Tech Support Guy banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Solved: Recover Hard Drive Data

978 views 10 replies 4 participants last post by  Oklahoma 
#1 ·
On My XP MCE I wanted to print an interesting file and started the CTRL and P. When it was taking a very long time to load the data I realized there would be a multitude of pages to print and the only way I could interrupt the process was to power off. Upon reboot, it kept cycling offering a screen with choices -- Safe, Last known normal, etc. It did not matter which I selected it would cycle and return to that screen. Giving up, I replaced the HD and now I would like to recover the data. I have the failed drive in an external case and when I try to access it I get, "Corrupted file -- cannot access". The HD with the corrupted file is a WD SATA 250G. Is there software that will allow me to gain access to the data? I have the files backed up on another drive but the last back up was two months ago. Thank you for considering my question.
 
#3 ·
#4 ·
Thank you for your responses, Mumbodog and Elvandil -- however, I can't seem to get to there from here. Here is a summary of the steps I took:

I tried to run a chkdsk /r on G: drive (which is the HD of interest). I could not get it to address the G: drive. I tried in the Command Prompt as well but could not get it to designate the G: drive. How can I get it to address or apply it to the G: drive?

Then I downloaded the "How to take Ownership of a file or folder" but found it only dealt with files and folders and did not bring up the HD.

Then I downloaded the "Take Ownership" but it seems to pertain to Vista although I extracted it and agreed for it to go in the Registry. Seemed to put me in a "do loop" and never produced a document to view.

Then I tried the "Take Control" and reached the point where it informed me that it applied to Vista only. I do not have Vista, I have XP MCE SP3.

So, I am back to square one at the moment. I would like to succeed with the "run a chkdsk /r on that hard drive" but I can't seem to get there yet. Any further suggestions?
 
#5 ·
It worked fine on XP for me. But if not for you, then look at the right-click Properties of a folder on that drive. Do you have a Security tab?

As far as chkdsk, at a command prompt, you need to type:

chkdsk G: /r

and that should do it.
 
#6 ·
Thank you Elvandil for the clarification, i.e., chkdsk G: /r. I was not putting the G: in the right place. Now, after 4 hours of running chkdsk I now have access to the data and am in the process of copying over to the new HD. I also want to see if I can boot up from the restored HD as well. I will follow up on the results. Thank you very much for your help.
 
#7 ·
Really? Hopefully you didn't lose much. Chkdsk can be an amazing tool (it saved me from a Partition Magic disaster once), or it can make files so that the NSA couldn't get them back (if the partition is damaged and chkdsk does not seem aware of that fact).

Any bad sectors mentioned in the chkdsk report (it is in the Event Viewer if you didn't get the chance to read it)?
 
#8 ·
There were bad sectors listed during the chkdsk but I was primarily concerned about getting the data back and did not investigate. The event log doesn't show anything unusual around the time I lost the ability to boot up. It does mention a bad block on the HD a few days earlier and several browser and MCE errors over time, but not at the time of the event.

Thank you Evandil and Mumbodog for your help! Much appreciated. My data of concern was retrieved and the problem drive boots up and seems to be functional.
 
#10 ·
Chkdsk only writes a log to the Event Viewer if it runs at boot; running on an external would just display the info on screen.
You can run chkdsk in Read Only mode by typing chkdsk G: with no switches, that will display the summary so you can see if it shows any bad sectors.
Or just chkdsk if you are now booting with it and it's no longer drive G:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top