HD showing unallocated but full

[norty303]

I've got a Seagate Barracuda 160gb which has 2 partitions on it, both of which are nearly full.

The drive shows in bios and in Windows Disk Management and Seagate Discwizard but not in My Computer.

WinXP Disk Management reports the space as unallocated so i'm assuming the file structure is corrupt. Seatools also reported bad file corruption and

'ATACore Error 11 in Seqscan' if that means anything to anyone from the log.

Is it possible to repair or am i resigned to a repartition/format and lose the data. There's not anything REALLY important on there but obviously it would be better not to!

 

[ski]

See if a different known working IDE cable fixes things.

If not, then see if one of the tools in this link helps to recover your files:

http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/system/fwdatarecovery.html

 

[norty303]

Ok, should've stated this - have stripped the PC back to Primary boot disk and then added this secondary drive in all other available locations (Primary slave, Secondary master and slave) using known good 80pin cables with all possible combinations of master, slave and CS jumpers.

The problem is with the way Windows sees to drive. Using recovery console it doesn't get recognized either, whilst the other 2 disk (4 partitions) do.

I've tried to eliminate all possible hardware issues and as all my drives are Barracudas (80gb, 120gb and 160gb) i feel that the issue lies with the structure on the disk.

I'm running R-Studio scan now to see what it can find and it is finding file and folder entries so i'm thinking it must be something to do with how OS's look for valid disks.

I'd rather not recover the files if there is simply some way to repair the structure.

Any info on this vein?

 

[ski]

Repartitioning and reformatting are always a good place to start, but the your files.....

 

[ski]

That should have read 'but then your files...'

 

[rvnguy]

north303,

I've got a Seagate Barracuda 160gb which has 2 partitions on it, both of which are nearly full.

From this I am taking it that this drive was working in this PC and quit working at some point.

The drive shows in bios and in Windows Disk Management and Seagate Discwizard but not in My Computer.

But your second post seems to indicate that you can no longer get this drive recognized.

Couple of things; if this drive was an OS boot drive and you now have it as a slave,??, what file system is it? And what are you now using as an OS. Point, if this is a NTFS file system and you are using say win98 or ME these OS's will not recognize NTFS.

Barring that. try to get back where you were with the drive at least being addressable as in your first post. Form the cmd line run "chkdsk /r F:" where "F" is the drive letter for the drive. the /r will repair the items it finds on the drive. You might also try "fixmbr" as this might be a problem.

As you have noted, last resort is to "zero" the drive out and repartition & reformat it.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[norty303]

My PC works fine apart from the fact that i can't see the 2 drives (2 partitions on a single 160gb disk) in My Computer and thus can't do anything within Windows to fix it. I can't do a chkdsk because the drive doesn't get assigned a drive letter because it doesn't exist as such.

The only way i can 'see' the drive is in Disk Management but nothing shows in 'Volumes', it just shows as a physical disk in the lower pane and the only option there is to repartition.

The OS is WinXPSP2 and this was purely a slave drive (all drives NTFS) holding data - i wouldn't be typing this of the Primary drive had gone bad!!


The PC has been happy 24/7 for the last 2 years and this drive is only just a year old. But it's not hardware.

The scan has now completed and all of the files look to be recoverable apart from the fact i don't have a spare 150gb of storage to recover them to.

The drive is not broken, something in the files structure IS.

Anyone got any ideas about repairing the data?

Repartitioning and reformatting are always a good place to start

Personally I'd say that is a 'bad' place to start... Doesn't leave much scope afterwards!

 

[ski]

I said that knowint that it's normally the last resort, but it also usually saves so much time and effort in trying to trace down the problem, which in this case seems to be the file structure.

 

[rvnguy]

norty303,

My estimation is that your MBR is defunct for some reason and as you noted you cannot run normal routines to correct as the drive is not recognized or at least addressable by letter.

You might look at this link for information on the MBR:

http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/MBRtool_manual.htm

At this point, if you have a disk editor you could attempt to write/restore your MBR manually or use a MBR recovery tool. Thee are several that you could search for as this is only one:
MBR Recovery

http://www.partition-recovery.com/index-overture.htm?OVRAW=mbr&OVKEY=mbr&OVMTC=content

As a PostScript: these things happen in a world of devices that can & do fail. I would recommend that you start a backup routine of your choosing to safeguard that information you cannot afford to lose.

I hope that you have success in restoring some or all of your information. Please post back with your decisions and progress.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[norty303]

The solution is simple, i need to get the files back.

There seem to be 2 options:

1. Fix the file structure. Disk back to normal.

2. Recover the files to another disk. Reformat the original and move files back.

but it also usually saves so much time and effort in trying to trace down the problem

So you're suggesting just reformatting and starting again to save some time and effort that might yield results?

 

[ski]

Actually, I assumed that you were intelligent enough to put 2+2 together with just some general input from others.

 

[norty303]

As a PostScript: these things happen in a world of devices that can & do fail. I would recommend that you start a backup routine of your choosing to safeguard that information you cannot afford to lose.

Funnily enough, this HD 'was' the backup drive until it got filled up with other stuff. As i said, it would be an inconvenience but not a tragedy if it went, but if i can sort it before giving up then that would be desirable.

I work on Oracle so i understand about good backups (a case of do as I say, not as i do!!)

I'm going to have a look at the MBR tools, thanks and see if i can do anything. I've managed to clear about 70gb of space on other drives to recover to so i can prob do most of the more desirable things before reformating.

 

[norty303]

Actually, I assumed that you were intelligent enough to put 2+2 together with just some general input from others.

Actually I am, which is why I've not taken your advice. What disturbs me is that you offer this advice without understanding the technical ability of the poster and could potentially lead someone to reformat unnecessarily.

I was asking for some specific input as i'd exhausted all of the other posibilities (cables, etc)

I appreciate the time you've taken to respond however.

 

[ski]

Actually, my crystal ball crashed the other day leaving me without the ability to see into other people's minds. But I'll keep trying to help those who post their problems here anyway.

However, based on your posts' input, I have a good hunch where your situation is heading, and I thought that I'd just save you some time in getting there.

 

[garebo]

Ski, gee, at least im not alone. I got reamed for a whole lot less and good advice too, not that i am knocking your advice. Sometimes you just cant win. Best to let it go at that i guess.




Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[rvnguy]

norty303,
[quote}The PC has been happy 24/7 for the last 2 years and this drive is only just a year old
Funnily enough, this HD 'was' the backup drive until it got filled up with other stuff.[/quote]
As you are adept at Oracle, I would hope that you realize that a backup solution that is hot 24/7 is just as prone to failure as any other device. A lesson that I would hope this would make you realize.

If you mis posted your system and how you utilize it I am sorry, but we, as a group, only have the things that you post to make any suggestions upon.

As I previously posted, that at this point you can attempt to rewrite/restore your MBR manually. Please look over the link with what is contained in the file description area where it is and the offset. When you have this understood it is not outside of the careful "tech" abilities to rebuild it.

Good Luck

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all