n00b mistake but a BIG one

DennisMenace · 14 Jun 2011 at 14:06

Whilst trying to create a bootable USB drive (from a 16GB pendrive), involving DISK PART and FORMAT in a CMD window, I noticed my 2TB external HDD was flashing - arrrgh! I immediately shut down, but now the HDD is not readable (Windows kindly offers to format the drive when it is plugged in).

I've tried a few recovery tools, but they can't access the drive, although it is recognised as G:. No surprises there really, I guess the Boot Sector and/or FAT table have been deleted. Arrrrrrrrgh!!!

So... can I recover the FAT table (or equivalent, it's an NTFS drive)? This seems the most likely way of recovering some files (there was <100GB free left out of 2TB).

Otherwise can I risk a quick format, and retry these recovery tools (which should hopefully recognise and read the drive). I'm guessing a scan of a 2TB drive could be lengthy, and the files will be fragmented and difficult to recover anyway.

Luckily, the small amount of irreplaceable data is backed-up elsewhere, but there's still a lot of replacing to do if I lose ~1.9TB. Any suggestions desperately accepted.

kae2 · 14 Jun 2011 at 14:07

You're a muppet. Try Test Disk.

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

DennisMenace · 14 Jun 2011 at 15:55

I did follow the instructions to the letter (ie "list disk" showed pendrive as disk 1, so I put "select disk 1"...).

I am a muppet for not disconnecting the 2TB anyway.

Thanks for the link. Just started a TestDisk scan, looks like it could take 4-5 hours. I'll keep you posted.

andy_mk3 · 14 Jun 2011 at 15:58

Been there done that

I had two identical Seagate drives, plugged the wrong one in and formatted it! TestDisk does the job tho

DennisMenace · 15 Jun 2011 at 22:34

Finished the 4+ hour scan with TestDisk, and it found two "unrecoverable" partitions

(even though the whole 2TB was one partition :confused:

). Then opted for the "Deeper Scan", taking 5+ hours (overnight), which found a backup partition

but when it came to restoring it, I got a write error!!! :mad:

Being a stubborn old git, I tried again - this time running TestDisk as Admin (which I thought I did before, but not 100% sure), and disabling the power-saving app that switches the disk off automatically. Two scans later and... SUCCESS

What a great little app, and thanks for the link kae2, iou1.

Just call me Kermit.

panyan · 15 Jun 2011 at 23:04

kae2 said:
You're a muppet.

before you go running into command prompt, read and re-read the instructions and triple check everything you type into it - command prompt takes no prisoners

Awahwah · 15 Jun 2011 at 23:32

OP, glad you up and running. Great little app that kae2, thanks.

whitecrook · 15 Jun 2011 at 23:36

For all you raid guys, This is why raid is not a backup

andy_mk3 · 15 Jun 2011 at 23:37

Where is RAID mentioned?

BubbySoup · 16 Jun 2011 at 14:30

whitecrook said:
For all you raid guys, This is why raid is not a backup

Random post is random ?? :confused:

whitecrook · 16 Jun 2011 at 15:07

andy_mk3 said:
Where is RAID mentioned?

in my post.