data recovery from external drive

[viki]

Hi all,

I was running Windows 7 Search Indexing in my external drive. It was taking quite long and almost after 2 hrs when I browsed the HDD, I notice that all the folders are empty from inside but READ ACCESS light/LED of harddisk was ON (in my case it BLUE light). And then I just unplugged this HDD directly.

Now when I am connecting this HDD to my Laptop, then it's not detecting and when I click Disk Management, it says "Disk Not Initialized" and then it gives MBR initialization option

This is 150GB SimpleTech drive. I have data of 140-145 GB in it. The disk contains critical data.

Thanks
Viki

[shahij]

keep the drive disconnected immediately to avoid further damage and contact a pro close to you.

Either there is some R/W Head problem or bad sectors with overflowed G-List (About to or already)

[viki]

is there something i can do at my own ?

[viki]

Any HDD Guru who can assist / guide ?

Thank you

[hddguy]

is there something i can do at my own ?

It depends on the real problem and if you accept that there are risks that can potentially result in total loss of your data.

You could have some serious mechanic problem with weakened, failed or failing recording heads. In such case you would need a professional.

Possibly you could have damages surface sectors, maybe possible to work with yourself, but with each attempt to read, write or even power you could be further worsening the condition.

It could be a logical issue, partition could be damaged. this you can very likely do yourself.

But first you need to 100% identify the exact problem you have. Does the Hard Disk make any unusual noises? does it stop powering at any time? Has it been 'knocked' or fallen?

Did you try access the disk with tool like MHDD or Victoria?

[viki]

Sorry for the delayed response.

It was actually working fine without any noises or power disruption. As I said earlier; I started Windows 7 Search Indexing on my HDD and left it for 2-3 hrs approx. After 2-3 hrs when I returned back, I notice the read LED of HDD is constantly ON i.e not blinking which is the case of reading. I though to browse HDD contents via My Computer (Windows); but what I notice was only the empty folders i.e files inside folders were not there. I was shocked, and as I go into folder and come back; the folder vanishes. Whereas the read LED was constantly ON. I then decided to unplug HDD and re-plug. And when I re-plug; it started giving me ""Disk Not Initialized" from Disk Management. It does not show-up in My Computer as well.

I tried to plug with Mac and Ubuntu but no success. In these OS; the HDD didn't even go detected.

I have not tried with MHDD and Victoria yet.

Thanks
Viki.

[northwind]

Try MHDD and Victoria (or one of them) and see if the drive identifies correctly.
If it doesn't, i'm sorry it's game over (without a pro).
If it does, then I'd suggest you image drive to another one and then play with image.

All this, assuming you understand and accept risks of DIY as hddguy explained above.