Partition Recovery/ Incorrect Parameter For External Hard Drive

Yep, It is 5TB. Thanks SIW2. Corrected. ( Somehow 4TB got stuck in my mind )

@RockieOllie,

Contnuing with post#20,

For TestDisk Screenshots see here - from post#6 onwards. WD Elements being read as RAW // Contents readable through app - Windows 7 Forums

And then this - from post#9 onwards Restore last data on external HDD

TestDisk should be run with administrator privileges - Run as administrator (create a shortcut on your desktop. Rightclick and run as administrator)

I repeat the steps here specific to your case.

Screen1: [No Log] Press Enter ( You will use the Up/Down Left/Right arrow keys to highlight/select any field in the TestDisk windows)

Screen 2: Highlight/Select your 5TB external HDD (identified by its capacity) [Proceed] is already highlighted. Press Enter

Screen 3: Highlight/Select [EFI GPT] (if it is not highlighted already) Enter

Note: If the partition style of your 5TB WD Element shows as MBR , then only select [Intel]

Screen 4: Highlight/Select [Advanced] Enter

Screen 5: Does this screen show your single partition highlighted? Is [Boot] highlighted? Enter

Screen 6: will show the status of the Boot sector and Backup boot sector. Further action will depend on their status.

Various possibilities exist:

1. Boot sector - Bad
Backup boot sector - OK
Execute the [Backup BS] command Highlight and press Enter ( writes the backup to the start sector of the partitïon when you confirm "y" in the next screen)

2. Boot sector - Bad
Backup boot sector - Bad
Execute [Rebuild BS] command. Highlight and press Enter ( Rebuilds the Volume Boot Record and writes it into the Partition start sector and partition end sector)

3. Boot sector - OK
Backup boot sector - Bad
Execute [ORG. BS] command.Highlight and press Enter ( this will copy the original boot record in the partition start sector to the partition end sector and make it OK.)

The above three operations should repair the boot sectors and make your drive accessible. A reboot is required. Close TestDisk and reboot

Please remember whenever you see a
[List] command in the page, give that command and if the files are listed copy to destination. if the files are not listed you can go back to the previous page by [Quit] Command or pressing Q .

The fourth possibility and an important one:
Boot Sector - OK
Backup Boot sector - OK
Hmmm... both are good. Then what is the problem? MFT???
You will execute [Repair MFT] command.

If TestDisk says 'Both MFT and MFT mirror are OK" close TestDisk. You will run check disk on that volume to correct the file system corruption. Caution: You will run checkDisk only and if only TestDisk confirms that your MFT is OK and you will not interrupt Check Disk for any reason)

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 the external drive

Allow check disk to complete. Do not interrupt for any reason.

(On a 5TB disk it will take a long long time. Be patient even if it runs for a week. We have seen it trying our patience in one case. And finally the OP was able to copy the files. See the discussion here on the unusually longtime taken by checkdisk to complete when we sat with our fingers crossed. Lost partition on an external drive

In your case though since you ran checkdisk, we do not know whether it could have deleted the files. We have to wait and see.)


If TestDisk says it is unable to repair MFT, you will have to use a commercial software to recover the files - GetDataBack or active @ File recovery. These are "try before you buy" software. If these show your files, you may be able to preview/open the files and check the file integrity. You can buy a license only when you are satisfied.

If at any point you have a doubt in running TestDisk and require clarification post the screenshot and quit TestDisk.

Take your own time . I am not running away atleast till 21 May. On 22 May I will pack my bags and fly back to India. And as SIW2 mentioned in one post, I will take sometime to settle down back home and come online.

jumanji said:

@RockieOllie

Good that you have explored Testdisk already.And you have a Western Digital Elements model 5TB disk.Right? Thank God. All other WD models like My Book, Passport etc, are self-encrypting disks. When the interfacing SATA to USB circuit inside the casing fails, it will well nigh be impossible to recover any data since the data in those external disks is encrypted by a chip in the Interface Circuit - hardware encryption.

OK. I see that you have downloaded the beta version of TestDisk 7.2. It is always better to download the stable version 7,1 since beta version may still be under testing to remove any bugs. You may choose to delete it and install the stable version 7.1.

Next, we will not be doing Partition Recovery since your 5TB disk has a drive letter indicating that the partition exists. You do not recover something that has not been lost. Do We?

We will definitely be ascertaining the existing file system in the 5TB disk before proceeding with TestDisk, Only very old 5TB disks can be MBR. Disks manufactured after windows XP suppport ended , will be GPT.

Please plug-in only your 5TB WD Elements External disk to the PC. ( To avoid clutter and remain focussed on that 4TB disk, be sure to safely remove all other externaly connected storage devices, card readers.etc.) You should see only the internal disks on the PC and the WD 5TB Elements disk.

Right click on the Start button > Disk Management. In the Disk Management Window Dlsk Map where it says " Disk 'n' Basic 4657.50GB Online" right click > Properties >Volumes What does it say for the Partition style ? MBR or GPT? Also note the drive letter.

Please post the screenshot of Windows Disk Management for the record here.

I shall continue after a short break - breakfast and smoke OMG, Cigarettes are very costly here. I am almost spending twice that I would spend in India.

The other drives you see are NVME SSDs that I use for work, I can try to remove when i get home, but the only external had drive i have plugged in is disk 4, which is represented as G:. I have previously named Lori. Though the name of the drive does not show up in disk management it shows up when doing TeskDisk.



It is under GPT.



Yeah cigarette prices have been steadily going up. but hope your trip is going smoothly

jumanji said:

For TestDisk Screenshots see here - from post#6 onwards. WD Elements being read as RAW // Contents readable through app - Windows 7 Forums

Here is my results:


Both sectors were OK so i proceeded with MFT as instructed and it failed:



Currently now in the process of looking into GetDataBack to see if anything can be previewed.

I appreciate yours and @SIW2 help and assessment so far.

That is bad luck. Also try active@file recovery which is cheaper at USD30. I have not really used these on any bad disks but many who were directed to these on finding that MFT is corrupt and can't be repaired by TestDisk, were able to retrieve the data successfully. Some liked GetDataBack and some active@file recovery. Since Checkdisk aborted by itself when you ran it,there is a chance of retrieving some files or so I would think.

Let us know how things went.

Glad to know that . Since you had indicated you will be happy even if 20% could be recovered, your wish has been fulfilled though at a price.

Have a good night.

@RockieOllie, now you know the value of a backup.

External drives aren't as reliable as internal drives. External drives can be damaged by movements and impacts.

Buy two first grade 3.5" HDDs. (like WD Gold or HGST)
One you install inside of your desktop and keep permanently "alive" as a data drive.
The second you install inside of your desktop but keep it "detached" (remove the SATA or power cable or simply set the SATA port as disabled). This prevents a malware to damage your backups.

Regularly (I do it once a week) you "attach" the backup drive and run a backup software. The backup drive should be bigger than the data drive so it can store the data drive and the Windows drive backups.

zbook said:

Jumanji,

Please comment on get data back requirement with the G: drive letter.
In this case what was the significance having a drive letter and the algorithm approach?

""Next, we will not be doing Partition Recovery since your 5TB disk has a drive letter indicating that the partition exists. You do not recover something that has not been lost. Do We?""

Formatting a disk is a four step process 1. Initialise. 2. create a simple volume ( when one creates a simple volume, at that instant itself a 64 Byte partition table is written into sector 0 {MBR initialised) or into sector 2 (GPT initialised) 3. Format 4. assign a drive letter.

So if one sees a drive letter, it means all the above 4 processes is complete and a partition table exists in sector 0 or 2 as the case may be.. So it is not a partition lost case. No partition recovery is applicable. You do not go in search of something that is not lost. We straightaway go looking for other file system errors like corrupt volume boot sector, its backup and MFT corruption.

What all I know is commercial software like GetDataBack and active@file recovery can recover the data even if the MFT is corrupt, as proven in many cases.. What algorithm is used by these software , I do not know. Not a secret, these are in-fact recommended by Christophe Grenier, the author of TestDisk, when TestDisk is unable to repair MFT. I am yet to see even one case where TestDisk repaired MFT in my limited experience.( I am not a data recovery professional )