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RussianHAXOR
07-01-2009, 03:05 AM
I have a GP 750GB HDD that was part of an external enclosure that was not working. The enclosure would power on but no computer could detect it through the USB. So popped it open and decided to connect it to my computer. I connected it and now it says(on two different computers) that i have the drive(both bios and windows see it) but that its 750GB of unallocated space, even though there are hundreds of GB of data on there, critical data... mostly my music and family pictures that ive scanned in over the years. Nonetheless, do you guys think theres any way i can fix this? i was thinking i might have to buy another drive and swap out PCBs but i dont think that will guarantee a fix.

Thanks for any help. :D
DougLite
07-01-2009, 08:49 AM
The drive has failed.

In Disk Management, does it say that the drive is "unreadable," has a "RAW" file system, or something else? If it says unreadable, you may have a chance getting the partition back using Winternals or something similar. If it says RAW for the file system, chkdsk may get it going long enough to copy stuff off of it.

Have you tried the freezer trick?
Old Hippie
07-01-2009, 11:57 AM
The freezer trick is for mechanical problems which this drive doesn't have.

GetDataBack (http://www.runtime.org/) has saved my buns many a time.

Try before you buy.
Syntax Error
07-01-2009, 01:11 PM
Sounds like some sort of logical disk corruption in which Old Hippie's advice is what I would also try doing - GetDataBack has saved my ass numerous times in the past, so give it a shot. :)
RussianHAXOR
07-01-2009, 01:20 PM
Okay guys. Thats what i downloaded last night. I'll start running it right now.

It doesnt have a RAW file system.... just says unallocated.
RussianHAXOR
07-01-2009, 04:25 PM
This is what we're looking at. Its an HFS file system.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b375/JEWISHMAFIA/disksave.jpg
qwerty30
07-01-2009, 04:28 PM
lol just went through this myself. I was able to convert it back to a FAT32 file system with a program called "testdisk". You might even be able to fully restore it

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

also take a look at this, the very last example at the bottom of the page "Recovery of reformatted partition"

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Data_Recovery_Examples

good luck, hope you're able to get your data back.
RussianHAXOR
07-01-2009, 04:48 PM
lol im running testdisk. ;) look at my screenshot :P

thanks for the links thats what ive been looking for.
DougLite
07-01-2009, 10:21 PM
Some Linux based/derived programs identify NTFS and HPFS (from OS/2) volumes identically.
RussianHAXOR
07-02-2009, 12:33 AM
Some Linux based/derived programs identify NTFS and HPFS (from OS/2) volumes identically.

I saw that theres a linux one that i downloaded 700mb that is a bootable DVD that has Testdisk built into it.

What i need to know is.... what do i do after this point??

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b375/JEWISHMAFIA/disksave.jpg
RussianHAXOR
07-02-2009, 04:17 PM
Still no success. When i tried using HFS explorer to see if i could access the data on the drive the partition format that it read was not HFS but rather (unknown). Does that mean i need to use testdisk to create a partition? im just confused :(
qwerty30
07-02-2009, 08:26 PM
try doing the process in the last link posted. Can you see the files on the drive when you go to "list"?
RussianHAXOR
07-03-2009, 02:48 AM
try doing the process in the last link posted. Can you see the files on the drive when you go to "list"?

I can see the files on the drive. I did a recovery using the other program and it recovered alot of data... but im looking to just get this drive working since the data is clearly there and uncorrupted.
DougLite
07-03-2009, 09:10 AM
If it says unallocated in disk management, you'll need to write a new partition table. You may be able to pull it off using diskpart in Windows, or a third party program.
RussianHAXOR
07-03-2009, 03:20 PM
If it says unallocated in disk management, you'll need to write a new partition table. You may be able to pull it off using diskpart in Windows, or a third party program.

Okay, thats what i was thinking. Thanks for confirming that. I basically thought that from the beginning but once people started saying it might not be HFS i was getting confused. But my biggest problem is that i dont get the necessary steps to write a new partition table.