Hi, I am experiencing a problem with my Seagate 500GB HDD. It has suddenly become a RAW drive as I found out through CMD. The drive has now become "Local Disk I" from previously "Local Disk F". I have tried using 3 software to recover the data:

1. Recuva: It took me 2 full days with no progress further than 74% and never getting into stage 2 of the scan. (No screenshot)

2. Hetman Partition Recovery 3.0: It has also been running for a full 2 days with no progress further than what is shown in the screenshot below.



3. Easeus Data Recovery Wizard 13: Same 2 full days of scanning and it seems to stop at 198.78 GB of file. I tried to recover an image file that I got off the web, 118.76 KB in size and it won't ever finish the recovery process. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take a screenshot of this one.

So basically, I have been trying the software recovery method with no luck so far.

MY QUESTION IS:
Is it actually possible to recover a RAW drive at all? Or is there any other way to at least make the drive accessible so that I can copy the files?

Hello,

your drive seems to be having surface problems, which will get worse as you torture it. A disk like that must be cloned, possibly in an intelligent way, which involves specialist dr equipment. So if the data is important i recommend contacting a dr specialist, if not, you can try imaging it to a good drive and attempt file recovery from the image. Just consider, you may not have a second chance.

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

What could possibly make you think so? I haven't mentioned anything about its current physical state.

As of now, there is no clicking noise when the disk spins. It is connected through a SATA to USB connector, because my motherboard won't even recognize it anymore.

Would connecting it to another computer possibly make it accessible?

You've come here for advice, right?

You've been given excellent advice, from one of the best and most respected DR experts.

Yet, because you didn't like the advice you doubt him?

Good luck!

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PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

The odds are, the root issue is physical, as suggested by other professionals. The more you run the drive, the higher the chances you will kill the drive.

I can only assume that your data is of no value to you, as you have chosen to beat away at your drive with the cheapest and crappiest data recovery programs one can find on the internet.

If you do value your data, stop and send your hard drive to a data recovery professional. If you don't value your data, check out hddsuperclone and DMDE.

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Luke
Recovery Force Data Recovery

Because the scans take such a freaking long time. Granted you're using shitty software, could be that too even with a healthy drive. Normally with a RAW drive, using proper software you should be looking at a populated directory tree in a matter of minutes, assuming NTFS.

If you insist on DIY (bad idea in this case) then clone the drive first. Use something like HDDSuperClone.

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Joep - http://www.disktuna.com - video & photo repair & recovery service

I'm not doubting him at all. I just want to know how he came up with the assumption so that I don't do anything wrong in the future. Because, I can't just trust everything without knowing the base idea/information. Everything has to be based on facts not just thought/feeling.

Okay, it seems that I might really have to go this way. A lot of people have suggested this method. Thank you.

Okay, thank you for the advice.