My external HDD crashed due to an "unsafe removal"!
and I kept getting a "you need to format disk" message (windows 7). I did Low Level Formatting (hddguru)
and now I get the Unallocated space message..
Can anyone tell me how I can fix this problem and convert the system to ntfs during the process?
I've tried run-> diskmgmt.msc with no success (keep getting a not allowed message)

Thanks in advance for any suggestions..

If you mean the Windows "unsafe removal" message, then no, it didn't "crash" due to that...

The "unsafe removal" message is a result of the events just before that - the "crash" (whatever you mean by this - "crash" is a very vague / ambiguous term, which is not useful without lots more detail) was not "due to" this message.

Much more detail of this history of events (from you), and better diagnosis is needed.


This means that filesystem information is unreadable / unrecognisable.


Therefore, if this was successful, you have lost all your data. You are not trying to recover the data from this disk, are you?


What was the message exactly? What were you trying to do exactly when you got that message?


No, because you have not explained exactly what your "problem" now is, nor have you explained what you are now trying to achieve.

It seems that the original data on this disk is not important to you, so I guess you are just trying to fix the disk - is that correct? You might get further replies from members, if you answer the above questions, and if you explain yourself clearly.

Thank you Volcan for your messages,
The "crash"/ malfunction happened right after I accidentally unplugged the usb
without first ejecting the device and from then on, windows couldn't read the external drive;
all my data is lost but fortunately I made a backup just last week.
now my concern is converting it back into a format that can be recognized by windows.. at the moment
I get the message "system drive is unallocated".
I thought doing low level formatting would help in repairing bad sectors..
I appreciate any suggestions.

Hi, if you run some free partition tools such as Easeus Partition Master or Partition Wizzard Home what can you do/not do with the drive?

Can you see the drive id, model and serial number correctly?

If I were you and if it is possible I would mount the drive directly to a pc motherboard (no usb) and run any tests in a Windows XP operating system.

Thanks a lot for your advise,
Yes I tried using Paragon partition manager last night but it wasn't able to detect the drive,
a friend suggested I use windows computer management and do a thorough format before
trying anything else.. it seems that I'm finally getting somewhere! Hope this will solve the problem
and prepare the drive for partitioning

Best Wishes

Did you have any success? I have a similar problem. Thank you.

Hi, I have a nearly new SH93. It seems to have lost all data reference (directory?) and Windows asks to format it.
The data is (yes, I know I should've) not backed up and the data is countless hours of work as well as jpegs not stored anywhere else. I bought this because it was supposed to be "bombproof", but obviously is not. Is there a "fix" or do I have to paid shedloads to have the data restored, not to mention the drive replaced, hopefuly, under guarantee.

Hi,

I'm assuming your accepting the risks of DIY?

First thing you need to do is do a sector by sector image of the drive ie clone the drive to a image file (The image size will match the drive size) If the drive makes strange noises during this process STOP immediately what your doing & seek a DR PRO.
If the above goes though ok then you can try FTKImager or R-Studio data recovery trial software on the image to see if either of them can access your data. If your lucky & its just the MBR thats corrupted then copy off / save your data to another drive.


Loki

I would retrieve a SMART report before doing anything else. This will give you some idea as to the physical state of the drive. Look for reallocated, pending, or uncorrectable sectors.

HD Sentinel (DOS / Windows / Linux):
http://www.hdsentinel.com/

HDDScan for Windows:
http://hddscan.com/

See this article for SMART info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.