Hi all

how are you all?

i had a 500GB Western Digital Drive with 2 partitions 100GB and 369GB, the small one had Windows 7 OS and other one i used it for data storage.

for some reason the hard drive just failed.

The computer was turned on and i was woking on it, i just went downstairs had my dinner, when i came back up it was frozen no mouse etc..

i let on like that for few minutes (5 mins) and then tried to press 'ctrl' & 'del' to restart the machine. that didn't work either.

then i just pressed power button. when i turned it back on it said there is disk to boot off from.

i ran acronis suit in dos. it picked up the disk and said there is no partition, just 469GB unallocated disk.

SMART says drive is ok.

but for some reason when i tried to install OS on it, windows 7 coudnt create partition on it, not evend FDisk or acronis.

i ran HDD Regenerator for some reason every sector from 0 it said is bad, but it also said it recovered it. i ran in for first 10,000 sectors. it recovered all.

but when i tested those sectors again it just came as bad again.

i am trying to get 369GB partition data of the drive, it had some imortant data. that 369GB was nearly full.

i dont understand why HDD Regenerator said it recovered 0-10,000 sectors, when i read same sectors again with HDD regenerator it said it was bad again.

please advise a way to get my data back. is there any hope for this drive

i been reading up, since my drive model is WD5001AALS

lot of web sites sources say it might be corrupted firmware? anyone know anythink about this.

If the drive initializes and you are able to view the sectors, then the firmware is OK. In any event, HDD regenerator is bad for your data. Sounds like you have some bad sectors or potentially a weak or failing head. If you aren't able to image it yourself I would say you need to take it to someone who can

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

stop use HDD regenerator this kind of software for repair if you have important data in it. you should backup first after repair.

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data recovery service[/b]

try cloning through diskpatch 3.0, because it has reverse cloning option, in this way you can get the maximum sector from the end of the drive.. the best as other said is to take it to a pro..

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RAID/Server Recovery

@uksathees



this is good advice. If data is important, I would listen to it.

i am using HDClone to do a Drive to drive copy

i bougught a segate 500gb hdd and using HDClone?

is that ok?

so far it has done 282,543,152 sectors but it states the "Reading errors: 71,321,648"

does that give any more info about the state of the drive?


looks like if this doesnt work i will have to take to a pro, i looked at WD wesite for thir recovery centre

"so far it has done 282,543,152 sectors but it states the "Reading errors: 71,321,648"
does that give any more info about the state of the drive?

Yes, the drive is failing.

looks like if this doesnt work i will have to take to a pro, i looked at WD wesite for thir recovery centre

More than "first aid" this will be "last aid" ...

That is a lot of reading errors.... weak head deteriorating rapidly.

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Zero Alpha: zeroalpha.com.au
Find Cheap Donor Drives App: https://www.zeroalpha.com.au/donor-drive-app Updated February 2026

Probably one bad/weak head

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

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there are always 1/2 good chances of recovery in bad sector / S.M.A.R.T fail drives, so make sure you do the best attempt otherwise take it to some pro, they know the job

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RAID/Server Recovery

In cases where disk is treated correctly, under the right conditions, with the right equipment, and assessed by someone with the right knowledge and experience.

In other words, a professional .

In HDClone turn off the DMA option (source drive) and try to start cloning from 10000 sectors prior to first bad sector (input the same number in source and target). It'll slow the cloning down but errror rate should decrease.

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data recovery Poland

282,543,152 / 71,321,648 = 3.96

According to the spec sheet, the WD5001AALS model has 4 heads / 2 platters.

Drive Specification Sheet (PDF) - WD Caviar Black SATA Hard Drives:
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/sata/2879-701276.pdf

Therefore, it appears that one head is indeed bad, as has already been mentioned.

Moreover I have many doubts about the consistency of the cloned image
In other words : if the image is garbage.