WD Scorpio 640GB Laptop HDD - NTFS Boot Sector Corruption

[Jeremy]

I removed a 640GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue HDD from my grandmother's laptop.
I connected it to my desktop using an external enclosure which is connected via USB.
When I connect it, it shows up two separate drives in Windows Explorer; neither of which I can access.
When using TestDisk, it is stuck at 2% of analyzing the partitions.

I attempted to run a chkdsk as well:



Can someone please assist me?

[jaclaz]

Well, why did you remove it from the laptop?

I mean did it show signs of malfunctioning?

Was it (at the time it was in the laptop) actually have two partitions?

 

What you should do right now.

1. STOP fiddling with that disk
2. procure yourself a 750 Gb disk (or larger)
3. Image every sector you can to an image file on the new disk 

That read error is seemingly a malfunctioning of the hardware, you won't get anywhere working directly on a failing disk , IF most of the sectors can be imaged to a surely working disk, then there are good probabilities to save/recover most of the data, but these kind of read errors may be limited to one or a few sectors or be the beginning of large unreadable areas, you never know until you try and image them.

 

jaclaz

[Jeremy]

Upon boot-up, it says "error leading operating system".

I could insert a bootable USB with Windows 7 on it and attempt a repair.

Take into consideration and keep in mind that I have the opporunity and am willing to buy and install an SSD to replace the HDD.

I can, in my spare time, attept to recover data from the HDD and transfer.

I just need to make sure that the SSD would fit and be compatible with this particular laptop (Acer Aspire 5250).

[jaclaz]

Upon boot-up, it says "error leading operating system".

I could insert a bootable USB with Windows 7 on it and attempt a repair.

I will try again.

The error about the missing operating system is a sign of (software) corruption of one or more "vital" sectors , that can happen on a perfectly working disk (hardware).

The error at 2% in TESTDISK analyzing the disk is INSTEAD a sign of actual corruption of one or more physical sectors (hardware).

While you can usually repair software issues by booting an alternate OS, you CANNOT repair a hardware issue.

Additionally attempting a software repair of a hardware error on a disk may make matter WORSE.

You have ONLY one option (short of consulting a data recovery specialist) attempt to salvage what data can be recovered from the disk (provided that the data is needed/worth something).

If you have a valid backup of the data (or the data has no value) you can of course play with that hard disk whichever way you see fit.

Take into consideration and keep in mind that I have the opporunity and am willing to buy and install an SSD to replace the HDD.

I can, in my spare time, attept to recover data from the HDD and transfer.

I just need to make sure that the SSD would fit and be compatible with this particular laptop (Acer Aspire 5250).

I don't see why *any* 2.5" SSD should not fit/be incompatible, it is a fairly common and recent machine with a SATA port, what is your doubt?

jaclaz

[Jeremy]

Removed.

Edited March 31 by Jeremy

[jaclaz]

 I have ordered an SSD (as the laptop harddrive is 7mm in thickness as is the SSD so I know it will fit). 

I see , it is one of those "extra-thin" disks.

 

Let me know if you need assistance anyway for the data recovery from the old disk.

 

jaclaz 

Edited May 25, 2015 by jaclaz

[puntoMX]

7mm Is the standard these days, the 9mm ones are out it seems. And, for sure a 7mm fit's in a 9mm hole .

 

 

Now you might call me an name, but I told Jeremy to get a pencil eraser, the classic red one, and clean the contacts with it. Let's see if that helps.

[jaclaz]

7mm Is the standard these days, the 9mm ones are out it seems. And, for sure a 7mm fit's in a 9mm hole .

And even slightly better in a 9.5 mm hole :

 

I will also risk to state that a 5 mm will fit BOTH a 7 mm and a 9.5 mm hole:

 

 

jaclaz