Data and formatting disappeared from 1 TB WD drive

[Doc]

Have a 1 TB WD SATA drive that I use as an archive drive. After firing
it up today XP recognizes it but now the data isn't showing and it
shows up as unformatted. No "whirr click" like a dying drive, the data
all just suddenly disappeared. I also notice that the computer
activity light stays on constantly.

Is there a way to potentially fix this?

Thanks

 

[Paul]

Have a 1 TB WD SATA drive that I use as an archive drive. After firing
it up today XP recognizes it but now the data isn't showing and it
shows up as unformatted. No "whirr click" like a dying drive, the data
all just suddenly disappeared. I also notice that the computer
activity light stays on constantly.

Is there a way to potentially fix this?

Thanks

The very first thing you do with a hard drive, before
even putting important files on it, is

1) Get the model number of the hard drive.
For example, my new drive is model number WD2002FAEX.

2) Google the model number and look for problem reports.

Some drives have firmware related issues. If a replacement
firmware was issued, you flash update the drive before using it.

If a drive disappears due to a firmware issue, there are some
recipes for recovery. They involve fitting a USB to serial
port cable, with three pins on the end, and TTL logic levels.
Such cables are apparently used for cell phones, but can
also be connected to an interface on the controller board.
But that doesn't happen too often, as a recovery method for
a popular failure type.

*******

To understand what to do with the disk now, it would help
to know what kind of setup it had on it.

For example, a Dynamic Disk might be treated differently
than a Basic Disk.

*******

You can run TestDisk and scan for partitions.
This tool is available for Windows or Linux, and
attempts to scan a disk looking for partitions.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

It hardly ever pays, to accept a newly computed partition
table from the thing verbatim. If you recently deleted
some partitions, moved partitions around and so on,
TestDisk can detect the "ghost" of those partitions,
and improperly include the partitions in the new partition
table. TestDisk can even compute a partition table,
with the partitions overlapping one another (verboten).

So for a first run, simply see whether the tool can
detect partitions or not. If partitions are evident, then
all is not lost.

If, on the other hand, the drive is not responding at
all, is not visible in the BIOS, and cannot be detected
by the BIOS screen, then you could be looking at a data recovery
effort by a professional.

Remember to do a cable check, before panicking. If the SATA
data or SATA power cable falls out, plug it in and try again.

The SATA data cable can't be pinched. It should not be put
through a tight bend radius. If you bend it in two, it
upsets the signal impedance of the wires inside. If your cable
has visible lines of distress, try an unblemished cable.

Paul

 

[Robert Baer]

The very first thing you do with a hard drive, before
even putting important files on it, is

1) Get the model number of the hard drive.
For example, my new drive is model number WD2002FAEX.

2) Google the model number and look for problem reports.

Some drives have firmware related issues. If a replacement
firmware was issued, you flash update the drive before using it.

If a drive disappears due to a firmware issue, there are some
recipes for recovery. They involve fitting a USB to serial
port cable, with three pins on the end, and TTL logic levels.
Such cables are apparently used for cell phones, but can
also be connected to an interface on the controller board.
But that doesn't happen too often, as a recovery method for
a popular failure type.

*******

To understand what to do with the disk now, it would help
to know what kind of setup it had on it.

For example, a Dynamic Disk might be treated differently
than a Basic Disk.

*******

You can run TestDisk and scan for partitions.
This tool is available for Windows or Linux, and
attempts to scan a disk looking for partitions.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

It hardly ever pays, to accept a newly computed partition
table from the thing verbatim. If you recently deleted
some partitions, moved partitions around and so on,
TestDisk can detect the "ghost" of those partitions,
and improperly include the partitions in the new partition
table. TestDisk can even compute a partition table,
with the partitions overlapping one another (verboten).

* Tell me! Acronis once made a "clone" with that problem (there were
other major problems about as bad).
Apparently the guys at Acronis do not subscribe to the dictionary
meaning of "clone".

 

[Franc Zabkar]

Have a 1 TB WD SATA drive that I use as an archive drive. After firing
it up today XP recognizes it but now the data isn't showing and it
shows up as unformatted.

Could we see the partition table and boot sector with Microsoft's
Sector Inspector?
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/SecInspect.zip

If you extract the above archive to the one folder and execute the
SIrun.bat file, then this will generate a report file named SIout.txt.

- Franc Zabkar

 

[GMAN]

Have a 1 TB WD SATA drive that I use as an archive drive. After firing
it up today XP recognizes it but now the data isn't showing and it
shows up as unformatted. No "whirr click" like a dying drive, the data
all just suddenly disappeared. I also notice that the computer
activity light stays on constantly.

Is there a way to potentially fix this?

Thanks

Make sure the cables are seated properly into the back of the drive. Also try
booting into safe mode by hitting F8 on bootup and see if the drive shows up.
If not look for EASUS Partition master free edition and use its recover
partition section to recover it.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Have a 1 TB WD SATA drive that I use as an archive drive. After firing
it up today XP recognizes it but now the data isn't showing and it
shows up as unformatted. No "whirr click" like a dying drive, the data
all just suddenly disappeared. I also notice that the computer
activity light stays on constantly.

Is there a way to potentially fix this?

Thanks

As others have said, it sounds like perhaps your partition table has
been munged. They suggested Testdisk, another possibility is the program
called Parted32. You can search for it on the Internet.

Yousuf Khan