SATA with important data shows unallocated - pls. help

[Barthes]

Hi everybody!

After a clean install on a new SATA drive, I found out that the other SATA disk, containing very important data, shows unallocated at XP Computer Management. It also does not appear as a local disk in My Computer.

I'm more than terrified with the prospect of losing that data and would appreciate your help.

My Specs:

Asus P4Pe, XP Pro, 2 WD SATA 2 250 (w/jumper to SATA)

[cluberti]

Was the old SATA disk (that now shows unallocated) formatted FAT32 or NTFS? Also, was it created basic or dynamic?

If it was NTFS, you could probably use diskprobe (from the XP Resource Kit) to hex modify the disk so that XP recognizes it properly again. It sounds like there's an invalid bit or set of bits on sector 1 that XP can't make out, so it shows the disk as "unallocated".

http://thelazyadmin.com/blogs/thelazyadmin...asic-Disks.aspx

[RyanVM]

Be EXTREMELY careful with the disk at this point, as you want to avoid making any changes. Your data is almost certainly recoverable as long as the drive itself is still functioning properly. Check out programs like GetDataBack or File Scavenger. I've used the latter quite successfully in the past.

[Barthes]

Was the old SATA disk (that now shows unallocated) formatted FAT32 or NTFS? Also, was it created basic or dynamic?

If it was NTFS, you could probably use diskprobe (from the XP Resource Kit) to hex modify the disk so that XP recognizes it properly again. It sounds like there's an invalid bit or set of bits on sector 1 that XP can't make out, so it shows the disk as "unallocated".

Thank you for replying! I'm a little less worried now due to your answers.

cluberti: The old SATA disk was formatted NTFS and was created basic. I guess you're right about the invalid bit/sector, but I'm very unfamiliar to sector edition to manage diskprobe...

Be EXTREMELY careful with the disk at this point, as you want to avoid making any changes. Your data is almost certainly recoverable as long as the drive itself is still functioning properly. Check out programs like GetDataBack or File Scavenger. I've used the latter quite successfully in the past.

RyanVM: Thanks for your suggestions. I've gone trough reading both features, but somehow GetDataBack seemed more powerful. I'm going to download the demo version and see what it can do.

I'll report my results.

Any other tips are welcome.

Thanks again!

[bonestonne]

if you can run checkdisk on it, i'm quite sure that theres a big chance you'll get your data back.

i had a problem with my external drive, when the power went out while it was connecting to my computer, half of my music was gone, but it was still taking up the same amount of space, after running checkdisk, all my music was back.

[Ponch]

if you can run checkdisk on it

No drive letter, no checkdisk.

You coud also try Testdisk, it recovers entire partitions, providing they haven't been formatted, which is the case here.

[cluberti]

Run DiskProbe and follow the link I sent - if you have the "42" bit set (as in the steps in the link), you'll know what has gone wrong (and how to fix it). This is the most common reason for drives to be listed this way after a reinstall (it's not the only reason, but more than 50% of the time I follow this with good success).

[jcarle]

If what cluberti suggested doesn't work, I suggest using Active Undelete. It's great software that's saved my skin more then once.

[Barthes]

Run DiskProbe and follow the link I sent - if you have the "42" bit set (as in the steps in the link), you'll know what has gone wrong (and how to fix it). This is the most common reason for drives to be listed this way after a reinstall (it's not the only reason, but more than 50% of the time I follow this with good success).

I’m beginning to get the whole picture: three days ago my PC was knocked down resulting in a fatal HD and memory crash. New memory, new drive, new OS installation, I would never expect getting a BSOD. But I just did.

So, I’m beginning to think that the error with the old SATA is correlated with that incident and not with the OS installation. Maybe a faulty Mobo?

cluberti: assuming my guess is accurate, can I still follow your suggestion?

Ponch and jcarle: thanks for your tips. I’ve ran Testdisk (without modifying the HD ) but the results of the analysis were quite hopeful: Testdisk was capable to identify an OK struture of the whole partition, with the correct capacity and name. But I'm still taking my time to do a informed decision on this almost vital matter to me...

thank you all for helping me.

Edited April 23, 2007 by Barthes

[cluberti]

I’m beginning to get the whole picture: three days ago my PC was knocked down resulting in a fatal HD and memory crash. New memory, new drive, new OS installation, I would never expect getting a BSOD. But I just did.

So, I’m beginning to think that the error with the old SATA is correlated with that incident and not with the OS installation. Maybe a faulty Mobo?

No - if drive recovery software sees the disk and your data, but XP says it's unallocated, you can almost be guaranteed that you simply have flipped bits in sector 1 causing it, which diskprobe can fix. It's just figuring out WHICH bits

[Jeremy]

For data recovery, by the way, I suggest R-Studio.

*Writes down with Cluberti says* Very useful. Thanks man.

[Barthes]

I’m beginning to get the whole picture: three days ago my PC was knocked down resulting in a fatal HD and memory crash. New memory, new drive, new OS installation, I would never expect getting a BSOD. But I just did.

So, I’m beginning to think that the error with the old SATA is correlated with that incident and not with the OS installation. Maybe a faulty Mobo?

No - if drive recovery software sees the disk and your data, but XP says it's unallocated, you can almost be guaranteed that you simply have flipped bits in sector 1 causing it, which diskprobe can fix. It's just figuring out WHICH bits

cluberti: No luck... As you can see, I've changed the 3rd byte in sector 01C0 to 07, but the system still reports an ivalid partition.

And no, the magic 42 bit, the Answer to The Ultimate Question Of Life is not present...

I'm posting the ORIGINAL faulty sector 1 here, just in case you can get any evidence from it:

Also, TestDisk (recommended by Ponch) used to report a valid partition, doesn't do anymore. I'm going to revert my changes to the original status.

I did a lot of googling looking for a way to figure this out, but I'm stucked.

Any tip?

Thanks a lot.

Edited April 24, 2007 by Barthes

[cluberti]

I've noticed that lines 01B0 and 01C0 may be incorrect. Can you post screenshots of the View > Partition Table and View > NTFS Boot Sector from diskprobe on that drive? Your first sector may be incorrect at either line 01B0 or 01C0, but it's hard to tell without the other data.

[Barthes]

I've noticed that lines 01B0 and 01C0 may be incorrect. Can you post screenshots of the View > Partition Table and View > NTFS Boot Sector from diskprobe on that drive? Your first sector may be incorrect at either line 01B0 or 01C0, but it's hard to tell without the other data.

Hi cluberti,

Here they are:

Old drive

Partition Table:

NTFS Boot Sector:

Thanks for the help!

[cluberti]

That does give me something to go on - let me do a little research and I'll get back to you as soon as I can figure this out .