help: hard drive lost ntfs partition

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mad Scientist Jr
  • Start date Start date
M

Mad Scientist Jr

I am having trouble with 120 GB NTFS drive in an external enclosure
(hybrid usb2/firewire), used with Windows XP.

Yesterday Windows popped up with an error like "could not write to
drive, bad block found". I tried to open the drive in My Computer and
although the drive letter was listed, the volume name was gone and I
could no longer browse the drive.

If you look at the Computer Management screenshot:

http://www.geocities.com/usenet_daughter/hdd1.jpg

drive F is the drive and is listed as Healthy, but no file system or
volume name is present. This should be an NTFS partition.

Any help recovering this volume would be most appreciated.

Thanks

PS I would prefer to use Svend's findpart utility:
http://www.partitionsupport.com/utilities.htm
which has worked like a charm in the past (with the author's help). I
am more comfortable using this than a commercial product like Norton
Diskdoctor. However I haven't been able to reach him - if anyone else
knows how to use Findpart to recover an NTFS partition, any help would
be appreciated.
 
I am having trouble with 120 GB NTFS drive in an external enclosure
(hybrid usb2/firewire), used with Windows XP.

Yesterday Windows popped up with an error like "could not write to
drive, bad block found". I tried to open the drive in My Computer and
although the drive letter was listed, the volume name was gone and I
could no longer browse the drive.

If you look at the Computer Management screenshot:

http://www.geocities.com/usenet_daughter/hdd1.jpg

drive F is the drive and is listed as Healthy, but no file system or
volume name is present. This should be an NTFS partition.

Any help recovering this volume would be most appreciated.

Thanks

PS I would prefer to use Svend's findpart utility:
http://www.partitionsupport.com/utilities.htm
which has worked like a charm in the past (with the author's help). I
am more comfortable using this than a commercial product like Norton
Diskdoctor. However I haven't been able to reach him - if anyone else
knows how to use Findpart to recover an NTFS partition, any help would
be appreciated.
Click to expand...

We need to know a little more about this guys problem before we can
make conculsion, maybe his disk died. but I've been watching usenet
groups for NTFS issues for about a year paying attention to people
reporting NTFS "failure" and my thoroughly unscientific poll shows
that a huge number of the people that have had these problems are
using external USB boxes. This guy's story is typical.

I (and many other sysadmins) have been using NTFS from the day it was
available. In my case for many thousands of systems. 99% of these are
IDE and the rest SCSI. Except for hardware failure it's 100%
reliable, IME.

I could conjecture that backpack problems could be explained by one of
these reasons:

- Problems with LBA48 issues and big disks.
- Heat killing the disk. (not a USB problem, but related to the
cheapo case design and full time use.)
- Power fulction/problems caused by the enclosure's wall wart
being sub-par or subject to VAC fulctuation that the PC power
supply deals with, or common mode ground problems.
- crappy no-name exclosure that was only tested with FAT32, not NTFS.

Any comments ?
 
I could conjecture that backpack problems could be explained by one of
these reasons:

- Problems with LBA48 issues and big disks.
- Heat killing the disk. (not a USB problem, but related to the
cheapo case design and full time use.)
- Power fulction/problems caused by the enclosure's wall wart
being sub-par or subject to VAC fulctuation that the PC power
supply deals with, or common mode ground problems.
- crappy no-name exclosure that was only tested with FAT32, not NTFS.

Any comments ?
Click to expand...

Definitely concur.
 
Al Dykes said:
We need to know a little more about this guys problem before we can
make conculsion, maybe his disk died. but I've been watching usenet
groups for NTFS issues for about a year paying attention to people
reporting NTFS "failure" and my thoroughly unscientific poll shows
that a huge number of the people that have had these problems are
using external USB boxes. This guy's story is typical.

I (and many other sysadmins) have been using NTFS from the day it was
available. In my case for many thousands of systems. 99% of these are
IDE and the rest SCSI. Except for hardware failure it's 100%
reliable, IME.
Click to expand...
I could conjecture that backpack problems
could be explained by one of these reasons:
Click to expand...
- Problems with LBA48 issues and big disks.
Click to expand...

Nope, the drive isnt big enough to see those.
- Heat killing the disk. (not a USB problem, but
related to the cheapo case design and full time use.)
Possible.

- Power fulction/problems caused by
the enclosure's wall wart being sub-par
Click to expand...

Possible but not that likely, it aint rocket science at that power level.
or subject to VAC fulctuation that the PC power supply deals with,
Ditto.

or common mode ground problems.
Click to expand...

Very unlikely indeed. Its a digital system.
- crappy no-name exclosure that was
only tested with FAT32, not NTFS.
Click to expand...

Cant see why that should be NTFS specific.
Any comments ?
Click to expand...

Nope.
 
Also, how bad would you say an internal power supply is for a 7200 rpm
drive with regard to overheating, if there is a fan? Are the aluminum
enclosures better? Is there an enclosure or chipset you would
recommend?
 
Nope, the drive isnt big enough to see those.


Possible but not that likely, it aint rocket science at that power level.


Very unlikely indeed. Its a digital system.
Click to expand...


"digital" is really a very carefull analog simulation. It works great
until it stops. Look at digital signals with a o'scope for an example.
 
"digital" is really a very carefull analog simulation.
Nope.

It works great until it stops.
Click to expand...

It doesnt stop due to common mode ground problems.
Look at digital signals with a o'scope for an example.
Click to expand...

You can make the same silly claim about say the PCI bus signals.
 
Other than turning it on for a minute to get the chipset/driver I have
not touched the drive since the crash. Do any of you know how to use
the FindNTFS or similar utility to recover the partition? NTFS stores
backups of partition tables, right? I don't trust Norton to fix this.
 
I appreciate the discussion, but what would you recommend? I have used
a similar enclosure (same silver plastic case, same fan, but it had an
oxford chipset, and noname, where this is a bytecc) and another large
WD drive for almost 3 years daily with no problems. Also I was on the
net when it happened - could it have been from a malicious attack? In
any case all I want is to recover the data and avoid this happening
again (including making more frequent backups). Are there any external
hybrid enclosures you would recommend? I am running findpart.exe all,
we will see if Svend replies or if I can figure out where to take it
from there.
 
many thanks... this should save me the trouble and $ of having to buy
oxford enclosures.

anyone out there who can help with findpart and recovering the
partition? svend olaf? are you out there?

i think i have gone as far as i can on my own

many thanks in advance
 
Other than turning it on for a minute to get the chipset/driver I have
not touched the drive since the crash. Do any of you know how to use
the FindNTFS or similar utility to recover the partition? NTFS stores
backups of partition tables, right? I don't trust Norton to fix this.
Click to expand...

I've only used Easy Recovery Pro in that situation. It works fine, but isnt
free.
 
I appreciate the discussion, but what would you recommend?
Click to expand...

I havent seen enough failures over years to be able to recommend
any specific enclosure, and the use varys too, some only have it
turned on while doing a backup to it, others use it like a regular drive.

It isnt even that easy to monitor the drive
temp using SMART in an external drive.
I have used a similar enclosure (same silver plastic case, same fan,
but it had an oxford chipset, and noname, where this is a bytecc)
and another large WD drive for almost 3 years daily with no problems.
Click to expand...

Yeah, plenty do use them without problems.
Also I was on the net when it happened -
could it have been from a malicious attack?
Click to expand...

Not very likely. And I use a full hardware firewall, so that cant happen.
In any case all I want is to recover the data and avoid this
happening again (including making more frequent backups). Are
there any external hybrid enclosures you would recommend?
Click to expand...

See above.
 
Easy Recovery Pro... will look into it. I read up on various posters'
comments and it seems the prolific PL3507 chipset in my enclosure needs
firmeware update.. but there are two variants, one for chipset vrsn A
and one for chipset version B & C. I would *guess* my enclosures (i
have two, this is the first time I have had a problem) are the latter
versions since these were purchased in the past 6 mos, but that's no
guarantee, they could have sat in a warehouse for 2 yrs. Does anyone
know how to tell which version chipset you have?
 
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