Unrecognizable HDD after chkdsk

[Magaki]

Greetings.

One day, I noticed that an external HDD that I was using was failing quite badly when it came to copy/pasting anything in it. It was quite weird because I could watch videos that I stored there or look at some pictures with nothing awkward happening.

However, when I wanted to store something in it, it stopped copying after a while and suddenly disconnected to reconnect right away making me unable to add anything in it. Even weirder, it works fine with .rar or .zip that are 5GB+ but the previous trouble ONLY happens if I'm trying to store a folder.

The problem happened on both of my computers (A laptop and a desktop, both on XP).
After a while, I decided to try to find a solution for this really annoying matter and could read on the net that a chkdsk /f could take care of that.
After typing "cmd" in Run, I inputted chkdsk /f but it told me the device was used by another process even though nothing was using it at the moment.
I pressed Yes when it asked me if the chkdsk could be run next time the system will restart.

So, I just restarted it still plugged in and once I saw the chkdsk starting, I just decided to go do something else and chill.
When I came back, the laptop was done and booted normally.

Problem is, the HDD isn't detected anymore. As in, it doesn't appear in my computer. Doesn't matter how many times I restarted my computer nor plugged it in/out, it still couldn't recognize it.

It also doesn't also appear in Disk Management anymore. When I plug it in, the LED's HDD is turned on and I can feel it working as usual when I touch it but it can't be recognied by either my laptop or desktop (again, they both run on XP).

So yeah, does someone have an idea of what's happening ?

I don't know if there are any other datas that might help you guys so please feel free to ask if you require more information.
So far, here's what I can say:

-It's an external USB HDD. 250GB made by Freecom classical model 3.0
-File system is NTFS.
-I have 3 USB cables and all of them works fine with other devices so I doubt the cables have anything to do with that.
-I have 2 computers on windows XP, both show the same results.
-I checked on Freecom's website, there is no driver that I can download there.h

PS: I would have easily laughed while saying that it sure didn't last long in just 1 year while throwing it away to buy another one but I also had some very important files related to my work in it and I will be in one hell of a pinch if I can't manage to get them back.

 

[denis280]

welcome to the forums Magaki. do you have SP3 install.and here is a fix from MS for it.http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925196

 

[ConradGoodmanIT]

Hi

Your hard disk drive is broken, it's not a problem with your computers or drivers.

The disk itself may well still be fine, it could be the SATA-USB interface that is failing (I have experienced similar symptoms when this is the case).

If I were you I would:

Dismantle the case
Remove the laptop SATA disk from within the case
Attach a USB -> SATA adapter to it, and plug it into your PC
See if it functions correctly.

If it does, then it's a case of transferring your data and buying another drive.

Don't do the above if it's in warranty, but if you send it off for a warranty claim be sure they aren't going to format/lose it. If the data is important to you, I'd forget the warranty claim and dismantle as above.

Conrad

 

[Matt1970]

If it doesn't appear in Disk Management, that might be pretty much it. I would make sure it is the drive itself and not the enclosure.

 

[Magaki]

Thanks for the replies guys !

@Denis280: Tried it. Sadly, it didn't really change anything. Guess Conrad was right and it had nothing to do with the computer and drivers.

@Conrad: Thanks man ! I'll try to get an USB>Sata adapter as fast as possible in order to try to extract the datas.
I still have the warranty but the data in it is much more important than the cheap price for this kind of HDD.

 

[denis280]

Denis280: Tried it. Sadly, it didn't really change anything

Worth the trying.

 

[jolancer]

removing it from the enclosure is idealy the first step if possible.

if still no good, or not possible. there are tutorials online on how to attempt to recover the partition table using Testdisk. If that fails, i assume you can quick format(don't write data) the drive so theres a partition you can scan and recover your files using Testdisk or other apps, like Recuva or EaseUS

 

[ConradGoodmanIT]

How did you get on Magaki?

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you care about your data, CHKDSK /R or /F is almost NEVER the solution. It will gobble up your data and spit it out into unreadable chunks, just to preserve the filesystem metadata.

 

[Cerb]

If you care about your data, CHKDSK /R or /F is almost NEVER the solution. It will gobble up your data and spit it out into unreadable chunks, just to preserve the filesystem metadata.

Not only that, but it can kill a drive that is mechanically dying, like the OP's. I would in fact apply your warning to running CHKDSK manually at all. You do not do it, if you care about the data, until you are sure you have copies. Making sure there are copies should always come first.

In the OP's case, FI, trying to read off those important files would come first. If that failed, then an attempt to clone the hosed FS would be next. The cloned copy would then be used to make another copy from, and that copy would then be run against for data recovery. CHKDSK might end up being part of that process, depending on the situation, but never without the ability to roll back to before it had run.

 

[Virgorising]

If this debacle isn't a dramatic endorsement for implementing good backup strategy, I don't know what is.