Recovering a bad drive

gypsycomp · 29 Mar 2024

I have a seagate portable drive which most likely has a bad sector in the login partition, which could be either a physical problem, or a software issue.

The drive is not seeable by win10, DiskGenius, or seagates SeaTools.

Are there any programs which can see a bad drive, so I can try to format or rebuild boot record, especially recover files on the drive?

Does anyone know of sites which have tools to address both hardware and software issues. Links to them would be useful.

At this point I am not interested in sending it off to be recovered, as there is sensative data on it.
Thanks

Pentagon · 29 Mar 2024

Testdisk:
CGSecurity - Data recovery: TestDisk & PhotoRec

It can be a USB issue as well. Open the case and check if it's a normal 2,5" SATA-Disk

Berton · 29 Mar 2024

There's 2 sizes of portable drives, one uses the 3.5" HDDs that are like those in a Desktop computer [large case] and have their own power supply and the other uses the 2.5" drives as in a Notebook [small case]. The 2.5" can be either an HDD or a SSD, get their data and power through the USB cable. The larger size gets data through the USB cable. I've had to work with both types with failures and turned out to be the interface inside the case holding the drive that failed, drives were okay when checked in a drive dock attached to a Desktop. Downside was the data on them was lost.

Ghot · 29 Mar 2024

@jumanji

jumanji · 30 Mar 2024

If the external drive does not show up in Windows Disk Management, Disk genius, and Seagate Seatools , no DIY data recovery is possible.

Try the external disk in another working PC. If it doesn't show up in that PC also, you may have to rip open the case. take out the HDD, connect it directly to the motherboard using a SATA cable and check whether the HDD is accessible. If only the SATA to USB bridge circuit inside the enclosure has failed, there is a chance the HDD may still be good and accessible..

(Just the other day, my daughter gave her1TB Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex external disk saying it was not accessible. I could feel the disk was spinning. No weird sound of any sort.When I checked it , it was only flashing and not accessible. With great hopes,I ripped the case open, took the HDD out and tried it in a working dock. ( I do not have a tower PC to plug it into motherboard.) The HDD still did not show up in Disk Management, Partition Wizard, Bootice,Seagate SeaTools, Hard Disk Sentinel, TestDisk, Crystal Disk Info, Disk Genius and GetDataBack, all tried.. All HDDs do have a control circuit PCB attached over the mechanicals... Most probably that has failed. jumanji is helpless in this case.

. Gave up and asked her to seek Professional Data recovery services.) And that after successful completion of Project Titanic Samsung SSD in External Enclosure Requesting Formatting which was one of a different kind I hadn't encountered before..

As I said if it is a HDD hardware failure no DIY data recovery is possible. If the disk is not visible, jumanji too is invisible

.

nIGHTmAYOR · 31 Mar 2024

Think of a tree diagram and try to follow :

1 - Is the hard drive detectable and showing in Device Manager ? (else see 2)

___a - Is device drive showing in Disk Management ?
_____- Try to assign a drive letter to which then check to see if it shows up yet inaccessible by Windows Explorer ,
_____ in that case try first Command Window in administrator mode then use the command :
_____ Chkdsk [Drive Letter:] /F
_____ if it succeeds you are all good , if it fails try disk genius partition rebuild / recovery then .

___b - Is the device not showing / showing as bad media in Disk Management ?
_____- Try different USB cable & different PC if all fails then this might be deemed as a Hard Disk Head Failure ,
_____ there are DIY Youtubes on how to replace an HDD Head yourself by swapping it with a working one from a
_____ working drive using a "HDD Header Swap Tool" specifically designed for each drive / brand that are sold
_____ on eBay or other relative sites but doing such swap as a DIY is not recommended unless this is your last
_____ hope on earth .

2 - Is the hard drive undetectable by Device Manager ?

___a - Try different USB cable & different PC if it shows success proceed with 1.a and 1.b up .
_____ if all fails then this might actually be deemed as a Drive Board Failure , however some drives such as Seagate
_____ has 2 boards interconnected , a [USB to SATA convertor] plugged into a [HDD SATA Board] , tearing down the
_____ drive then removing that board then plug it into a PC Sata connector [HDD Rack works too] .

___b - If that does not work or the drive does not come with such converter [Example WD drives]
_____ then consult if your model of drive board has an encryption chip [WD Drives are all known to have one] ,
_____ if it doesn't then try to swap it with a board from a same working model , if it does have an encryption chip
_____ then only professionals can do such swap because it may require transferring of encryption chip to new board
_____ and this requires professional equipment and no margin of error .

Try3 · 01 Apr 2024

gypsycomp said:

I have a seagate portable drive ... login partition

Windows provides for logging in to user accounts not external drives and has no capability for doing so.

If you have such a login capability then it must have been established by some additional third-party utility, perhaps a Seagate one, that deliberately hides the disk from Windows except when authorised by your login.
It is that utility that I think you need to focus on.
It might well have been bundled with the disk at purchase.

Best of luck,
Denis