HDD Mentally Disabled: Geometry doesnt add up.

[L0CU5T]

Need someone's help, I know HDDGurus like pix, so i will have a dozen or so.

My WD400 has shown up as an "invalid" disk. Its a 40GB drive with attributes of a 150GB HDD. In-depth scanning does not show physical damage, that's why its only a "mental" thing. Ref these pics...And i apologize if anything seems strange...been working this for a week to no avail.
"Local Disk M:"

The only software i have tried so far is PARAGON Pro 2008, inside, it only confirms it is invalid.

Here is the overall structure of the HDD:



I have tried to perform a backup image, with different selections (ie, with/without partitions), but it always halts the backup with an I/O error around the 38GB (10 hours into it) mark.


The drive will not show up as readable data/folders/files in the Explorer View...

...But RAW data does show up under Disk Explorer...

This shows up in sector 1

And this is displayed in Sector #2.

This was never a bootable disk, just used for data storage only -But valuable data it is, like always right?
Also, during the backup phase, the program estimates that the backup is approx. 38GB...but again, it never completes it. Is there a fix for restoring this data/MBR, or partitions, maybe resizing? So far, Ive only inspected the drive, not really sure what changes to make yet. There are tons of tools for me to work with, just need help in taking the proper steps...in the proper order. Or...is this a lost cause?

Many Thanks...
L0CU5T

[drc]

You could probably image it with a more error tolerant imaging tool, such as the dd_rescue based tools in linux. Then again, if you have already imaged to 38gb then it sounds like you probably already have most of the data. What happens if you click the button to tell it to ignore the error and continue?

As always, if you would be heartbroken to completely lose everything then you should not be working on it yourself. Understand that while you may be able to solve your own issue you may also lose everything.

[Zorb]

Not dd_rescue, ddrescue. ddrescue is the GNU project version and is a lot smarter. dd_rescue is just a front end simplification of dd.

You could also use Media Tools Pro, which I know from my own experience will work on a working drive with misreported or misdetected capacity. I believe a single drive registration of the demo is available if you call them and ask for it. It uses the drive directly and has write protect capability.

Just don't do anything that may fry to "fix" anything, including NT setup's fixmbr function.

Also, do NOT under any circumstance, start Partition Magic on that computer with that drive connected! I don't want to hijack your thread with a long rant about that pile of crap, but just know that it scans all drives as soon as it starts, and graciously "fixes" any apparent "errors" that it finds without asking! Some things it changes can cause huge problems, resulting in things like lba/chs mistranslations and incorrect sector counts in MBR.

[L0CU5T]

What happens if you click the button to tell it to ignore the error and continue?

The I/O error quickly pops up once again...and again,

I have heard horror stories about P.M., I haven't even thought about that one.

Here's what i started to say.....The partial "image" is only accessible to Paragon...
BUT That image never saved due to the interrupted error. <i just looked for it>

I'm proceeding with ddrescue.

[drc]

Not dd_rescue, ddrescue. ddrescue is the GNU project version and is a lot smarter. dd_rescue is just a front end simplification of dd.

I get this a lot. I find that they all have their place and that reading about dd_rescue should lead to reading about ddrescue, dd_rhelp, etc, and help to make an intelligent decision. Personally I find dd_rhelp to be way more useful than ddrescue, but they all have pretty debilitating limitations.

[scratchy]

I think this is more of a logical problem.. Check the partition table entries.

[Zorb]

...

I get this a lot. I find that they all have their place and that reading about dd_rescue should lead to reading about ddrescue, dd_rhelp, etc, and help to make an intelligent decision. Personally I find dd_rhelp to be way more useful than ddrescue, but they all have pretty debilitating limitations.

Well, if you just want an end to end duplication, use dd, as long as he makes sure to run it sector by sector to avoid loss at the end. For his drive, that's all he probably needs, as long as he doesn't try to run it backward.

ddrescue is a little more tolerant of media errors, such as falling off the cliff at the end of the drive when it thinks it should keep going. dd_rescue can should work, but may eat a few blocks at the end of the disk in this situation like dd might, which could potentially be important. dd_rescue seems to have more issue with that.

[L0CU5T]

My data is RECOVERED!

After unsuccessful attempts with many programs & methods, all it took was O&O DiskRecovery. It sorted through the RAW data using file-extension signature files (even let me create my own for other elusive files). After 23 hrs of scanning the drive, it saved the recovered data in the correct format to my NAS device (nice option) in a folder i wanted to use. No Donor Drive needed. Whew.

By the way, I had tried to use O&O from the very start, 5 or 6 unsuccessful attempts...but i just HAD to give it one more go.

It turns out, SCRATCHY the Guru above was correct...a Logical problem. The BIOS was corrupted to think the LBA was much greater than 78165360.

Thanks to all who responded and all who thought of responding. Now if you excuse me, i can get to Renaming all 20,000 files. It renamed all my files "FIL00001" - "FIL20000", fortunately i can automate this due to the files keeping the extended data (tags).

[Zorb]

That's interesting. The BIOS shouldn't cause that. More likely the MBR. If it were BIOS, the problem should disappear as soon as you put it in another computer.

But I bet if you imaged the drive and wrote it onto another drive (just for safety), Winternals Disk Commander or GetDataBack would restore your information, file names and all. Just plug in a USB external drive before you start Disk Commander and it should work. If you are using the DOS version, USB ASPI drivers are needed.

Good to hear you got your content back though, even if the names are obscured.