My SeaGate 1 TB hard disk is just one month old. It has four partitions.
All partitions are full up to 70-90%.
Now it gives dskchk error on booting.
In the first partition (which is about 10 GB), it says attempting to repair, and then reports "insufficient disk space"
In the other three partitions (about 300 GB each), it does not report anything at all.
The disk is under warranty, and I can get it replaced.
But how do I recover the data?
Is there any freeware disk recovery tool that will help me?
* I am ready to buy a new disk (may be 1 TB or 2 TB, as required).
* I hear that some recovery techniques require the computer to run for a long time. That is fine by me. The data is important, but not required immediately.
Thanks in advance!
dskchk fails on my 1 TB hard disk - How to recover data?
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Hopefully, that's not your only copy of the data of interest.
If it's merely a backup of data resident elsewhere, you can always try to reformat it and backup again.
If you intent to return the HDD you should reformat it as a matter of protocol before returning it to keep your data nominally private.
If it contains the ONLY copy of important data, you may need to pay for recovery software or service.
But before you do, try to operate the device in different orientations and/or running it in a cooler (or hotter) environment than usual.
And do check with Seagate support to see if they have any low-level driver software to diagnose/recover what's on the disc. A few years ago I had a problem with a HDD and the manufacturer provided some diagnostic software for me to resolve the issue. If I recall correctly, it was my Hitachi HDD, hopefully Seagate has something similar.
Good luck!
If it's merely a backup of data resident elsewhere, you can always try to reformat it and backup again.
If you intent to return the HDD you should reformat it as a matter of protocol before returning it to keep your data nominally private.
If it contains the ONLY copy of important data, you may need to pay for recovery software or service.
But before you do, try to operate the device in different orientations and/or running it in a cooler (or hotter) environment than usual.
And do check with Seagate support to see if they have any low-level driver software to diagnose/recover what's on the disc. A few years ago I had a problem with a HDD and the manufacturer provided some diagnostic software for me to resolve the issue. If I recall correctly, it was my Hitachi HDD, hopefully Seagate has something similar.
Good luck!
At first, you should make images of the partitions, so that in case something goes wrong you can go back. But there is the possibility that this will not work because of the damaged file structure. A free (for personal use) Image software is DriveImage XML. There is also a complete Bart PE (mentioned by Nikos) plugin on their site. This plugin can be used with a very basic Bart PE builder without any adjustments. Note, that in case, you install it on your disk some data may become unavailable, but if you have another drive in the machine (or connected via USB) you will be fine.
A very powerful tool for rescuing data is testdisk (the name is somehow misleading). You simply unzip it and can use from inside the system. In the unzipped package you will find a plugin for Bart PE so that you can use it from a Bart disk also. Testdisk is also included on several ready to use live CDs, Gparted Live as an example. Gparted is a partition manager, probably also useful for your needs. In any case, don't miss the testdisk documentation, available online or as download on their download page.
A very powerful tool for rescuing data is testdisk (the name is somehow misleading). You simply unzip it and can use from inside the system. In the unzipped package you will find a plugin for Bart PE so that you can use it from a Bart disk also. Testdisk is also included on several ready to use live CDs, Gparted Live as an example. Gparted is a partition manager, probably also useful for your needs. In any case, don't miss the testdisk documentation, available online or as download on their download page.
Thanks for the invaluable tips!
I missed sharing the following info:
My PC has 3 physical disks, all SATA.
1 x 125 GB: OS+utilities (working fine)
2 x 1 TB : Data storage (each has 4 logical partitions).
While the old 1 TB HDD is still working fine, the new one failed within a month.
The disk is internal, but I do have an adapter box that can house any HDD to make it external (USB-connected disk). So if there are any tools exclusively for USB HDDs, I can use them too.
Please let me know if there are any additional tips based on this new information.
Thanks in advance!
P.S. Nikos, I made a lot of changes in x2 manual. That new manual is in this $#@$#&* HDD. :oops:
Once this is recovered (hopefully), I will definitely go for online backup.
I missed sharing the following info:
My PC has 3 physical disks, all SATA.
1 x 125 GB: OS+utilities (working fine)
2 x 1 TB : Data storage (each has 4 logical partitions).
While the old 1 TB HDD is still working fine, the new one failed within a month.
The disk is internal, but I do have an adapter box that can house any HDD to make it external (USB-connected disk). So if there are any tools exclusively for USB HDDs, I can use them too.
Please let me know if there are any additional tips based on this new information.
Thanks in advance!
P.S. Nikos, I made a lot of changes in x2 manual. That new manual is in this $#@$#&* HDD. :oops:
Once this is recovered (hopefully), I will definitely go for online backup.
As your system partition's drive is not affected, you can simply install the said programs on your machine.
You will probably need another drive (may be via USB, but may be also internal) for the recommended image backup. If this will be an USB device, be noted, that the fast compression method of DriveImage will be most likely quicker than the not compressed method. (Good compression takes much more time in any case).
Another addition: Tetsdisk comes with another tool named Photorec (again a misleading name), which is able to restore lost files of many file types (by far not only photos or pictures). If you use this you should select only a few file types for a given run, otherwise you might end with an amount of recoverable files which can hardly get handled.
You will probably need another drive (may be via USB, but may be also internal) for the recommended image backup. If this will be an USB device, be noted, that the fast compression method of DriveImage will be most likely quicker than the not compressed method. (Good compression takes much more time in any case).
Another addition: Tetsdisk comes with another tool named Photorec (again a misleading name), which is able to restore lost files of many file types (by far not only photos or pictures). If you use this you should select only a few file types for a given run, otherwise you might end with an amount of recoverable files which can hardly get handled.
Hi Thomas,
The faulty HDD turned out to be the SeaGate's infamous .11 batch that has a phenomenal failure rate (I wonder why they bother to sell it and put the customers in trouble).
So I have bought a Western Digital 1 TB disk now. According to the supplier this is better than seagate.
Although my PC is working, if I power up the faulty hard disk, the dskchk starts up. Therefore right now I have removed power from that disk.
I have installed both DriveImage XML and testdisk on my PC.
Since the faulty disk is not directly accessible, what should I do next to copy its image? Does DriveImage XML work with a faulty disk?
Will I need to put the faulty disk on my USB adapter, or can I power it through my SATA connectors and continue to make image and then try to recover it?
The faulty HDD turned out to be the SeaGate's infamous .11 batch that has a phenomenal failure rate (I wonder why they bother to sell it and put the customers in trouble).
So I have bought a Western Digital 1 TB disk now. According to the supplier this is better than seagate.
Although my PC is working, if I power up the faulty hard disk, the dskchk starts up. Therefore right now I have removed power from that disk.
I have installed both DriveImage XML and testdisk on my PC.
Since the faulty disk is not directly accessible, what should I do next to copy its image? Does DriveImage XML work with a faulty disk?
Will I need to put the faulty disk on my USB adapter, or can I power it through my SATA connectors and continue to make image and then try to recover it?
Hi Narayan,
the idea behind my suggestion of making an image beforehand is, that in case, you get an unexpected result you can go back and try it again.
Let me say first, that I never got such a faulty drive so that I never had the "luck" of doing those things myself.
In DriveImage you have the option to make the backup in RAW format, so that the backup contains also all the empty clusters (or those, that Windows believes, they are empty) and also all the faults. DriveImage also has the option to make disc-to-disc copy. As you have a new drive already I would suggest to make a drive-to-drive copy (per partition) in RAW format (which should have all the faults of the original partition) and make the repairs with testdisk with the copy. So will always have the original unchanged and can do the same again, if the first attempt leads to an unexpected result.
Be noted, that you have to create an empty partition on the target drive with the same size as the source partition manually (with the Windows-build-in Drivemanager).
Regarding: The faulty drive not accessible: I am not sure, if I understand this correctly. You said, that in case, that the faulty drive is powered up, chkdsk will start up. This means in my understanding, that Windows does have access to the drive, but chkdsk does step in. At what situation does this (chkdsk) happen: during booting up or after logging into your account. My guess: during boot, but there should be a counter before chkdsk really starts to work giving you the option to bypass this. Is this different in your case?
If you cannot prevent chkdsk, than I would as you said put the drive in an USB case. Windows should recognize the drive in this case as a new one, not "remembering" the previously errors.
Or did you mean something different with "not accessible"?
the idea behind my suggestion of making an image beforehand is, that in case, you get an unexpected result you can go back and try it again.
Let me say first, that I never got such a faulty drive so that I never had the "luck" of doing those things myself.
In DriveImage you have the option to make the backup in RAW format, so that the backup contains also all the empty clusters (or those, that Windows believes, they are empty) and also all the faults. DriveImage also has the option to make disc-to-disc copy. As you have a new drive already I would suggest to make a drive-to-drive copy (per partition) in RAW format (which should have all the faults of the original partition) and make the repairs with testdisk with the copy. So will always have the original unchanged and can do the same again, if the first attempt leads to an unexpected result.
Be noted, that you have to create an empty partition on the target drive with the same size as the source partition manually (with the Windows-build-in Drivemanager).
Regarding: The faulty drive not accessible: I am not sure, if I understand this correctly. You said, that in case, that the faulty drive is powered up, chkdsk will start up. This means in my understanding, that Windows does have access to the drive, but chkdsk does step in. At what situation does this (chkdsk) happen: during booting up or after logging into your account. My guess: during boot, but there should be a counter before chkdsk really starts to work giving you the option to bypass this. Is this different in your case?
If you cannot prevent chkdsk, than I would as you said put the drive in an USB case. Windows should recognize the drive in this case as a new one, not "remembering" the previously errors.
Or did you mean something different with "not accessible"?
Hi!
Thanks for the detailed answer.
Yes, dskchk happens on bootup, and it can be bypassed. It actually detects the first (out of four) partitions, but cannot proceed further and recover the partitions. So there is hope, I think.
But the problem is, I cannot remember what partitions I have made in the faulty disk. So I cannot make the same partitions in the new disk. Is there a way to simply copy all its partitions to the new disk without having to create the same-sized partitions on it?
Thanks for the detailed answer.
Yes, dskchk happens on bootup, and it can be bypassed. It actually detects the first (out of four) partitions, but cannot proceed further and recover the partitions. So there is hope, I think.
But the problem is, I cannot remember what partitions I have made in the faulty disk. So I cannot make the same partitions in the new disk. Is there a way to simply copy all its partitions to the new disk without having to create the same-sized partitions on it?
For what it's worth (and Cosmo would perhaps know more about this than I, from the sound of things) there are multitudes of software which claim to be able to do this (such as here) after you've cloned the "bad" drive. In theory you clone the drive itself, not the individual partitions, so the recovery pass will sort the sinners from the saints and you don't need to repartition the new disc manually.
Never having had an HD failure (where I didn't have a pre-existing image) I have no experience with the efficacy of the above, unfortunately.
Never having had an HD failure (where I didn't have a pre-existing image) I have no experience with the efficacy of the above, unfortunately.
The DriveImage XML seems to offer images or raw backup only at drive level (in other words, it seems to work partition-by-partition; rather at disk level).
How can I make it work at disk level?
If it cannot, is there any other freeware that can clone a defective disk?
The EaseUS is a demo version - Is it crippled, or fully functional?
How can I make it work at disk level?
If it cannot, is there any other freeware that can clone a defective disk?
The EaseUS is a demo version - Is it crippled, or fully functional?
I have never done disk backup/restore. Based on your tips, I did a little searching, and found this:
http://odin-win.sourceforge.net/
Also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... g_software
I feel a little more confident now!
http://odin-win.sourceforge.net/
Also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... g_software
I feel a little more confident now!
Yes, DriveImage XML can only work at partition-basis. And in your case the partition table seems to defective.
I did not know ODIN; it appears to be an interesting alternative or supplement. Therefore I would be interested to hear from how about the results. And taking a look at the comparison table in Wikipedia: I would also like to know, if ODIN is able to make Live Copying. This is a great aspect in DriveImage; I make Images on a regular basis with a scheduled task without the need to install additional services (as it is needed for Acronis).
And not to forget: Good luck!
I did not know ODIN; it appears to be an interesting alternative or supplement. Therefore I would be interested to hear from how about the results. And taking a look at the comparison table in Wikipedia: I would also like to know, if ODIN is able to make Live Copying. This is a great aspect in DriveImage; I make Images on a regular basis with a scheduled task without the need to install additional services (as it is needed for Acronis).
And not to forget: Good luck!
