system unstable and possibly be the cause of another system failure.

 

[Majestic]

We use TestDisk
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

You can use this to rebuild the partitions it is pretty good about finding where the old partitions where and rebuilding them so it is just like it was before.

I used testdisk (mentioned this above). It did not succeed unfortunately..

 

[lcoughey]

We use TestDisk
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

You can use this to rebuild the partitions it is pretty good about finding where the old partitions where and rebuilding them so it is just like it was before.

Test disk is good at finding the BS and recreating the MBR record to show the partition again. However, if there are missing sectors within the MFT or the BS itself, you are going to have a rough go of it and have very little chance of success...as was already mentioned with the OP's first post.

 

[Majestic]

If you didn't read all the sectors, you may have unread sectors in the MFT...so, repair really isn't an option. You didn't specify which tool you used to make the sector by sector clone, but most software tools read in blocks. So, if 1 sector is unreadable, it will skip the entire block, possibly 256 sectors or more.

So, if you didn't do it already, you should clone with ddrescue, using a log file and after the initial clone, work to get the number of unread sectors down to zero.

However, if your intent is to boot up and carry on, I don't recommend it. 1 unread sector in a system file will be enough to make your system unstable and possibly be the cause of another system failure.

I used Todo Backup w/sector to sector copy. This was not a boot drive, just a data drive by the way. I don't want to necessarily do a second clone at least to the same drive. Perhaps next time I will use ddrescue instead.

I suppose then my only other option here would be go copy from getdataback to another drive and then back again. ahhh.. so frustrating!!

Majestic

 

[lcoughey]

I used Todo Backup w/sector to sector copy. This was not a boot drive, just a data drive by the way. I don't want to necessarily do a second clone at least to the same drive. Perhaps next time I will use ddrescue instead.

With this, you have a partial clone with an unknown number of holes.

I suppose then my only other option here would be go copy from getdataback to another drive and then back again. ahhh.. so frustrating!!

If you are going to run GDB, you will want to get the cleanest clone possible first. You may find MFT records for incomplete files, or may find files with no MFT records. Basically, you could have a fairly messy recovery. The cleanest clone possible is critical for data recovery.

As I've said before, if you try to cut corners, you will end up spending more time on the project.

If you'd like some remote assistance with ddrescue, I'm willing to help.

 

[Ccomp5950]

If a disk is failing and corrupts the partition / file table the first thing you need to do is clone it, not try and repair it directly. That will probably cause more damage then was originally there and probably make the recovery job even harder.

Before you continue any further clone it using ddrescue to another disk (same size or larger) and try to recover the data on the drive you cloned it over to.

Trying to recover data from a failing drive is like driving on a flat to the nearest tire store across town. (Yay, Car analogy!)
Clone the data (put on the spare tire) before you drive it across town.

 

[Majestic]

If a disk is failing and corrupts the partition / file table the first thing you need to do is clone it, not try and repair it directly. That will probably cause more damage then was originally there and probably make the recovery job even harder.

Before you continue any further clone it using ddrescue to another disk (same size or larger) and try to recover the data on the drive you cloned it over to.

Trying to recover data from a failing drive is like driving on a flat to the nearest tire store across town. (Yay, Car analogy!)
Clone the data (put on the spare tire) before you drive it across town.

While I completely agree with everything you just said-- here is the dilemma: I have ALREADY done the cloning (albeit not with ddrescue, but with Easeus todo backup) successfully (I assume). So do I KEEP That cloned copy or redo the entire clone with the possibility I will lose the data altogether?

Majestic

...sounds like i need ANOTHER hard drive....

 

[DocGreen]

I had this happen to an external HDD of mine... one minute it worked fine, moved it to another computer and it came up as RAW. Continued to come up as RAW on each computer I tried it in.

Ya know what fixed it?
Parted Magic.

All I did was boot to Parted Magic, plug in the drive, and it magically came up as NTFS. Didn't even have to do anything to it. After that, all other computers read it as NTFS without any issues.

Weird.

 

[lcoughey]

While I completely agree with everything you just said-- here is the dilemma: I have ALREADY done the cloning (albeit not with ddrescue, but with Easeus todo backup) successfully (I assume). So do I KEEP That cloned copy or redo the entire clone with the possibility I will lose the data altogether?

Majestic

...sounds like i need ANOTHER hard drive....

I would use ddrescue to clone to the same drive. It only writes the sectors it reads, so it won't lose anything you already have...and will hopefully make it better.

Again, my offer to remotely assist with getting the ddrescue clone is still available.

Luke

 

[Majestic]

Okay a little update here...

So I cloned the drive first using Acronis successfully.

I tried to run spinrite on the original drive on a recommendation of a fellow tech but it kept getting a DIVISION OVERFLOW ERROR 5672 after 30% ran (I've googled this thoroughly) even when booting from an MS DOS boot disk..

So then I ran HD Regenerator which found NO BAD Sectors on it.

On the cloned drive I ran Get Data Back NTFS and it only found about 100 gigs and most of the directory is corrupted. I believe the MFT is completely corrupted. I can't chkdsk as I get the error "unable to determine volume version and state. CHKDSK Aborted."

ANY RECOMMENDATIONS would be highly appreciated -- this data is very important to me and I Feel like a TOTAL MORON for not pointing Crashplan (which I have by the way ) to it because at the time I didn't have unlimited bandwidth and didn't want the extra charges so I picked and chose.. ugh..

How can I repair the MFT?

Please help (wow I feel like a USER not a tech now....!!!)

Majestic

 

[lcoughey]

I was offering to help remotely for free....that offer is now officially taken off the table.

 

[OneClick]

How about trying kroll ontrack data recovery.
http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com.au/file-recovery-software/
It's free to try and see what it finds.
Good luck.

 

[SilverLeaf]

Okay a little update here...

So I cloned the drive first using Acronis successfully.

I tried to run spinrite on the original drive on a recommendation of a fellow tech but it kept getting a DIVISION OVERFLOW ERROR 5672 after 30% ran (I've googled this thoroughly) even when booting from an MS DOS boot disk..

So then I ran HD Regenerator which found NO BAD Sectors on it.

On the cloned drive I ran Get Data Back NTFS and it only found about 100 gigs and most of the directory is corrupted. I believe the MFT is completely corrupted. I can't chkdsk as I get the error "unable to determine volume version and state. CHKDSK Aborted."

ANY RECOMMENDATIONS would be highly appreciated -- this data is very important to me and I Feel like a TOTAL MORON for not pointing Crashplan (which I have by the way ) to it because at the time I didn't have unlimited bandwidth and didn't want the extra charges so I picked and chose.. ugh..

How can I repair the MFT?

Please help (wow I feel like a USER not a tech now....!!!)

Majestic

I suspect that if you had listened to the excellent advice and offer provided by lcoughey, you would have this solved already. I can't understand why you proceeded as you did, despite the recommendations and offer for help from a data recovery professional.

 

[Majestic]

I suspect that if you had listened to the excellent advice and offer provided by lcoughey, you would have this solved already. I can't understand why you proceeded as you did, despite the recommendations and offer for help from a data recovery professional.

To be honest, I'm not very comfortable with DDRescue and have only used it once. I don't know 100% that ddrescue would have fixed it or not? Perhaps I'm impatient and that is the reason. In any case, I have not made any changes nor caused any damage to the drive yet so that is still an option.

I'm actually trying another program on the CLONED drive right now (in the middle). I will definitely contact lcoughey (Thank you for the offer by the way Lcoughey) after this process.

He's also right that by jumping back and forth the process ends up being a lot longer (thus, the past 2 of my posts). Live and learn (The hard way). I won't make this mistake in the future. I kind of freaked out TBH...

Regards,

Majestic

 

[codegreen]

ANY RECOMMENDATIONS would be highly appreciated -- this data is very important to me...

I'm sorry for being harsh, but you got excellent advice from a data recovery expert which you completely ignored. He even offered remote assistance.

To be honest, I'm not very comfortable with DDRescue and have only used it once.

A client may not be very comfortable with Quickbooks, but that doesn't mean they should use Notepad for their bookkeeping. If you're not comfortable with the proper tool for the job, you should get help from someone. I've walked people through a ddrescue session before, and I'm happy to help if I have the time. Not to mention that previous offer of remote assistance from lcoughey...

In any case, I have not made any changes nor caused any damage to the drive yet so that is still an option.

You've run both SpinRite and HD Regenerator on the original drive before getting a sector-for-sector clone. These programs both write data to the damaged drive. They may have done additional damage. You may have to send this drive out for lab recovery at this point.

 

[Majestic]

I'm sorry for being harsh, but you got excellent advice from a data recovery expert which you completely ignored. He even offered remote assistance.



A client may not be very comfortable with Quickbooks, but that doesn't mean they should use Notepad for their bookkeeping. If you're not comfortable with the proper tool for the job, you should get help from someone. I've walked people through a ddrescue session before, and I'm happy to help if I have the time. Not to mention that previous offer of remote assistance from lcoughey...



You've run both SpinRite and HD Regenerator on the original drive before getting a sector-for-sector clone. These programs both write data to the damaged drive. They may have done additional damage. You may have to send this drive out for lab recovery at this point.

I agree with everything you've said except one thing, the clone I performed while not by ddrescue was a sector-to-sector clone using Acronis. I don't know if it is anywhere as good as DDRescue in that regard, but it was a sector to sector clone nonetheless. I will definitely be more intelligent in my approach in the future...

Regards,

Majestic