WD 320GB Data Recovery.

Rossco_ · Oct 10, 2013

I have a WD 320GB Hard Drive that was in a small laptop, one day it just stopped booting, after the Bios screen it just goes blank.
The hard drive was replaced and now the laptop works fine.

But now I am trying to retrieve data from the hard drive.
I see alot of posts on here with great help but was unable to find anything that fits my scenario.

I have now plugged this hard drive into my desktop computer.
When I boot up the hard drive always spins, but doesn't always show up on the bios. When it does it also shows up under device manager, but not windows explorer.

Under device manager is shows as an 'Unallocated' drive. When I try to Initialize it, it gives me an I/O error.
I then downloaded the WD diagnostic test, the quick one fails straight away, and the extended gets so far and says ‘ Too many bad sectors’.
I downloaded a cloning tool, but it doesn’t show the drive as an option.
I did try one Data recovery freeware program ( I forget the name ) It was able to scan the drive, but says it finds no data.

What I am asking is – Is there any freeware that I can try to use to recover the data on here, it was mainly photo’s and some documents that have sentimental value.

I hope I have given as much detail as needed, thanks for your help!

Akashdeep · Oct 10, 2013

Rossco, try with Hiren's Boot CD.

Rossco_ · Oct 11, 2013

Akashdeep :

I tried this last night, when I run the Data recovery for a damaged HDD i get a - " Read error at 4a85a99000: The requested could not be performed because of an I/O Device error.

This error posts about 20 times with different 4a85**** and then the program seems to hang.

So any other ideas?

Akashdeep · Oct 11, 2013

Rossco_ :

You should run "Regenerate HDD" first, not "Data Recovery" (in case of Hiren's Boot CD).

Try with this mannual way.

Rossco_ · Oct 11, 2013

Akashdeep :

Rossco_ :

You should run "Regenerate HDD" first, not "Data Recovery" (in case of Hiren's Boot CD).

Try with this mannual way.

Thanks I'll try this tonight, sadly will only be able to report back monday, hopefully this thread does die by then

!

Akashdeep · Oct 11, 2013

Rossco_ :

Akashdeep :

Thanks I'll try this tonight, sadly will only be able to report back monday, hopefully this thread does die by then

!

Don't worry, the thread will be opened, until you reach to a solution.

Rossco_ · Oct 14, 2013

Akashdeep :

So I tried the restoration over the weekend from the Hirens Boot CD, but it doesn't show this hard drive as one of the drives to recover.

I then ran the same Data Recovery and left it on all weekend.

It kepts posting the error but more of it. and I ended up with a Image.dd file around 300gb, which seemed right, I ended the recovery as it didnt post an error for about 6 hours.

But now I have this .DD file and don't know what to do with it. I tried Image Mount Pro v5 and that just made a drive that when I clicked it, it said it had to be formatted.

Rossco_ · Oct 16, 2013

So PhotoRec found nothing,
I now have started to make a new image as I think cancelling the last one may of broken it, its been running for 36 hours now, will try everything again when its done.

Akashdeep · Oct 16, 2013

Mount the image.dd with whatever suitable software you find, but don't try to extract it in 300GB drive partition. Try it to do on 500GB or more.

Rossco_ · Oct 18, 2013

Akashdeep :

The new Image.DD was made, but PhotoRec found no files on it.

I'll try mount the image with a program tonight, but last time it just told me i needed to format the mount.

Also this Image.DD this time was smaller then the previous

Akashdeep · Oct 18, 2013

Try today and let me know.

smayekar912 · Oct 18, 2013

you Tried Check Disk Utility on Hiren Boot?

Akashdeep · Oct 18, 2013

smayekar912 :

Scroll up the page to know the answer of your question.

Rossco_ · Oct 21, 2013

Akashdeep :

Right so, When I am using the HDD recovery program, its still printing the errors. However it still runs and I left it running for long, but when ever it gets close to midnight ( As it prints the errors every minute or so) the program hangs.

So I keep trying to restart it and it ends up the same, and because of this I don't think the .DD or .CIB files are working. As when I try photorec it says it finds nothing, and when I've tried two different mounting programs it says I need to format the new drive.

I did run a progam to check the physical condition of the drive and it seems to be 100% healthy. Just the bad sectors.

Any other ideas on what I could try to pull info from this disk?

Akashdeep · Oct 21, 2013

Use the drive as secondary drive on another pc.

Run "Power Data Recovery" software.

Recover the data you needed, save it on an external drive or on other hdd.

Then format your drive.

And bad sectors mean your hdd is damaged and it will go damaging itself day by day.

Their is no chance to recover the bad sectors. If you have warranty, replace it, otherwise recover data and don't use that drive.

Rossco_ · Oct 21, 2013

Akashdeep :

I had it as a secondary drive as it doesn't boot.

I'll get that program tonight and run it!
Holding thumbs

Akashdeep · Oct 21, 2013

If it is on Secondary drive, simply recover Data with the help of "Power Data Recovery Tool".

Rossco_ · Oct 21, 2013

Akashdeep :

Akashdeep, I've just downloaded the Power Data Recovery Tool, but is doesn't seem to be detecting my damaged drive, only the drives that are showing up in explorer.

The damaged device is only showing up in Device manager

fzabkar · Oct 21, 2013

@Rossco_, I suspect that you may be flogging a dead horse.

WD's drives often suffer from damaged firmware modules in a hidden System Area on the platters. When this happens you can no longer access your data.

To read these MODs, you need specialised data recovery software, eg WDR 6.0.

I would examine your drive with a disc editor (eg DMDE freeware). See if you can read sector 0 and the next few sectors. If not, then this would tend to confirm an internal fault.

I would also examine your image.dd file with a hex editor (eg HxD freeware) to see if it contains anything other than zeros.

Rossco_ · Oct 22, 2013

fzabkar :

HXD Reads this from my .CIB Backup that failed at midnight, this is the first few lines, its all FF

3C 43 49 42 3E C1 B0 01 FB DB 63 52 00 82 AD 85 4A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 3C 43 49 42 3E C1 B0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF

DMDE Seems to find 0's on #1, but I think it finds on #2 but it hangs before I can copy any data.

Will try again this evening

fzabkar · Oct 22, 2013

The first few bytes appear to be a header identifying the file type, ie "<CIB>". This header is repeated just before the FF bytes.

This is what it looks like in DOS Debug (edited for clarity):

C:\>debug
-e 100 3C 43 49 42 3E C1 B0 01 FB DB 63 52 00 82 AD 85 4A
-d 100
0100 3C 43 49 42 3E C1 B0 01-FB DB 63 52 00 82 AD 85 <CIB>.....cR....
0110 4A ............................................ J...............
-q

Edit: It doesn't help, but I notice that the header contains the image size in these bytes:

00 82 AD 85 4A

They are in little endian format (reverse byte order), ie 0x4A85AD8200.

Using Google's calculator ...

0x4A85AD8200 = 320 070 320 640

http://www.google.com/search?q=0x4A85AD8200+in+decimal

This figure corresponds closely to the "Read error at 4a85a99000" message that you were getting previously, suggesting that your software was trying to read a problematic area at the end of the drive, or maybe it was trying to read beyond the end of the drive.

Rossco_ · Oct 22, 2013

fzabkar :

I think I am understanding what you are saying,

I can't carry on anymore tests till I get home tonight, I left the DMDE Scanning the hdd, and will link if it has any results when I get home.

With what you've told me from above, what can be done?

fzabkar · Oct 22, 2013

Can you post a CrystalDiskInfo report of your drive?

That might give us a clue as to its physical condition.

Rossco_ · Oct 22, 2013

fzabkar :

I have the program, unfortunately I have night classes tonight so won't be back to very late, but will get it posted as soon as I can!

Can't thank you all enough for your help, a truly amazing website.

Akashdeep · Oct 22, 2013

Rossco_ :

Have you tried "Power Data Recovery Software"?

Without trying it, why you are going for too bit depth analysis? Going too depth will recover your data? Or it will repair your damaged(?) HDD?

WD 320GB Data Recovery.

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