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Posted: Dec 21 2010 08:57 pm

If the problem lies in the controller board or in disk structure, I doubt using a different OS would make any difference, let alone one with an imperfect implementation of NTFS.

Posted: Dec 21 2010 09:25 pm

You wouldn't believe the amount of times I have managed to salvage other people's "lost files" on a corrupted windows hard drive using a Linux live CD.

And, I have had absolutely zero issues with NTFS compatibility using Maverick. (Ubuntu 10.10)

The difference is Windows is very picky about drive management and permissions, where-as Linux is "what you see is what you get."

Posted: Dec 22 2010 08:58 am

Device Scan Complete [found 0 partitions]

Not sure if you need anything else off of the results.

Also, I've just about given up hope, can I attempt to re-format it? I know I'll lose my data. But It should salvage the drive hopefully correct?

Banned Joined: Sep 13 2008 Posts: 3129

Well, like knyte said Linux's file managing is what you see is what you get.

Now, with GP being our resident tech expert, and Excel being our second best resident tech expert, I wouldn't try this until they start running out of ideas (or if your desperate at this point)

If you have a spare CD or USB drive lying around try making a bootable, boot your computer from it, plug your drive in and then see if you can see your files in which case I recommend you put your 1TB drive somewhere safe until you can get another drive to move your files to.

I recommend mint 9 http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=52 or any version of linux using an Ubuntu base
Windows won't be damaged as long as you don't click on the little install button and go through the 10 pages of crap and install it.

If you want to set up a USB drive then download this
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/downloads/Universal-USB-Installer/Universal-USB-Installer-1.8.1.9.exe
Just run it, select the ISO (or if it's not in there then find the "some other linux iso" option and use that) install it to the USB drive, and boot from it.
Keep in mind this needs at LEAST 2 gigs of free space

Now if you want to put it onto a CD then just download the mint 9 ISO and burn it to a CD or DVD

Joined: Jun 08 2010 Location: Termina Field Posts: 1541

Atma wrote:

Device Scan Complete [found 0 partitions]

Not sure if you need anything else off of the results.

Also, I've just about given up hope, can I attempt to re-format it? I know I'll lose my data. But It should salvage the drive hopefully correct?

Guessing from what's happening, either something inside the drive was disturbed, or you might have a head crash (where those things that read from the platters comes into contact with the platters). If it's either of these, especially the latter, there might be no real hope unless you pay for professional data recovery.

Hacker wrote:

Well, like knyte said Linux's file managing is what you see is what you get.

Now, with GP being our resident tech expert, and Excel being our second best resident tech expert, I wouldn't try this until they start running out of ideas (or if your desperate at this point)

If you have a spare CD or USB drive lying around try making a bootable, boot your computer from it, plug your drive in and then see if you can see your files in which case I recommend you put your 1TB drive somewhere safe until you can get another drive to move your files to.

I recommend mint 9 http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=52 or any version of linux using an Ubuntu base
Windows won't be damaged as long as you don't click on the little install button and go through the 10 pages of crap and install it.

If you want to set up a USB drive then download this
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/downloads/Universal-USB-Installer/Universal-USB-Installer-1.8.1.9.exe
Just run it, select the ISO (or if it's not in there then find the "some other linux iso" option and use that) install it to the USB drive, and boot from it.
Keep in mind this needs at LEAST 2 gigs of free space

Now if you want to put it onto a CD then just download the mint 9 ISO and burn it to a CD or DVD

Didn't Knyte already explain this?

Posted: Dec 22 2010 10:31 am

The only thing I really wanted to salvage was my wife's resume. Everything else was Movies/TV Shows which hold no real significance to me. At this point, I'm about ready to tell her to just re-type the shit. It would have been nice to not lose all my Movies and junk, but I'll survive.

If you guys really just want to see if you can fix this, I'll play. But, unless I can totally restore the parititon, I really don't want to go fucking around in Linux which I know nothing about.

Posted: Dec 22 2010 11:13 am

Please give my suggestion a try. If it doesn't work, you are only out about an hour of time, and one CD-R.

Posted: Dec 22 2010 11:33 am

I'll give it a shot when I get home from work today, and I'll post the results.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

I agree with Knyte. At this point, it makes sense to check what a *nix product can see. I personally would be hitting up OS X, but Ubuntu will work just fine.

Posted: Dec 22 2010 02:09 pm

So, I attempted the Linux. I burned the ISO. I have a x64 system, so I tried the x64 version. Didn't work. Tried again with the x32 version. Didn't work.

I have the disc burnt, Restart the Computer, and it just loads Windows, it never gives me the option to boot of the disc.

Now what?

Posted: Dec 22 2010 02:38 pm

Are you doing all of this with the new case? Try the live CD with the original and tape the USB connector to the board if you have to.

Posted: Dec 22 2010 02:43 pm

Atma wrote:

So, I attempted the Linux. I burned the ISO. I have a x64 system, so I tried the x64 version. Didn't work. Tried again with the x32 version. Didn't work.

I have the disc burnt, Restart the Computer, and it just loads Windows, it never gives me the option to boot of the disc.

Now what?

You probably need to change your boot sequence in the BIOS. I imagine your disc drive is not set to boot before the hard drive and as such will keep loading Windows without ever giving you the option to boot from the CD.

Posted: Dec 22 2010 02:56 pm

You have to mash a certain key to get the boot menu. It's usually F12 or Delete or something similar. Watch the boot sequence carefully to find out which one. If you can't see it, press Escape as soon as the monitor shows picture to force the BIOS to show you the verbose boot sequence. It should show you then. If you have trouble seeing it then, press Pause/Break to force booting to wait.

Once you do get to Ubuntu or whatever distro you picked out, it shouldn't be too dissimilar to what you're used to. Everything should auto-mount if NTFS support is as good as others are saying. It's been a while since I used it myself, but the devices you're looking for are /dev/sda and /dev/sdb or something similar.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Documentation is most likely available to explain the BIOS features. It is either online or in print from the manufacturer.

Banned Joined: Sep 13 2008 Posts: 3129

Mr. Satire wrote:

Didn't Knyte already explain this?

So he did... Shows how much I read lol

Posted: Dec 22 2010 06:06 pm

I didn't think about the Boot Sequence, I've been in BIOS and changed it before, just not on this computer. *crosses fingers* I'll let you know.

EDIT: Got into Linux. Still said 1TB of Unallocated space.

I'm done with this. I partitioned the drive.

Drive is working fine now, I've placed files on it. Disconnected it, and reconnected it, and they're there.

Sucks I lost everything but I'm really done fucking around with it.

Guys, everyone who chipped in. Thank you so much. No seriously. Thank you so much. You guys are fucking amazing and I really do appreciate your time and help.

Joined: Jun 08 2010 Location: Termina Field Posts: 1541

Atma wrote:

I didn't think about the Boot Sequence, I've been in BIOS and changed it before, just not on this computer. *crosses fingers* I'll let you know.

EDIT: Got into Linux. Still said 1TB of Unallocated space.

I'm done with this. I partitioned the drive.

Drive is working fine now, I've placed files on it. Disconnected it, and reconnected it, and they're there.

Sucks I lost everything but I'm really done fucking around with it.

Guys, everyone who chipped in. Thank you so much. No seriously. Thank you so much. You guys are fucking amazing and I really do appreciate your time and help.

Pleased to have helped. Also, I would consider getting a new drive if this happens; the drive could fail at a later point.

Also, Excel, as a person who uses Ubuntu Linux regularly, the NTFS support is fine. I can create, destroy, and read NTFS partitions perfectly, and I does so even faster than in Windows. I only have had a problem with writing files to the partition, but that only started with the latest release.

Also, what are you going to do with that cat? Smile

Posted: Dec 22 2010 10:42 pm

Mr. Satire wrote:

Also, what are you going to do with that cat? Smile

He lost one of his nine lives that day. I promise that lol Very Happy

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Atma wrote:

I didn't think about the Boot Sequence, I've been in BIOS and changed it before, just not on this computer. *crosses fingers* I'll let you know.

EDIT: Got into Linux. Still said 1TB of Unallocated space.

I'm done with this. I partitioned the drive.

Drive is working fine now, I've placed files on it. Disconnected it, and reconnected it, and they're there.

Sucks I lost everything but I'm really done fucking around with it.

Guys, everyone who chipped in. Thank you so much. No seriously. Thank you so much. You guys are fucking amazing and I really do appreciate your time and help.

Ya know... if it is reading now, even though it is repartitioned, it might be worth trying to use the DEEP SCAN feature of Recurva.

Give it a shot, it might take a few hours, but yield the select files you want.

Posted: Dec 23 2010 02:20 am

If you want to get a Word file out, PhotoRec is the only program I know of that ignores partitions in search of files. Another program that works with partitions and MBRs and such is TestDisk. I completely forgot about it as it only worked for me once, but now it's probably too late.

In my most extreme case, I went as far as to look for a Seagate drive identical to one I watched die on eBay. I had to search for one with an identical board and firmware, which was hard as the drive was two years old. Even Seagate's customer service told me not to bother. But I found a drive, swapped the boards and I immediately called a friend of mine, who really knows his stuff but also didn't think it would work, that he was totally wrong. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to repeat my success here, but sometimes it just ain't worth the effort, right?