WD Sata HDD Problem - Can't diagnose
Hi all, as always when I can't tear any more hair out I plead to the wider (and more knowledgeable) community... I will try and make this as succinct as possible:
Background:
Windows Home Server (my own setup) using a PATA hard drive for the system and 2 SATA HDDs for storage:
1: Western Digital 500gig ... The problem drive.
2: Maxtor (I think) 750gig
The Western Digital is almost full and the Maxtor did not have any data on it at all.
In hindsight I had a few days warning when WHS started reporting problems with the Backup files, but to cut a long story short here's where I am now:
I've removed the WD 500gig and placed it as a secondary drive in my workstation PC.
BIOS Recognises it (Correct size etc)
Vista (Home Prem 64bit) recognises the drive and I can see a "G:\" in explorer.
Computer Management recognises it but not as a formatted drive. It also shows a 9 MB unallocated partition on the drive (probably a WHS thing)
If I try to access the drive from explorer I get:
"G:\ is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable."
What I NEED to do:
Restore the disk to a point where I can copy the photos (at least 5 gig) to another HDD. The photos were stored on the server as original files (not backup copies of photos on workstation PC's.
What I have tried:
Using getdataback. Not a complete waste of money as it allowed me to retrieve some files, but not the photos I was hoping for. Using this program, I can see the photos but it does not open any of them successfully.
Using testdisk. Assuming I've used it correctly, this reports no problems with the MFT or FAT – not %100 sure on this though.
Used SMART tests – medium and long tests. These report no problems.
Using chkdsk. This tells me File record segments 24-27 are unreadable. When it tries to recover lost files I get the message "Insufficient disk space to recover lost data." (I'm assuming I'm getting this because the disk is almost full.)
1) Is it possible to get chkdsk to use memory from another HDD to help it repair a HDD?
2) What else can anone suggest?
3) If you need any more info let me know and I'll post it up.
4) Thanks heaps in advance!
Background:
Windows Home Server (my own setup) using a PATA hard drive for the system and 2 SATA HDDs for storage:
1: Western Digital 500gig ... The problem drive.
2: Maxtor (I think) 750gig
The Western Digital is almost full and the Maxtor did not have any data on it at all.
In hindsight I had a few days warning when WHS started reporting problems with the Backup files, but to cut a long story short here's where I am now:
I've removed the WD 500gig and placed it as a secondary drive in my workstation PC.
BIOS Recognises it (Correct size etc)
Vista (Home Prem 64bit) recognises the drive and I can see a "G:\" in explorer.
Computer Management recognises it but not as a formatted drive. It also shows a 9 MB unallocated partition on the drive (probably a WHS thing)
If I try to access the drive from explorer I get:
"G:\ is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable."
What I NEED to do:
Restore the disk to a point where I can copy the photos (at least 5 gig) to another HDD. The photos were stored on the server as original files (not backup copies of photos on workstation PC's.
What I have tried:
Using getdataback. Not a complete waste of money as it allowed me to retrieve some files, but not the photos I was hoping for. Using this program, I can see the photos but it does not open any of them successfully.
Using testdisk. Assuming I've used it correctly, this reports no problems with the MFT or FAT – not %100 sure on this though.
Used SMART tests – medium and long tests. These report no problems.
Using chkdsk. This tells me File record segments 24-27 are unreadable. When it tries to recover lost files I get the message "Insufficient disk space to recover lost data." (I'm assuming I'm getting this because the disk is almost full.)
1) Is it possible to get chkdsk to use memory from another HDD to help it repair a HDD?
2) What else can anone suggest?
3) If you need any more info let me know and I'll post it up.
4) Thanks heaps in advance!
0
Comments
Since you have directed me straight back to that article, and the fact you have in excess of 18000 posts here I take your advice seriously.... currently looking for external cable as we speak (so to speak)
If you've got multiple HDDs, and it appears you do, it's perfectly fine to run recovery operations on the internal disk provided everything is being recovered to the working hard drive.