Hello,
Doing a data recovery job for a friend.
An external WD hard drive is recognized by Windows and Linux, but it won't let me point anything at it and Linux says the drive is 2199GB (Actually 1TB).
Both Windows and Linux say it isn't partitioned and unrecognized…
The drive made a slight clicking noise when I started it up, but it stopped within seconds.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
And I'm betting if you open it in FTK Imager you get a message that says 'block index out of bounds'. I've had that happen a few times but in every case the job wasn't important enough to dig further so I let it go.
I've only had one that read 2TB though. The actual size was only about 80GB or so.
If you find an answer I'd be glad to hear it.
If you have a slight clicking then the drive is failing. Before you do anything, make an image of the disk.
The incorrect size is likely to be due to a corrupt boot sector - file partition table.
Once you have a safe image, start the recovery process.
I've tried to image it, and it just won't go. Yes, CforPro, I get that message every time.
I tried to just reformat it in Windows and Linux but they both error out.
I've tried to image it, and it just won't go. Yes, CforPro, I get that message every time.
I tried to just reformat it in Windows and Linux but they both error out.
You need to image it as raw disk image - ie ignoring any logical data.
What errors do you get when you reformatted?
If you are doing data recovery, attempting for format is not the best first stage - get your data first.
If you are not interested in the data on the drive, and it is clicking, throw the drive away - or return under warranty.
mscotgrove,
The reformat didn't happen, it errored out.
I get the, "block index out of bounds", in FTK Imager CforPro mentioned.
I've tried WinHex and dcfldd on Linux. They all error out.
I think it may be a dead headstack. I think I'll try the freezing method if nobody else can think of a solution.
There is a version of DD that is specifically made for failing drives, ddrescue. Have you tried that? I haven't played with it yet, but might be worth a try.
twjolson,
Nope, haven't tried that yet. I'll give that a shot later tonight and see what happens. Thank you for the suggestion.
Make certain you utilize the GNU ddrescue application. There is more than one "ddrescue" available. And they are very different.
Cheers!
farmerdude
If there drive is clicking it is becuase it cannot calibrate. The calibration proces involves the drive seeking to (and reading from) various locations on the disk. Other than that it maybe becuase the drive cannot read the initialisation sector from some of the manufacturer reserved tracks.
Both of these are generally caused by head crashes and each time the read write heads pass over a damaged portion of the disk then there is a very real potential of further damage and further loss of data.
If the data is important send it to a professional.
One of the tricks we used to use is to image the disk backwards - this serves two purposes 1) it gets the good areas of the disk and reads backwards towards the bad areas (assuming they are at the satrt of the disk) 2) if there is aproblem with the cache then a backwards read makes sure that it is flushed each time and you do not end up retrieving corrupt data.