Recover Hard Drive

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Sigma721

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Hi everyone

I hope some can help!


I was meaning to format an internal hard drive when I by accident clicked format(in windows 7) on my external seagate hard drive plugged in via usb.
I realized this immediately and unplugged the USB cable.
Now I cannot access the drive cause it says it needs to format first, I have tried it in other computers too. The data is still there cause it barely run the format for a second.

Does anyone know how to repair this?

Thanks in advance!
 
If it was just for a second then it already overwrote the file system index, which is normally at the beginning of the hard drive's available storage. You can try plug in the drive and run Windows 7's chkdsk [drive letter]:/ /f from the command line and it may be able to repair the missing files, or you could try run Recuva to get the formatted files back. Either way, there's a good chance you've screwed yourself over here.
 
Thanks a lot!
I tried a CHKDSK, but it says that the drive is RAW type and CHKDSK isn't available for this.
Busy getting Recuva.
Hope it works cause all my photos are on there.

Thanks
 
If its a RAW partition, you may be able to access it still. In the same command line, you can use diskpart to give the drive a letter so you can access it. Something like:

diskpart > press enter
list disk > enter
select disk [insert number] > enter
list partition > enter
select partition 1 > enter
active > enter
assign > enter (assigns the drive a letter)
make partition primary > enter

You should now be able to access the drive and its contents. If that doesn't work, Recuva will give you some files back and then you can finish the format.
 
I've had some success in the past using an utility called Testdisk to work with NTFS drives that have become RAW. Basically you use Testdisk to set the filesystem and all the low level markers, then use chkdsk /f /r to do a full scan on the drive. If the Master File Table wasn't too badly damaged, you should be able to get pretty much everything back.

Good luck.
 
Hi

Thanks, I tried Disk Part - no luck.
Recuva says "unable to read boot sector"

Any other thoughts?
 
Key lesson I learned many aeons ago: one backup is not enough.

Every single day my system makes scheduled backups onto at least three discrete drives. More weekly and monthly.
 
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