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I accidentally pulled out my externa hard disk from my TV without unmounting it. After this the HDD is not working properly. When I plug it in my laptop it says that the USB device is not recognizable. I am able to see the HDD as a drive in my system but not able to access it. It asks for formatting the drive the moment I plug the HDD to any laptop. Its a 1TB external HDD.

I tried to recover the data using EaseUS but after scanning for a while it stopped abruptly. Before getting disconnected it showed a message like "Bad sectors found and program is trying to skip that". But the software lists all the directory that my HDD had and also listed all the images that I have in the HDD.

Then I used AOMEI partition Assistant to identify the amount of Bad sectors. the software ran for 10 hours and there are lot of bad sectors identified till now as in the image below. Bad Sectors

I am a photographer by profession so I am trying to recover the images in my HDD which comes to nearly 60-80Gb.

Questions:

  1. EaseUS scans the director and lists the images what I am looking for. Will it be possible to stop the scanning before it encounters the bad sectors and start recovering?
  2. Does Formatting my HDD and then running a recovery helps me to overcome problems with the bad sectors?
  3. Searching answers online- I am seeing mixed response for fixing bad sectors. Given the image of my HD bad-sectors above, is it possible to fix them or recover the data?
  4. Is there any advice on using a better software to recover data with bad sectors in it?

EDITED

This is how my drive looks in the system

This is how my drive looks under Disk Management

Ash
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    If its windows, try chkdsk to fix the disk. Dont format it!!! – Rohit Gupta Oct 05 '23 at 05:00
  • specifically chkdsk /r c: However, with that many bad sectors it is likely you will need to send your drive to a place like driversavers.com and be prepared to pay a lot of money. Depending on the drive it could cost $2000+ for a data recovery. Estimates are usually free. This does NOT absolutely guarentee data recovery if you had a head crash your data is gone. If the sectors are really bad then any data they contain is could be lost. – cybernard Oct 05 '23 at 16:29
  • The more you attempt to use the HDD, the more damage is done. Any attempt to format it or use chkdsk will do yet more harm. As @cybernard states, if the data is valuable, use a commercial, though costly, data recovery service, and don't expect 100% of the data to be recovered. In the future, make disk images periodically, particularly if data has value. – DrMoishe Pippik Oct 05 '23 at 19:22
  • I tried 'chkdsk g: /f /r /x' where g is my drive i get the below message
    The type of the file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives.     – Ash Oct 06 '23 at 04:03
  • @Ash The partition table has been corrupted then - recover it with TestDisk, then re-run the ChkDsk command you tried to run once it's mounted with drive letter – JW0914 Oct 06 '23 at 14:35
  • @JW0914, I will visit a professional lab and check if they can get my data out of the devices. If not then I will try our option. Thanks! – Ash Oct 06 '23 at 15:16
  • @Ash that makes no sense - why are you having a lab look at this? This is a run of the mill issue that's simple to fix using testdisk... a lab is a literal waste of money for this, but its your money =] – JW0914 Oct 06 '23 at 20:14
  • Please ignore JW0914's advice unless you have nothing to lose. This has nothing to do with fearmongering and everything with being cautious and common sense. – Joep van Steen Oct 08 '23 at 00:03
  • I understand that I am a newbie to this and my data is important for now. I don’t want to loose so I better first don’t experiment for now. Nothing wrong with any of your suggestions. – Ash Oct 09 '23 at 02:09
  • Well, there is something wrong with some suggestions. Anyone who suggests chkdsk at any point in any scenario where data recovery is the goal should be ignored entirely. – Joep van Steen Oct 09 '23 at 09:09
  • The feedback that I received from a lab is that the HDD head is damaged. Solution is to replace the head and then recover the data. Does this sound a meaningful thing?

    @JoepvanSteen

     – Ash Oct 10 '23 at 13:54
  • @JW0914, thanks for your advise. Lets not blame one another. I will try your option if I decide that I am not going to go ahead with the solution from the lab. – Ash Oct 10 '23 at 13:55
  • Yes, this is common. Where did you send it? There's some questionable labs for which this is the default answer. But yes, heads do fail and yes, head replacement is then required to read the data. – Joep van Steen Oct 10 '23 at 13:57
  • I visited a data recovery lab in my city, their reputation was good and they exist here for more than 15 years. They said repair and recovery cost is ~$250 – Ash Oct 10 '23 at 14:01
  • my HDD had data for around 200GB. The data that I am concerned is only around 80GB. The data is visible when I scan using software's like EaseUS but it aborts when bad sector is encountered. All the important data (80GB) was scanned and visible until the bad sector was encountered. Now, using software's like EaseUs, if I stop the scan before I encounter the bad sector and then begin recovery will I be able to get the required data alone? – Ash Oct 10 '23 at 14:06
  • Thanks, I will try this and keep it posted. Going to take a while to read all of them. – Ash Oct 11 '23 at 05:04
  • @JoepvanSteen With the information provided, it does not indicate hardware damage - a bad head normally results in clicking from the head trying to read, then getting repeatedly reset. Per the OP's own words, this reads as a dirty dismount corrupted the partition table and choosing to be rude will simply get you banned – JW0914 Oct 14 '23 at 11:06
  • @JW0914 OP already mentions bad sectors, which is worrying and does not have anything to with some improperly dismounted volume and its not anything testdisk will solve. A bad or weak head does not have to result in clicking, clicking is typically a result of a drive being unable to read it's SA. I am not rude, you act like a buffoon. – Joep van Steen Oct 14 '23 at 13:58

1 Answers1

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Do nothing until you have a plan!

At best, until you have a plan you do as little as possible and keep the drive unplugged. Scanning the drive with file recovery tools is not without penalty, nor is scanning the drive with utilities that are purely detecting and perhaps even claiming fixing bad sectors!

RAW file system

A RAW file system is often poorly understood, many suppose it's a matter of 'converting' RAW back to the original file system. But a RAW file system does not tell us anything other than Windows not recognizing the file system. It could be due to a file system it does not support or a file system that is so damaged that it can no longer be recognized.

The RAW file system cold be caused by a purely logical issue but also by mechanical or physical issues and if that is the case you should consider ceasing all DIY data recovery attempts, specially if the data is of value.

In this case the problem is both: Due to the bad sectors we're dealing with a physical issue and as Windows no longer recognizes the file system we're also dealing with a 'logical' level issue.

At some point this question may be closed due it being a duplicate of this wiki page, but I urge you to not follow advice in the bad sector answer on that page.

Do not experiment!

Drives in this condition should be treated as if each read could be the last, so you want to make each read productive. A scan to discover bad sectors, like you did, are wasted reads, nails to the coffin.

To get some idea about the current condition of the drive you can look at the SMART data the drive publishes. Do not run short or extended SMART tests though!

Best option IMO

Contact a data recovery specialist as he/she will have the experience and tools (hard & software) to tackle this type of issue.

It sounds to me like an entry level type problem that can be handled without having to open the drive in a cleanroom:

  • Data recovery tech will attach the drive to hardware that is designed to work with such drives and image/clone the drive using specialized software.
  • After that files can be recovered from the clone or disk image file.

Contact a proper lab for this! It does not have to be a large franchise lab with shops all over the country, an independent lab is fine. But a PC Repair shop is not a data recovery specialist.

DIY Options

  • It depends on drive model if the actual hard drive can be removed from it's external drive enclosure and directly attached to a 'native port'. For example, if this is a USB enclosure containing a SATA drive it is preferred to remove the USB layer.
  • Specialized free tools like ddrescue or HDDSuperClone can then be used to create a clone or disk image file. You need to study how these tools can be used and how you best setup a system for the recovery. You should have everything in place before starting the recovery attempt.
  • Then use file system recovery software like DMDE or R-Studio to extract files from the clone or disk image file.

As you see the DIY steps try to mimic the exact same steps a data recovery engineer would take.

Joep van Steen
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  • Thanks @joep for your suggestion. I am going to visit a professional lab and hear what they say. – Ash Oct 06 '23 at 15:07
  • Why would run of the mill partition table corruption be recommended to be taken to a lab over first recovering the partition table? Details given by the OP clearly show this is the issue, as removing a drive from Linux without first unmounting it usually results in filesystem or partition table corruption. TestDisk, or similar utility, would generally be the recommended solution to try first, not wasting money on a lab that's going to do the exact same thing to recover the partition table. Fearmongering is never the way to go in an answer – JW0914 Oct 07 '23 at 14:59
  • @JW0914 I guess you missed the bad sectors, the drive disconnecting and DIY options I gave, you downvoting simpleton. – Joep van Steen Oct 07 '23 at 22:55
  • A disk with bad sectors happens (verify via S.M.A.R.T first), it's why drives have backup sectors those can be replaced with - that being said, most likely cause for the partition table corruption is not dismounting the drive on the TV's Linux OS before unplugging, of which takes all of three minutes to fix with testdisk. Advising someone to go to a data recovery specialist over the simple and most common fixes for the issue is simply bad advice because of how expensive a data recovery specialist is, especially when the OP could easily fix this issue themselves via testdisk and chkdsk – JW0914 Oct 09 '23 at 12:50
  • Blabla. Drives don't have 'backup' sectors they have spare sectors. They're meant to handle an occasional isolated bad sector, not to handle some serious issue. Bad sectors may be 'harmless' they can also be a symptom of a more serious issue. Then value of the data determines how much risk one is willing to take. If data is lost and there's the desire to rescue the data because it's of value then in-place repairs like done with Testdisk and chkdsk are the bad advices. Plain dumb advices. If data is lost + bad sectors the least one should do is create a clone / disk image. – Joep van Steen Oct 09 '23 at 20:15
  • Please explain how the conclusion of a failing drive is arrived at from a dirty dismount corrupting a partition table. – JW0914 Oct 10 '23 at 04:51
  • That's not what I am saying + you don't know that's the actual issue, you're guessing. Anyway I am going to stop talking to you because you're either stupid or trolling, possibly both. – Joep van Steen Oct 10 '23 at 09:17
  • If you can't explain that, it's likely the issue is less there's an explanation and more you just don't like the fact I down voted the answer – JW0914 Oct 14 '23 at 11:08
  • @JW0914. Again I never said anything like that, so why would I need explain your strawman? You're wrong and you know it. If you're convinced that testdisk is the answer to this, grow a pair and post that as an answer. – Joep van Steen Oct 14 '23 at 15:12
  • @Ash: Any luck with that already? Consider accepting an answer. – Joep van Steen Nov 02 '23 at 20:05
  • @JoepvanSteen, sorry for my late response. I started reading but didn’t initiate any action. Kindly bare with me as I need some time to try this out. – Ash Nov 09 '23 at 02:13