Failing HDD showing as 128 GB unallocated in Windows

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guale

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Jul 23, 2017
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I have a 3 TB Seagate Barracuda which has been exhibiting symptoms of impending failure for a few weeks and I stupidly decided that it could survive until my replacement came in and I could just copy the data then. It didn't. Currently when Windows Disk Management will recognize it at all, which is less than half of the time, it shows up as a drive with only 128 GB capacity and completely un-allocated.

When I plug the drive in I can hear it begin to spin up then make a series of noises. They aren't clicks, more like a beep or a whizzing noise. Then it just stops.

I have removed the controller and cleaned the contacts to no avail. I have also ruled out stuck heads.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I only have a few files on the drive I need to recover but I would really like to be able to get them.
 
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A
Thanks for the info. I was just curious. Actually it's of no import. It's just that 128 MB is frequently the size of a partition that the OS creates for a EFI partition when the drive has been GPT-partitioned such as would be the case with a 3 TB disk. But that has no bearing on the problem with the drive.

Anyway, good luck on the recovery effort. It's little more than a crapshoot as you understand but one never knows until it's tried. The fact that all the disk-space is unallocated is, of course, ominous. In case you do achieve success - even partially - please let us know.
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ArtPog

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Sep 17, 2014
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It's very likely you will not be able to recover the lost files but you may want to try one or more of the so-called "data recovery" programs (freely available) that purport to do so. See https://www.lifewire.com/free-data-recovery-software-tools-2622893 for a comprehensive listing of these types of programs.

If the "lost" data is extremely valuable to you the most sensible plan-of-action is to use a commercial data-recovery service. Quite expensive as you can imagine and even there no guarantee of satisfactory results.

BTW, you indicated DM shows the drive's capacity as 128 GB. Just out-of-curiosity, you're sure it's GB and not MB?

 
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guale

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Jul 23, 2017
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510


Thank you for the response. After troubleshooting a bit more today I've pretty much reached the conclusion that the drive is deader than disco. I'm planning on trying to run Linux's data duplication onto my new HDD once it comes in but I'm not terribly hopeful about that.

Nothing on the drive is worth spending money to recover so I'm not even going to try a data-recovery service.

I'm pretty sure it was GB but I don't remember and don't want to connect the drive again until I get my new one in. SeaTools shows it as ~4GB used out of ~3.5 available.
 
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ArtPog

Admirable
Sep 17, 2014
2,951
3
8,965
Thanks for the info. I was just curious. Actually it's of no import. It's just that 128 MB is frequently the size of a partition that the OS creates for a EFI partition when the drive has been GPT-partitioned such as would be the case with a 3 TB disk. But that has no bearing on the problem with the drive.

Anyway, good luck on the recovery effort. It's little more than a crapshoot as you understand but one never knows until it's tried. The fact that all the disk-space is unallocated is, of course, ominous. In case you do achieve success - even partially - please let us know.
 
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