Everything is ok but windows 10 says disk structure is corrupted

papmodern · 17 Jun 2018

Hey

I have a 3TB WD External Hard drive and worked perfectly till one time windows said there is a problem with this drive and fix it with windows options. I tried and after that my entire partition is inaccessible.
I read some of topics in this forum and used testdisk software to check my situations. My list of files if showing normally in that application and my MFT is matched correctly with mirror. This software says everything is ok. CrystalDiskInfo says disk is GOOD. I wrote the Quick scan result of testdisk to drive. Nothing changed. Damned windows 10 still just tell me: "the disk structure is corrupted and unreadable"

As I can navigate my every single files in testdisk, I think its not good to recover my existing files with something like GetDataBack.

So please lead me to some way I can solve this silly windows problem.

Thanks a lot

TV2 · 17 Jun 2018

First order of business is to back up all your files. If the drive truly has problems then it could become unusable at any time, and running tests can speed up that process. So back up your data to an external drive or other storage before anything else.

The run chkdsk /r from a command prompt on that drive. Run the command prompt as Administrator.

If there are file problems that windows does not like then it may be able to fix them and you can get the system back.
If there are errors or bad sectors then it will report them.

If you can't get into Windows to run a Command Prompt then you will need to run it from System Recovery Tools run from a boot flash drive. If that is the case and you need more help to do that just ask.

jumanji · 17 Jun 2018

Hi @papmodern,
If TestDisk could list all your files, what prevents you from copying the files to another drive? I will do that first before running any check disk. I am out of station and do not post from my mobile but posted this just to stop you running check disk. After you copy all your files I shall give you the specific check disk command to run after I return to my base in another 36 hours .

Clintlgm · 17 Jun 2018

let us know when you have that drive backed up. Save your data before doing anything else. To save space you could use Macrium Reflect or some other imaging software to create a Disk Image. Much faster and safer than trying to just copy your files to another hard drive.
Then we can sort our whether your hard drive is repairable or not.

papmodern · 18 Jun 2018

Hello there
As you suggested I started to copy some of the my very life time important data to another storage before more testing process. And as @Clintlgm mentioned there is some options in testdisk for saving image from hard drive.

Which one is better to consider? testdisk itself option or an other software like Macrium Reflect?

jumanji · 18 Jun 2018

Directly copy the files. We resort to imaging/cloning only when we doubt that the hdd is failing and to do the recovery from the image/clone resting the faulty drive.

jumanji · 18 Jun 2018

Back to my den after a overnight train journey.

As you said since TestDisk can list all your files our first priority will be to copy all files to another drive. If you are still at it, this writeup should help you.
1. You should have another external disk with adequate space to copy all the files. In that external disk create a folder named Recovery.
2. This disk - the destination disk - should be plugged in alongwith your faulty drive - the source disk - before you start TestDisk.
3. On the TestDisk run, note down the drive letter of your destination disk. If it is I: then your destination to copy the files will be Directory I: \Recovery ( Replace I: with the actual drive letter you noted )

Copying files listed by TestDisk during Recovery: My external hard drive suddenly became unllocated: - Page 3 - Windows 7 Help Forums Screenshot four onwards. This writeup clearly indicates how to reach your destinaion folder to copy the files.)

( After the quick scan you need not have written it to the disk. Just highlight the partition and press P to list the files select, and proceed to copy )

After you have copied the files, close TestDisk and then check all your copied files are OK.

Once you are absolutely sure that you got everything alright, proceed with checkdisk on the faulty drive. ( Please remove all other external disks, Flash drives from the USB ports. Plugin only your faulty 3TB drive which you want to restore.)

Run check disk from command prompt.

Open Command prompt. Start > All programs > Accessories > Command Prompt

Type
CHKDSK K: /f /v /r /x Press enter. Note: Replace K: with the actual drive letter of your 3TB external disk. Also note that there is a space before every /

Allow checkdisk to complete.

Warning: If checkdisk starts running, it may, depending upon the extent of file system corruption take a long time to complete. Do not abort it midway for any reason and let it complete even if it takes many hours. Do not do any other task on the PC. No multitasking. CheckDisk aborting midway can leave your disk in a much worse conditon. We do not want to take any chances and that is why we recommend copying all files before running checkdisk

.

If checkdisk completes without any incident, your disk should be back to its original condition and accessible as before. And now you have a backup too on another disk.

papmodern · 20 Jun 2018

jumanji said:

Back to my den after a overnight train journey.

As you said since TestDisk can list all your files our first priority will be to copy all files to another drive. If you are still at it, this writeup should help you.
1. You should have another external disk with adequate space to copy all the files. In that external disk create a folder named Recovery.
2. This disk - the destination disk - should be plugged in alongwith your faulty drive - the source disk - before you start TestDisk.
3. On the TestDisk run, note down the drive letter of your destination disk. If it is I: then your destination to copy the files will be Directory I: \Recovery ( Replace I: with the actual drive letter you noted )

Copying files listed by TestDisk during Recovery: My external hard drive suddenly became unllocated: - Page 3 - Windows 7 Help Forums Screenshot four onwards. This writeup clearly indicates how to reach your destinaion folder to copy the files.)

( After the quick scan you need not have written it to the disk. Just highlight the partition and press P to list the files select, and proceed to copy )

After you have copied the files, close TestDisk and then check all your copied files are OK.

Once you are absolutely sure that you got everything alright, proceed with checkdisk on the faulty drive. ( Please remove all other external disks, Flash drives from the USB ports. Plugin only your faulty 3TB drive which you want to restore.)

Run check disk from command prompt.

Open Command prompt. Start > All programs > Accessories > Command Prompt

Type
CHKDSK K: /f /v /r /x Press enter. Note: Replace K: with the actual drive letter of your 3TB external disk. Also note that there is a space before every /

Allow checkdisk to complete.

Warning: If checkdisk starts running, it may, depending upon the extent of file system corruption take a long time to complete. Do not abort it midway for any reason and let it complete even if it takes many hours. Do not do any other task on the PC. No multitasking. CheckDisk aborting midway can leave your disk in a much worse conditon. We do not want to take any chances and that is why we recommend copying all files before running checkdisk

.

If checkdisk completes without any incident, your disk should be back to its original condition and accessible as before. And now you have a backup too on another disk.

Hi Jumanji

I copied my files over 2 days ago and after that did exactly what you said. There was no any multi tasking. and CHKDSK takes about 24 hours to complete. But.... unexpected error

Here is the result:

Everything is ok but windows 10 says disk structure is corrupted-sketch.png

boombastik · 20 Jun 2018

broken usb cable or broken usb controller.

jumanji · 20 Jun 2018

That is bad luck. Windows was unable to correct the errors in the MFT mirror. You should be happy that you got all your data back.

Now you can clean wipe your HDD ( diskpart cleanall) and format it. I am not sure whether your drive was an MBR drive or GPT drive. ( Upto certain point in time all larger than 2TB drives came formatted as an MBR drive to make those compatible with GPT-blind Windows XP. After Microsoft ended support to XP, all such drives come formatted as a GPT drive.)

You can try formatting the drive as an MBR drive. If it couldn't be formatted that way, then format it as a GPT drive.

Whatever,do not use your WD My passport disk (I got this info from your checkdisk screenshot) to save important data.

All WD external disks (except the Elements model - both in the desktop variety and the portable ones) use hardware encryption. The encryption /decryption chip resides in the SATA to USB bridge inside the enclosure. If the bridge circuit fails, no DIY data recovery is possible. You have to necessarily turn it over to the WD Data Recovery partners, who only have the decrypt key to decrypt the recovered data. Needless to say it will cost you heavily . You are lucky this time that no such electronics failure had occurred and that is why you were able to recover the data.