Sweetsistersadie said:
I recently had to re-format my Windows XP Home Edition due to virus
issues..had all the updates installed..all is well except our external hard
drive. It has a pile of pictures on it that we can't retrieve. When you click
"My Computer" there are no external hard drives listed..concerning to say th
eleast. ANy help would be appreciated.
Do you see any sign of it in Device Manager ?
Maybe a USB Mass Storage entry under the USB controller section ?
To check whether a USB device is communicating, you can use UVCView.
(This is stored on an archive server, as Microsoft no longer offers it
for download. Click one of the date links on this page, to start the
download.)
http://web.archive.org/*/http://dow...f-a31d-436b-9281-92cdfeae4b45/UVCView.x86.exe
In this example, you can see that a connected device, was able to
transfer its configuration info. So that is proof the hardware
is talking a little bit. If you're not even getting this far,
then the other tools in the posting aren't going to help.
http://www.die.de/blog/content/binary/usbview.png
To restore the partition table on a drive, you can use a tool
like this. What this does, is scan the drive from one end to the
other, looking for file systems. Then, it presents a partition
table that matches what it finds. If at any point, you
don't like how things are going, hold down the "control" key ("Ctrl"),
and press C. That will cause the program to stop, if you're in
a menu that doesn't offer a quit menu. Chances are, you probably
had one partition on the disk, and the results of this scan
should confirm that. This program probably doesn't check the
file systems themselves though, so it is not a "do it all" program.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step
In your case, the most interesting part, at least
at first, is whether an entry shows up in the main
device table, for the raw device from the Simpletech USB box.
If it doesn't even show up, then TestDisk cannot help.
The drive mechanism could be dead, or the USB housing
could be inoperative, and unable to pass the info
from the hard drive, to the USB cable. In such a case,
connecting the Simpletech internal hard drive, directly
to a computer interface, may recover it. Some of these
boxes are a nuisance to disassemble, and some brands
even have a web page, where someone shows how to take
one apart.
If TestDisk cannot fix it (or you're afraid to overwrite
the partition table), the same site makes a recovery
program. It will scan a disk, looking for known file
types. It is supposed to work, even if the file system
is messed up. But what you get back, may not be in a
form that is readily recognizable or usable. (You may
get back more items, that were stored on the drive in
the first place. The file names could be screwed up.
And so on. After running a scavenger, it can take
hours to put back descriptive file names on the
recovered files.)
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
This is another one I found recently. I don't know
how functional the device has to be, for this to get
the data back. If Photorec doesn't do a good job,
you could try this one. You should have plenty of
spare storage space available, when using tools like
this, because they're going to need some place to put
the recovered files. You should not put the
recovered files, on the Simpletech, if the tool
offered to do that. You want to put any recovered
files on something that is working, and has plenty of
space for whatever is recovered. Usually, that will mean
purchasing another hard drive, unless you keep a lot of
spare hard drives around.
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/WoundedMoon/win32/driverescue19d.html
That is it, for my "free" collection of tools. There
are plenty of "$39.95" recovery programs on the Internet,
too many to keep track of. This post from a few years
ago, gives some names.
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.freeware/msg/a0750a9837c96dc3?dmode=source
Paul
