Power outage; 3 Hard Drives converted to RAW, need help!

Zii · Sep 17, 2016

I'll try to explain as clearly as I can

I own four 5TB HDD (yes, the spinny kind, not SSD's)
I bought two dual-bay USB3.0 docks so I can connect all of them to one computer.
(all these drives came from a server that failed a few weeks back)

I plop in all 4 drives, and one is showing as RAW
(I KNOW for a fact that this drive contained important backup files for multiple computers)
So that's about 3~4TB of files I need to recover right away

The other 3 look fine. One of those is empty as I have not yet used it. Good!

I'm running EaseUS on that RAW drive
About halfway in (16hrs?) power outage
I frustratingly turn my comp back on, and to my surprise, the other TWO drives are now RAW
The only fuqing drive that is NTFS like it's supposed to is, guess which one?
That's right, the EMPTY ONE
DFKJHGFKGFKUHGFUDGKUFGKDUFDGGW!!!

Anyway, I keep trying to run EasUS but can't do so successfully
because the drives always go to sleep after x amount of hours.
I can't use programs that keep them awake because they write
to the drive (and these are RAW) I can't afford to lose data

Overall:
How the hell can I safely convert these RAW drives back to NTFS?
I KNOW the file structure/data is there, I checked with EasUS and also
tried M3 Data Recovery but after successful scanning of one of the partitions,
I get the error that I can't recover it. Whatever. I know it can be done, I just don't know how!

Pleas halp. I was trying Testdisk but got a BSOD and have to start from scratch...

There has to be an easy way to change the drive back to NTFS without data loss!
I know because everything is still there!

drtweak · Sep 18, 2016

well since EaseUS is accessing the drives it shouldn't shut them down.

Also are you use the drives were not in a RAID? If they were in a RAID at all EaseUS will NOT help you. You need something like Reclaim me Raid Recovery or pay for something like R-Studio.

Also we know they are Spinny ones lol. Consumer SSD's are only at 2TB with some bigger ones about to come out or maybe just came out

Zii · Sep 18, 2016

drtweak :

Nope. Not in raid thank god.

See, I'm using a hard drive DOCK and the dock may have a function that makes it idle every so and so often.
It's not a problem with the drives themselves.

LOL just trying to be as clear as possible, since it's literally impossible to recover anything from an SSD raid array.

drtweak · Sep 18, 2016

It is just was easy/difficult with SSD RAIDs and HDD RAIDS. just with SSD if a whole memory cell goes bad VS just a bad block then yea it becomes almost impossible.

I would toss them in the PC as SATA drives. I have had issues with some docks using and issues with 2+TB drives and USB even on new ones that say that shouldn't be an issue.

Zii · Sep 18, 2016

drtweak :

So you think that the software will be able to complete the scans once they are connected as regular drives?

Can you recommend any other software that is likely to work? Software that converts RAW to NTFS without data loss?

drtweak · Sep 18, 2016

well converting is one thing. at this point it is more on the lines of Data Recovery. I use Power Data Recovery as my main recovery software.

Zii · Sep 19, 2016

drtweak :

Since your last post, I have recovered 750GB of files from one drive, and had 3TB pending from the next.
I was recovering these files to that one empty drive that [strike]wasn't formatted[/strike] didn't become RAW.

I wake up this morning... and it became RAW....
So all the files I recovered were a waste of time... I don't know what to do anymore.
I'm about to pull all of my hair out. There wasn't even a power outage... :fou:

FOUR IDENTICAL drives becoming RAW a few days apart from each other?
What the actual hell???

Could my drive bays be doing this to the drives?? I never had this issue when they were in a PC!!!

MeepsterNotchy · Sep 20, 2016

I use Minitool Partition Wizard just because it's free and good lol. Connect the drives to another computer, download Minitool Partition Wizard, once in the menu, right click a drive and select "Partition Recovery" and choose "Full Test." Do this for each drive. This has helped me on multiple occasions.

Zii · Sep 20, 2016

MeepsterNotchy :

So from my understanding, minitool will REVERT the RAW format back to NTFS without wiping the files on the drive?

drtweak · Sep 20, 2016

Download Crystal Disk Info. See if any drives come up as caution or bad (which i doubt) failing drives usually don't go to RAW, or at least in my experience. They tend to just not work or work on and off. RAW is usually when something happens to the MFT or an incompatibility with a connection.

I have seen 3TB drives turn to RAW when in a dock which is why i had suggested to connect them directly.

I would try a few other programs. Paragon has one. Minitool as meepster said and try to do a partition recovery if you can.

If you can't, looks like you might have to buy another drive and use that as a temp storage while recovering the others.

Also Rule number 1 of PC's. Always have a backup!

Zii · Sep 20, 2016

drtweak :

You don't understand! Those 20TB (ok combined) WERE my backups!!!

They all crapped out (turned RAW) on me after inserted into the dock.
Is there ANYTHING I can do to ensure the drives won't turn RAW after I fix them again?

Oh I'm not even going to check for errors. It's impossible that all 4 drives failed within days of each other.
And like you said, they would stop working entirely if they failed.

Jesus, now I need more drives to back these drives up with? WTH?
How do I know that the next drive I buy won't turn RAW after backing up my other RAW drive?

I really am certain it's the docks. So are you saying I should just chuck them out the window?
I paid like $100 for both of them... Dammit

All I have left to do now is attempt at a restoration
By that I mean the partition recovery like you said.
How exactly do I do that though? That's new territory for me.

drtweak · Sep 20, 2016

What kind of docks do you have?

I have found that the dock type doesn't matter. it is the connection type.

USB I have seen the issue in (I only have one USB 3.0 dock that i have on my PC that i mainly use to access and wipe drives. It doesn't see huge drivers very often but I haven't had an issue with it but I have with the 2.0 Docks. My USB 3.0 is an Anker and not a Thermltake BlacX though.

When it goes to RAW does it then make multiple partitions? like one that is 2.2TB and then another the rest is another partition?

And yea went back and refreshed my memory by reading the first post lol.

Also if you haven't yet check you PM's

Zii · Sep 20, 2016

drtweak :

And I got your message, sorry was in class.

It's a dual-bay SYBA I have 2 of them.

Not sure, I can't see any partitions because the drive is RAW, but in dskmgnt it looks like the partitions stayed the way they were before the format, but just converted to RAW. Strange.

Will it help if I purchase a usb3>eSATA adapter? That way it till use the eSATA ports on my computer and NOT usb3.0. Is that where the connection type occurs? Will it still happen with the adapters?

EDIT: I just noticed that on the Newegg specs page, it says the dock is only compatible with drives up to 4TB??? But it has recognized my 5TB drives??

MeepsterNotchy · Sep 20, 2016

Zii :

Well yes, if there are any partitions left on the drive that have been removed but not overwritten yet, than it can be recovered, data and all.

Zii · Sep 21, 2016

So how do I do that? I've never used Minitool before.
As far as I understand, it only recovers your files to another drive, and not restores your RAW drives' state back to NTFS with the files.

drtweak · Sep 21, 2016

Zii :

drtweak :

And I got your message, sorry was in class.

It's a dual-bay SYBA I have 2 of them.

Not sure, I can't see any partitions because the drive is RAW, but in dskmgnt it looks like the partitions stayed the way they were before the format, but just converted to RAW. Strange.

Will it help if I purchase a usb3>eSATA adapter? That way it till use the eSATA ports on my computer and NOT usb3.0. Is that where the connection type occurs? Will it still happen with the adapters?

EDIT: I just noticed that on the Newegg specs page, it says the dock is only compatible with drives up to 4TB??? But it has recognized my 5TB drives??

Yes. The issues i have had in the past were the same. It says only up to 2Tb but it read 3Tb just fine. Then a few days later...BAM...Its all RAW.

Zii · Sep 21, 2016

JUST to make sure, if I use a 4TB I am basically guaranteed to never have that RAW problem?
Or does it happen with all drives too?

drtweak · Sep 21, 2016

I have not had an issue with 2TB drives at all an only had the expereince with 3 TB drives. I have a 4 TB drive for my backup in a Thermtake BlacX but that is though eSATA and not USB but idk if they make dual docks with eSATA

MeepsterNotchy · Sep 21, 2016

Zii :

It does restore your drives states back to NTFS, I have used it before on many peoples computers. Once you open the program, right click on the drive that is RAW and select "Partition Recovery," and choose the option of "Full Scan."

MeepsterNotchy · Sep 22, 2016

I'm guessing your problem has been solved?

Zii · Oct 12, 2016

MeepsterNotchy :

Sorry for the delay. I forgot about this thread.

Nope. All those drives are still RAW, but it does seem to be connected to the external dock and the limit of the dock size wise. Have not had a drive under 4TB go RAW with those docks.

I'm still at the part where I need to figure out how to fix this. I haven't gotten that far yet, but I am planning on creating a new setup and plug all those RAW drives in to the motherboard sata and fix it from there.

Power outage; 3 Hard Drives converted to RAW, need help!

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