need some direction ffor data recovery

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I have a clients 500 gb notebook hd that I need to recover data from. The drive itself clicks three to four times than continues to spin but is not recognized in windows. I ran linux mint and ubuntu to see if I can use those to get the data but both version give me this message and I cant seem to get around it.

Error mounting: mount exited with exit code 13: $MFTMirr does not match $MFT (record 0).Failed to mount '/dev/sda1': Input/output error
NTFS is either inconsistent, or there is a hardware fault, or it's a
SoftRAID/FakeRAID hardware. In the first case run chkdsk /f on Windows
then reboot into Windows twice. The usage of the /f parameter is very
important! If the device is a SoftRAID/FakeRAID then first activate
it and mount a different device under the /dev/mapper/ directory, (e.g.
/dev/mapper/nvidia_eahaabcc1). Please see the 'dmraid' documentation
for more details.

I have done a pcb swap on the drive in an attempt to get windows to recognize the drive however upon recogniztion my work machine crashes with irql not equal.

before I send the drive out can anyone drop me a hint.

thanks
 
Is the drive recognized in BIOS? If so, try DDrescue/clonezilla/etc. cloning utilities

If the drive is not recognized in BIOS, then you probably will have to send it off for pro data recovery.
 
Linux has recognised your drive which is good; what you want to do is perform a clone of the drive (I'd highly recommend using ddrescue). Basically linux knows you're drive is there, but is unable to mount the partition at /dev/sda1. This could be because of file system corruption, bad sectors, or your faulty heads may also be causing the issue. I will say at this point not the put the drive in the freezer, as this can cause many further problems. I would also use the original pcb to do these steps:

1) Connect two hard drives to the machine; the faulty one and a functional drive to perform the clone to. Hint: If you use a different sized drive (bigger, obviously), it can make it easier to distinguish between them and makes you less likely to mix up the target and source of the clone

2) Run the command
Code: 
sudo fdisk -l
(that's a lower-case 'L'). This will list all available disks attached to your machine. Note the device file of the drive you're trying to save and the device file of the drive you're cloning to. A device file will be located in /dev/.

3) Use this syntax for ddrescue: 'sudo ddrescue [inputfile] [outputfile]'. EG: to clone the entire drive at /dev/sda to /dev/sdb, run the command
Code: 
sudo ddrescue /dev/sda /dev/sdb

Depending on how badly affected the drive is, the clone may take some time. You might just want to leave it overnight and see how far it gets. After the clone you might be able to find the partition (if you're lucky). If not, you may need to try running TestDisk to recover the partition structure. If you're again, lucky, you may be able to access the partition. If not, you may need to try running Chkdsk on the functioning drive. If all else fails then you may be able to use Photorec or Foremost to recover the files based on their headers.

If you want extra help with ddrescue then I have a little tutorial I created which should help. Alternatively I could walk you through it on the forums.

EDIT: Sorry I forgot to say; ubuntu/mint won't have ddrescue installed by default - I'd recommend you download the SystemRescue CD (it has ddrescue and loads of other nice data recovery tools)
 
Last edited:
I will give this a go thank you very much maybe ill get lucky :cool:

iisjman07 said:
Linux has recognised your drive which is good; what you want to do is perform a clone of the drive (I'd highly recommend using ddrescue). Basically linux knows you're drive is there, but is unable to mount the partition at /dev/sda1. This could be because of file system corruption, bad sectors, or your faulty heads may also be causing the issue. I will say at this point not the put the drive in the freezer, as this can cause many further problems. I would also use the original pcb to do these steps:

1) Connect two hard drives to the machine; the faulty one and a functional drive to perform the clone to. Hint: If you use a different sized drive (bigger, obviously), it can make it easier to distinguish between them and makes you less likely to mix up the target and source of the clone

2) Run the command
Code: 
sudo fdisk -l
(that's a lower-case 'L'). This will list all available disks attached to your machine. Note the device file of the drive you're trying to save and the device file of the drive you're cloning to. A device file will be located in /dev/.

3) Use this syntax for ddrescue: 'sudo ddrescue [inputfile] [outputfile]'. EG: to clone the entire drive at /dev/sda to /dev/sdb, run the command
Code: 
sudo ddrescue /dev/sda /dev/sdb

Depending on how badly affected the drive is, the clone may take some time. You might just want to leave it overnight and see how far it gets. After the clone you might be able to find the partition (if you're lucky). If not, you may need to try running TestDisk to recover the partition structure. If you're again, lucky, you may be able to access the partition. If not, you may need to try running Chkdsk on the functioning drive. If all else fails then you may be able to use Photorec or Foremost to recover the files based on their headers.

If you want extra help with ddrescue then I have a little tutorial I created which should help. Alternatively I could walk you through it on the forums.

EDIT: Sorry I forgot to say; ubuntu/mint won't have ddrescue installed by default - I'd recommend you download the SystemRescue CD (it has ddrescue and loads of other nice data recovery tools)
Click to expand...
 
If you try the freezer method, put the drive in a very thin plastic bag, the kind found at the produce counters, so you can completely seal the drive before putting it in the freezer. If you have one of those sequestering gel packs, throw one into the bag, too. When you remove it, connect the drive by pushing the connector through the plastic to minimize ingress of warm humid air. Easier done with IDE drives, but their the ones that are old enough to have stiction problems.
 
Pirating is pretty ridiculous. Getting paid and not paying someone for their work is pretty lame in my book.
Click to expand...

I agree 100% with the above. But getting back to da hard drive...

I have tried recovering some drives and I would have to say that my success rate is kinda dismal. But I did learn that on alot of drives they have data stored in a chip on the board that pertains to the settings on the drive. Alot of times this chip has to be moved over to the donor card. I think I also read that alot of times this info is also stored on the disk. There are some utube vids on how to access the drive serial-wise with a cable but I have never tried that.

correct me if I m wrong on the above though.

Hope Im not hijacking a thread here but would love to hear about how some have rescued some drives and what was actually wrong with them.

What model drive are we talking?
 
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