HD magically switched to RAW file system
February 18th, 2017, 23:03
HHD details:
Seagate Backup plus 2 TB (Actual drive is a barracuda ST2000DM001)
About 3 years old.
System details:
Windows vista
External is one of 2 externals, most of the time both are connected. The malfunctioning one is drive letter H: the other (working, a segate backup plus portable 1 TB) is drive letter G:.
Summary of events:
Drive H: has been working fine up until today. Today I went to access a few files and when I opened H from my computer it opened fine to show the root files (about 5 folders) however when I opened the folders nothing was in any of them. Drive is not making excessive noise and does seem to spin up.
Beginning of troubleshooting:
- Perplexed, I checked the properties of the disk via right clicking the drive in "My Computer". The resulting information looked correct (about 330 GB used ~600 GB Free.
- I then attempted to safely remove the disk and it would not stop the drive due to it being "in use". I closed all programs and tried again, but still got the "in use" pop up.
- At this point my next step should have been to restart the computer but unfortunately it was not and ultimately my next move may have created or at least made my current problem worse.
- Instead I unplugged the external power to the drive and unplugged the USB connection from the computer. I then plugged the drive power back in and plugged the USB into the same slot it was in before removing it. "My computer" took a pretty long time to recognize the drive but eventually it did. However, it did not recognize it as a drive with data on it. I was a "local disk" but there was no space indication bar below it and double clicking the drive resulted in a prompt to format the drive before it could be used.
- Examination of the drive in disk management showed that the drive was "not initialized". I appeared to have the ability to initialize it but I did not, not knowing what effect that would have on the data stored on the drive. I believe it said unallocated next to the disk where it would normally show the partitions but I am not positive about this.
- I then removed the drive and attempted to read it on a windows 10 computer. Again the drive was not recognized as a drive with data but as a backup device that needed to be formatted.
- I then went back to my Vista machine and unplugged all USB connections (including my other external drive, G:) and re-established power and USB connection to the H: drive. Again it took a while for the drive to show up but it did eventually, as a local disk H: but still no space bar.
- Interestingly, when I examine the drive in disk management now it says online and shows one 1863 GB Healthy Partition (primary) but the file system is listed as RAW.
- Attempting to open the drive still gives the format pop up.
- I happened to have pandora recovery installed (a while back my wife accidentally deleted some files from a USB stick that she needed) attempting to open teh drive with pandora gives a "device not ready" pop up and nothing appears in the recovered files section.
- I attempted to see if the drive had physical issues with GSmartcontol however running it gave my computer a blue screen (bad pool caller).
To be continued...
Seagate Backup plus 2 TB (Actual drive is a barracuda ST2000DM001)
About 3 years old.
System details:
Windows vista
External is one of 2 externals, most of the time both are connected. The malfunctioning one is drive letter H: the other (working, a segate backup plus portable 1 TB) is drive letter G:.
Summary of events:
Drive H: has been working fine up until today. Today I went to access a few files and when I opened H from my computer it opened fine to show the root files (about 5 folders) however when I opened the folders nothing was in any of them. Drive is not making excessive noise and does seem to spin up.
Beginning of troubleshooting:
- Perplexed, I checked the properties of the disk via right clicking the drive in "My Computer". The resulting information looked correct (about 330 GB used ~600 GB Free.
- I then attempted to safely remove the disk and it would not stop the drive due to it being "in use". I closed all programs and tried again, but still got the "in use" pop up.
- At this point my next step should have been to restart the computer but unfortunately it was not and ultimately my next move may have created or at least made my current problem worse.
- Instead I unplugged the external power to the drive and unplugged the USB connection from the computer. I then plugged the drive power back in and plugged the USB into the same slot it was in before removing it. "My computer" took a pretty long time to recognize the drive but eventually it did. However, it did not recognize it as a drive with data on it. I was a "local disk" but there was no space indication bar below it and double clicking the drive resulted in a prompt to format the drive before it could be used.
- Examination of the drive in disk management showed that the drive was "not initialized". I appeared to have the ability to initialize it but I did not, not knowing what effect that would have on the data stored on the drive. I believe it said unallocated next to the disk where it would normally show the partitions but I am not positive about this.
- I then removed the drive and attempted to read it on a windows 10 computer. Again the drive was not recognized as a drive with data but as a backup device that needed to be formatted.
- I then went back to my Vista machine and unplugged all USB connections (including my other external drive, G:) and re-established power and USB connection to the H: drive. Again it took a while for the drive to show up but it did eventually, as a local disk H: but still no space bar.
- Interestingly, when I examine the drive in disk management now it says online and shows one 1863 GB Healthy Partition (primary) but the file system is listed as RAW.
- Attempting to open the drive still gives the format pop up.
- I happened to have pandora recovery installed (a while back my wife accidentally deleted some files from a USB stick that she needed) attempting to open teh drive with pandora gives a "device not ready" pop up and nothing appears in the recovered files section.
- I attempted to see if the drive had physical issues with GSmartcontol however running it gave my computer a blue screen (bad pool caller).
To be continued...
Re: HD magically switched to RAW file system
February 19th, 2017, 14:44
- I then ran Testdisk and I thought the drive was there ("DISK /dev/sda") and it appeared to be readable but appeared to have the wrong size (160 GB/149 GiB). It turns out this was not the drive I was looking for 9not sure what it was as it did nto appear to coincide with anything I have plugged into my computer.
- I checked the BIOS to see if I could see the drive and I do not see it listed anywhere n the BIOS but then again I dont see the working drive (G:) either so...
- In device manager the drive is listed but the name seems generic "Seagate Backup+ Desk USB Device". I cant honestly say if it was recognized as another name previously or not. The properties in device manager say the device is working properly and on the volumes tab it gives the proper size but as mentioned before it lists the file system as RAW.
- After a bit of a break and a reboot, I went back to TestDisk and there were more drives detected including 2 entries that match the size for the H drive (Screenshot 1).
- Tried the top drive first (DISK /dev/sdb) and the analyze command gave a partition read error. Screenshot 2
The quick scan showed read errors and I did not let it finish.
- Then I tried the second option (Drive H:), at the partition table type, Testdisk defaulted the file type to none. I choose intel instead, heeding the bottom prompt in testdisk stating that rarely is the partition type none. Analyzing this instance of the drive also gave a partition read error (same as above).
Not really sure where to go from here. The one thing I have not tried is removing the drive from the enclosure and either putting it into another one or using an adapter to see if the interface of the enclosure is the issue.
As stated above any help would be greatly appreciated.
- I checked the BIOS to see if I could see the drive and I do not see it listed anywhere n the BIOS but then again I dont see the working drive (G:) either so...
- In device manager the drive is listed but the name seems generic "Seagate Backup+ Desk USB Device". I cant honestly say if it was recognized as another name previously or not. The properties in device manager say the device is working properly and on the volumes tab it gives the proper size but as mentioned before it lists the file system as RAW.
- After a bit of a break and a reboot, I went back to TestDisk and there were more drives detected including 2 entries that match the size for the H drive (Screenshot 1).
- screenshot 1
- Tried the top drive first (DISK /dev/sdb) and the analyze command gave a partition read error. Screenshot 2
- Screenshot 2
The quick scan showed read errors and I did not let it finish.
- Then I tried the second option (Drive H:), at the partition table type, Testdisk defaulted the file type to none. I choose intel instead, heeding the bottom prompt in testdisk stating that rarely is the partition type none. Analyzing this instance of the drive also gave a partition read error (same as above).
Not really sure where to go from here. The one thing I have not tried is removing the drive from the enclosure and either putting it into another one or using an adapter to see if the interface of the enclosure is the issue.
As stated above any help would be greatly appreciated.
Re: HD magically switched to RAW file system
February 19th, 2017, 21:07
Acaelus wrote: To be continued...
No need
In short, if the data on it is valuable to you, then send it to a Data Recovery pro (not a computer repair shop/tech)
Re: HD magically switched to RAW file system
February 20th, 2017, 11:07
It is likely a bigger issue than just a partition problem.
https://www.recoveryforce.com/inaccessi ... ng-as-raw/
https://www.recoveryforce.com/inaccessi ... ng-as-raw/
Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group.