Hi, not sure if there is an existing thread already for this, if there is sorry, but here it goes. My 500 GB external was working fine up until an hour ago, and now my PC won't pick it up/tells me it must be formatted before it can be used... The external HDD has never fallen before and this is the first time such a problem has occured etc. Is there a way to save all of the data on the HDD or to get it to work again on Windows 7?
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How to save data on an external HDD?
- Thread starter Psycho9
- Start date
Not sure about what can be done from within Windows 7, but if you can get hold of an Ubuntu Installation disc, you can often read the data easily through Ubuntu and copy it to your Windows drive.
Not guaranteed to work but does more often than not.
Not guaranteed to work but does more often than not.
Will try that, and hopefully it works/helps. At the moment I'm hoping there's only something wrong with a component of the external and not the HDD itself.
Hectic
Executive Member
My knowledge of Linux is limited, but I do have a running Linux pc that I use as a media server. I recovered a Ntfs formatted 2TB drive that has lost its partition with Testdisk. It recovered the full partition and every folder and file.
Don't think Testdisk is part of the Live Cd, but I could be wrong.
Edit:
I see it is part of Peppermint 4 on my Netbook, so it will probably be part of the Ubuntu live cd.
Don't think Testdisk is part of the Live Cd, but I could be wrong.
Edit:
I see it is part of Peppermint 4 on my Netbook, so it will probably be part of the Ubuntu live cd.
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howardb
Expert Member
If the external HDD is out of warranty, maybe take it out the case and try connecting to your PC internally - that should also eliminate the question about it being the HDD or the case component.
+1. 1st step connect it to PC SATA controller. Report how drive is seen:
- in BIOS
- in Windows Device Manager
If drive is seen, but Windows still asking to format, there is still possibility that hard drive is healthy, but USB bridge use encryption. You can find it out by examining first sectors using disk editor.
Don't try to recover (restore partition utilities) before making sure that drive is working 100%. So next step is to clone the entire drive, you will find out.
- in BIOS
- in Windows Device Manager
If drive is seen, but Windows still asking to format, there is still possibility that hard drive is healthy, but USB bridge use encryption. You can find it out by examining first sectors using disk editor.
Don't try to recover (restore partition utilities) before making sure that drive is working 100%. So next step is to clone the entire drive, you will find out.
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My 2 cents worth, sometimes the USB controller gets picked up differently by Windows and requires a format because of different partition table settings. from experience, easiest way of getting around that is to just run chkdsk /f (drive letter): from cmd.
Solves it every time if the drive itself isn't faulty.
Solves it every time if the drive itself isn't faulty.
It happens, however please don't run chkdsk. It doesn't deal with partition table problems and it can corrupt filesystem when incorrect settings is deployed. And when applied to the failing hard disk, it is receipe for disaster.
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FlatspinZA
Expert Member
Ubuntu doesn't come with TestDisk, but you can install it off the Internet. You need to allow untrusted sources as it is not from the Ubuntu repository, and when you run it you MUST run it as administrator otherwise you'll run the whole thing and nothing will have been written to the destination.
TestDisk can also fix partition tables, so it is worth a bash.
If the Ubuntu route is too complicated, TestDisk is on Hiren's Boot CD, though you still need to run as root.
