Recover Partition or Data from Unallocated External Hard Drive

• 

  avoidfullprice on 18/12/2021 - 20:58

  +2

  Boot into Ubuntu on a live USB

  Run gparted and go from there?

  • 

    utsc on 19/12/2021 - 10:45

    I have never used Ubuntu

    Would greatly appreciate it if could kindly point me to a beginners guide to creating a live USB and some basic commands

• 

  pr0o on 18/12/2021 - 20:58

  +1

  Right click the allocated space > Extend Volume > select the unallocated and should be done

  • 

    pr0o on 18/12/2021 - 20:58

    +1

    Go to disk management first, sorry

• 

  scrimshaw on 18/12/2021 - 21:07

  +4

  You can use TestDisk, it's free / open source. One of it's key features is restoring lost partitions.

  Do note that it has no user interface, it's completely command line. Read this tutorial if you want a step by step guide with pictures to show you.

  • 

    utsc on 27/12/2021 - 15:20

    What type of partition should I be looking for?
    My WD HDD was an external backup (data) drive used in Windows

• 

  utsc on 18/12/2021 - 21:34

  Thank you, great start.

• 

  Transient on 18/12/2021 - 21:54

  +1

  Test Disk and Disk Digger.

• 

  utsc on 19/12/2021 - 10:37

  I am running Test Disk since last night and currently at 31% (1TB HDD)

  I get the following errors
  Head/Cylinder mismatches
  Sector per Track mismatches

  I might have made a fatal error earlier. I created a new volume without formatting and I don't know if that might be a problem now

  • 

    robertm on 19/12/2021 - 17:06

    +1

    Error or warnings?

    See this link:

    https://forum.cgsecurity.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=3033

    • 

      utsc on 19/12/2021 - 17:17

      Thank you for pointing to the forum.

      It's a warning.

      Did I make the situation worse by creating a new volume in diskpart (I created a new volume Without Formatting)

      Disk \.\PhysicalDrive1 - 1000 GB / 931 GiB - CHS 121597 255 63
      Analyse cylinder 58400/121596: 48% Warning: number of sectors per track mismatches 2 (NTFS) != 63 (HD) MS Data 519628960 519635133 6174 [Boot]
      Warning: number of heads/cylinder mismatches 2 (FAT) != 255 (HD)
      Warning: number of sectors per track mismatches 18 (FAT) != 63 (HD) EFI System 519667752 519670631 2880 [EFI System Partition] Warning: number of heads/cylinder mismatches 2 (FAT) != 255 (HD)
      Warning: number of sectors per track mismatches 18 (FAT) != 63 (HD) EFI System 519670632 519673511 2880 [EFI System Partition] ] 610604923 3732763350906 3732152745984 [L~G^OM-/
      Warning: number of heads/cylinder mismatches 2 (FAT) != 255 (HD)
      Warning: number of sectors per track mismatches 18 (FAT) != 63 (HD) EFI System 636321200 636324079 2880 [EFI System Partition] Warning: number of heads/cylinder mismatches 2 (FAT) != 255 (HD)
      Warning: number of sectors per track mismatches 18 (FAT) != 63 (HD) EFI System 636324080 636326959 2880 [EFI System Partition] [EFISECTOR]

      • 

        robertm on 24/12/2021 - 13:02

        +1

        Creating a volume should not cause any data to be lost.

• 

  Gnostikos on 20/12/2021 - 13:57

  WD Passport 0740 HDD

  Okay first off, how old is this external HDD?

  Going by that model number (0740) it seems you likely have a very old WD Passport, as I find that model number being referenced on websites relating to the 500GB WD Passport which was released back in 2013.

  You should NOT be relying on HDDs that are more than 5 years old to store anything remotely valuable.
  Any HDD that is 5 years old or more is well beyond the end of its reasonably-expected lifespan and you should always, ALWAYS have backups.

  Secondly, is the drive actually bad or what? Run Crystal Disk Info and tell us what it reports.

  When I plug my WD Passport 0740 HDD in Windows 10, I am able to unlock the drive.
  However, the drive letter does not show up

  In Windows Disk Management it shows as unallocated.

  So the HDD was full of data when you were last able to access it?

  My guess is either the drive has failed or (the other common point of failure with external HDDs) the PCB that contains the storage controller and I/O ports.

  The bottom line is… it looks like you need a new external HDD.

  • 

    utsc on 27/12/2021 - 15:17

    I use it only once or twice a year. Yes the HDD was almost full

    Hardware test done via WD utilities says the HDD is fine.
    I am able to enter the password and unlock the drive which rules out PCB (hardware) issues.

• 

  utsc on 27/12/2021 - 16:51

  Testdisk found the following partitions.

  What do I do next?

  How to I copy the output of Testdisk with formatting and line breaks?

  Disk \.\PhysicalDrive1 - 1000 GB / 931 GiB - CHS 121597 255 63 Partition Start End Size in sectors >P EFI System 172639640 172642519 2880 [EFI System PartitionD MS Data 184037511 184043684 6174 D MS Data 184043684 184049857 6174 [Boot] P MS Data 184049972 184070710 20739 [NO NAME] P EFI System 215596532 215598579 2048 [EFI System Partition] P EFI System 226149876 226150571 696 [EFI System Partition] P EFI System 232379898 232446673 66776 [EFI System Partition] P EFI System 232779144 232779879 736 [EFI System Partition] P EFI System 232780410 232846745 66336 [EFI System Partition] P MS Data 276516252 276540827 24576 P EFI System 282347508 282348243 736 [EFI System Partition] P EFI System 288867954 288945713 77760 [EFI System Partition] P Linux filesys. data 289208444 289219963 11520 Structure: Ok. Use Up/Down Arrow keys to select partition. Use Left/Right Arrow keys to CHANGE partition characteristics: P=Primary D=Deleted Keys A: add partition, L: load backup, T: change type, P: list files, Enter: to continue FAT12, blocksize=512, 1474 KB / 1440 KiB