HDD automatically converted itself to 4 partitions and is now unaccessible

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W_Irizarry

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May 10, 2017
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I have a WD 6TB HDD that I recently purchased. I initialized the disc as a GPT and just put one partition for the whole space of the drive. I started using the 6TB HDD to back up another HDD that is failing on me and I'm trying to get the data backed up before the HDD completely fails.

After I've gotten about a TB worth of data off of my failing HDD and put it onto my 6TB HDD, I used a program called HDD Regenerator to try to run a test on my failing HDD to see if it could repair the bad clusters. As soon as I started the test on my failing HDD, it seems as if my 6TB HDD disappeared from the My Computer screen and I can't located it to access it anymore.

I can see the drive in Disk Management and also utilizing a hard drive software EaseUS Partition Master. The drive shows up as being an MBR now and is divided into 4 partitions now. The first of which is unallocated space (915.63GB), then a partition that says Other (866.04GB used of 866.04GB), then another partition that says Other (931.57GB used of 931.57), and lastly just an unallocated chuck (3.65TB).

I've tried converting the MBR disk to GPT utilizing EaseUS Partition Master in hopes to merge all the partitions but it just gives me an error that says "Unable to perform conversion due to partition table error." Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
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ArtPog

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Sep 17, 2014
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Unless I'm mistaken as to your current situation...the bottom line in this "tale of woe" is that your 6 TB HDD (setting aside the partitioning scheme) is currently devoid of data. That's it, right?

So what's to prevent you from simply using Diskpart to "clean" the drive and then initialize it with the GPT-partitioning scheme? Then, of course, partition/format the drive as you see fit.

Then copy/clone the data from your "failing" HDD to this 6 TB HDD. And as long as the copying/cloning process is proceeding normally don't start experimenting with any other third-party programs during the process.

It all seems so "cut & dry" that I think I may be misunderstanding your situation.
 
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W_Irizarry

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May 10, 2017
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There is data on the drive that I would rather not lose. Otherwise I would have just wiped the drive and re-initialized. I started transferring data from the failing hard drive to this one and it already has about 1TB of data on it. Kids' videos, pictures...important stuff that I can't just redownload somewhere else. That's why I'm lost. It was GPT at first and was working fine. Now all of a sudden, it got converted to MBR and I can't access anymore, but I can see the data sitting on a middle partition. I just don't know how to initialize that partition without wiping it first.

 
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ArtPog

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Sep 17, 2014
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OK, it wasn't entirely clear from your initial post that the 6 TB HDD contained data when you initiated the copying operation from the "failing" HDD. Obviously that third-party program you decided to run during the data copying operation played havoc of some sort with the destination drive apparently to the extent of converting the partitioning scheme and re:partitioning the disk.

You now indicate the data on the 6 TB exists - at least the data you want. It would seem the most sensible approach at this time (assuming it's practical) would be to copy that data to another drive (HDD, flash drive, DVD) assuming those destinations can accommodate the volume of data. Since you didn't state the amount of data involved here I don't know if that's practical. If it is, then use Diskpart to "clean" the disk and then initialize, partition, format it. (I note the report of Easeus indicating a large volume of data contained on the disk but I don't know whether this is accurate, or if it is, whether you require all that data).

Obviously another option is to simply Diskpart "clean" the disk, GPT-partition it, and start over as it were, assuming your "failing" HDD can still serve as a source disk to copy the data you require. It this viable?

Or, using a third-party partition-management program, manipulate the present partitions on the 6 TB HDD, merging/moving/resizing etc. in order to wind up with a usable secondary drive and then use the program to convert the disk from MBR to GPT. Somewhat awkward to say the least but a possible option.

 
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kenrivers

kenrivers

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Dec 29, 2010
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It is close to a TB of data:

"After I've gotten about a TB worth of data off of my failing HDD and put it onto my 6TB HDD..."

So it looks like, at minimum a 1 TB drive may be needed. Were you using a backup program or copying the files to the external drive?
 
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