Internal drive gone

[something123]

Well here is my big dilema, any help would so greatly appreciated

I have two internal hard drives, one my c drive is 1tb, then my f drive which is 1.5 tb. Yesterday i was in the process of transferring some large files from my c drive to my f drive. I turned my computer on today, and i tried accessing my f drive, and it froze then said drive needed to be formated, went to properties and it says file system raw, and used and free space at 0. So basically now seems everything is gone, somehow no idea how this happened! So i've tried various recovery programs, which have brought me no real success, mainly i think because my f drive it too large, and it gets stuck at 0 percent, when scanning. The only sucees i have has has been with r studio software for recovery, i clicked on my f drive, and it found all of my files, with names and everything, but it's a total of 688gb of data, it loaded this in seconds though, just double clicked on my f drive. Is it possible, everything is still there, just deactivated or something? How did r studio find all my files and data so quickly, then? Please help...i need to find a way to recover my files.

 

[LookinAround]

Sounds like you need to try TestDisk - freeware recovery tool to help recovery lost filesystems and data. Never used it myself, but man y (but not all) have posted good success after using it).

Try it out. Then let us know

 

[something123]

Thanks for your reply,
I installed testdisk, and i've followed the recommended procedures...and i'm kind of stuck at the last step after pressing n, didn't just got to "structure ok" it went to
disk/dev/sdb-1500gb/1397 gib-chs 182401 255 63
analyse cylinder 9/182400("this is where it's at right now")
read error at 9/2/1 (1ba-144711

I'm guessing to get to 182400 would take a week?

 

[LookinAround]

This is just my guess, so you might also see if others have other input also...

TestDisk will normally help recover data when there's simple (i.e. just logical) filesystem and data corruption on the disk. BUT since you're seeing READ errors, i'm guessing the physical disk media itself may also have some damage (I believe TestDisk can logical data problems but not when the disk surface is physically damaged)

That said.. You might try and check the SMART sensors on the drive (these are sensors which indicate failures) to see if those sensors confirm physical disk failures

Try installing CrystalDiskInfo. When you run it NOTE the first line in its display across the top will show EACH of the physical disks you can see SMART data for. Be sure to click on the disk to see the information for the specific disk drive you're checking..

It'll display overall status plus individual SMART stastics. If you're seeing yellow or red icons means problems

In example below, note there are 3 different disks to choose from to see their SMART data (see them listed along top of the display)

 

[LookinAround]

btw... Where i'm going with all of this...

First, do understand this is all my best guess based on the info to date, so do more info from others if you want and let's see if others have any other input as well...


There's a number of data recovery tools out there (TestDisk - is all the better 'cuz it's freeware!) but i THINK many of these tools may be more limited when there's physical disk damage involved

So the available tools and approach to recover the data may be more limited in this type of case

> There's commercial places that specialize in data recovery, but i think they tend to cost many hundreds of $$
> I've also seen mention of another tool called Spinrite
> However, Spinrite is NOT free
> But i have seen people speak well about it (so i'm convinced it's not just scamware either)
> You might even post to ask if others in these forums have used it

Spinrite deals with some types of disk failure problems so MAY be of help. (Understand, i've never used it myself so can't say one way or another). However,
i do see their website says you have 30-day money back guarantee.. THO again.. that's just what i read.. So proceed as you see best.. i just wanted to pass along the info

 

[B00kWyrm]

I used Spinrite years ago, when MFM and RLL were the "standard" for 10, 20, and 30 meg hard drives,
back in the day of the PC and XT and the early days of DOS.
Back then Spinrite was a great product, and a "must have" tool; I have not had need recently.

Now, his promo for Spinrite says

The industry's #1 hard drive data recovery software is NOW COMPATIBLE with NTFS, FAT, Linux, and ALL OTHER file systems!

Gibson Research is a good reliable company, and committed to the end user.:approve:
Besides this "flagship" product, Gibson is also a leader in helping users hide from hackers with "Shields Up" and "Leaktest".
His site is worth a visit... http://www.grc.com/default.htm

And I agree re; physical damage... you won't recover data in any area of the disk that has suffered physical damage.
Since files are often scattered across multiple sectors, damage to a few sectors can affect many files.
Again, I would like to point out Apricorn's Drive-Wire. Also, WD has a clone utility with their disk-tools.
Sometimes either of these can recover (some) data, even when there is some damage to the disk.
Note: The longer the disk is kept spinning, the worse the damage will become... and at an accelerating rate.

 

[something123]

Just bought it and i'm going to run it, seeing all the interview and hipe around it. I just figured what the heck? This is my last shot, it seems what happened to my 1.5tb f drive is the partition simply vanished, all data seems to be there. I've only had partial success with r studio, but everything else has failed.

 

[something123]

Spinrite, did nothing for me. Don't know if my 1.5tb drive was too much for it, or something, but in the scan i kept getting "division overflow error" and it stopped and could not continue. Looks like i'm just going to accept my loses, and send back the samsung drive for a warranty replacement, and start from scratch, because spinrite seems to have screwed up my booting system, like i can hear my drives or something when i boot up the computer?

 

[B00kWyrm]

Sorry you felt Spinrite had been "hyped".
I am not an agent of Gibson Research. I simply am a satisfied customer, and I did note that it was years ago.
LookingAround also said that it "may be of help" to you, not that it would help you.

Please note...
If you can hear your drives (a scraping or whining sound?) that was not caused by Spinrite!
That is a sign of physical damage to your drive. Spinrite cannot physically damage your drive.
If you check with Gibson Research support, they may be able to help you understand the "division overflow" error.
Not certain, but I suspect it is simply because the program was unable to work past the physical damage that the drive had already experienced.

What did CrystalDiskInfo tell you about your drive?
Did you try the other freeware that LookingAround mentioned?

 

[something123]

Well, weird thing is the sound started happening right after using spin rite. I gotta run crrystal info though, because i never ran it, just read about spinrite and fell for all the hype very quickly, but it seems to be kind of outdated for that drives are now a days. I can't even see my f drive in my computer anymore? Gotta find a way to get it back, and also fix my bios, which i think it's screwed up.