Disk partition recovery

[jaymax2U]

System i386 O/S XP Prof. SP3.

I am running a USB2 external HD [FUJITSU 80 GB MHV2080AH Hard drive]. The hard drive has disappeared from the 'My Computer' Listing, at times it appears as a Generic 'Local Drive (M) ' with no other attributes of Total Size, Free Space, etc. I cannot access the data.

Hard disk utilities such as OGT Diagnostic tool, Test Disk, FileRecovery do not seem capable of accessing the disk, perhaps because it is and external USB HD, I don't know?

Any suggestion or recommended tools would be welcomed, as I couldn't find anything in the Sys Resource Kit (SysinternalsSuite) either.

Thanks

RE: Disk partition recovery

 

[goombawaho]

GetDataBack for NTFS - get and install the trial version on the built-in hard drive and choose the option "Systematic File System Damage" when the options come up after having chosen the external drive. Then you will be able to see if you can see your data.

I don't know that you will be able to restore the partition, but you could try a FIXMBR.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/.../proddocs/en-us/bootcons_fixmbr.mspx?mfr=true

http://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/fix-mbr-xp-vista/

 

[linney]

Is it visible on another machine?

How is this unit powered, does it have mains power, or does it rely on a USB connection? Non powered USB's may exceed the available amount of power output generated by the computer.

When it shows up as the M: drive is there any details about it within Disk Management? Even if it is not showing in My Computer can Disk Management see it at all?

Have you any yellow exclamation marks or other errors in the Device Manager?

 

[jaymax2U]

No yellow exclamation mark

In Disk Management shows up (sometimes) with no details and no formatting bar underneath

On another machine effects are similar, other machine older with older USB port

Unit is powered through USB2 connection


I'm beginning to think it might be a MBR problem

 

[goombawaho]

Yes, it has lost it's mind (MBR). I don't think you can hurt it if you ONLY create a new MBR.

You could safely run the manufacturer's diagnostic test on it without risking the data, just to confirm there's not a low level hardware issue.

Then you could use GDB to get your data, if that was your goal.

 

[flyboytim]

It may be a problem with the disk MBR or partition table, but XP had buggy USB 1.1 and 2.0 support - this is a common problem, mostly fixed with SP3, although sometimes hotfixes failed, and corrupt registry entries remained.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925196

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892050/

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920875/

There is a hotfix:

http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=892050&kbln=en-us

Service pack 3 is available for download here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...a8-5e76-401f-be08-1e1555d4f3d4&displaylang=en

A live linux boot CD eg Mint will often see USB disks (and other partitions) that windows can't, and allow you to backup to your internal hard drive. Free of charge.

 

[jaymax2U]

I am running XP SP3

Well I have been trying to repair the MBR with MBRwizard and it refuses to repair. I had a backed up copy of the MBR (nearly forgot that I had it) - On the restoration attempts - it return an "Error 14: - Unable to save the MBR to selected disk"

Meantime the full display "Original Name", "Type", "Full Size" and "Free Space" appears in the "My Computer" listing.

It does not show up under Disk Management.

Disk shows up under Active@FileRecovery for Windows as Local Disk (1) but does not effect a SuperScan of the disk for file recovery (grrrrrrrrr!!!!!)

I am wondering if I should try a hex editor, the MBR record should provide the template.

I do have a Live Linux - Knoppix, would that work also for seeing USB disks?

On the other hand I do have the manufacturer's OGT Diagnostic that I can boot with but just a bit cautious if it will be visible after a reboot, just trying to do 'whatever' with the least perturbation.

Thanks all!

 

[BadBigBen]

Zes, boot with Knoppix and see if it detects the USB drive and can access it...

and yes, do run the manufacturers diag tool on the drive...

also, if you have a powered USB hub, try it between the drive and the PC, and/or with an added power source...

I've also seen enclosures going bad, usually taking out the drive and hooking it up directly to the PC, or using another adapter(interface, usually brought success in recovering the data...





Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[jaymax2U]

Well after much switching between computers, it finally came up, after going through an "Autoplay" routine, I guess only God knows why. Making a *.rar archive and an image of it. Will completely rebuild the partition and reformat when finished, just hoping it stays stable during the data capture period.

Thanks guys!!!

PS: Anyone has any idea why this "Autoplay" routine would appear?
(A dialog box, an animated searching flashlight icon and streaming filenames of files in the volume)

 

[linney]

Autoplay is par for the course when any USB drive is plugged in. Are there any Autoplay settings on a right-click of the drive that you can set?

 

[jaymax2U]

Thanks to all you guys
Found out the problem was in the hardware, of all the things the enclosure. Switching the disks around and installing another disk completely localized the problem to the enclosure. Replacing it for several days now ==> no problem state.

Thanks again!

 

[linney]

Thank you for the feedback, we can add it to the list of things to watch out for.