- This topic has 27 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 4 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
The worst thing you can do is trying to repair the defective drive without any backup. IMO every tool that's working this way is crap.
I'm using Runtime GetDataBack for FAT is such cases. It's not free but very effective! And YES you need a second drive to save recovered data for this software.Rank:
this is why you:
1. dont use external drives. never. ever. unless it is for like bad movies you would not mind getting wiped anyways.
2. you use cloud storage to secure your important stuff. mega 8tb is just 20$ a month.The MBR is on an external hard drive, but this is only to boot up Windows from an Operating perspective?
If you were to attach that external hard drive to another computer, would you be able to see all the files inside? If so, that should allow you to grab all your files, etc.. You could also then reinstall windows on another drive instead and at least you have your data intact.
(again, I'm not familiar with this exactly, but adding my thoughts).
Best of luck.Since my last experience with an external drive. I now use a personal cloud with two 10TB drives set to RAID 1 that holds all files. Next I have a single bay cloud that is 8TB that my pc backs up to once a week with acronis backup. Finally, I manually backup my pc to a WD USB drive that goes into my fireproof safe. It's redundant, I know. But lesson learn the hard way is never forgotten.
Rank:I see everyone complaining about external storage, and how bad it is, and thinking about things, EVERY drive failure I've had in the last 10 years, with ONE exception, has occured to INTERNAL drives. The one exception was a external chassis that took a lightning surge. That was like 7 years ago... Otherwise, it's been internals that have failed me... of course, I am DAMN picky about my external enclosures... Currently using a Thermaltake BlackX single drive "open" case, and a IcyDock 4 drive external chassis. Neither one have given me any issues since I got them, except the Thermaltake won't handle anything over 2tb... but it IS an older one.
I also use enterprise grade drives, as much as I can... exceptions to that are the two SSHD's that I'm using, both of which are FireCuda's...(1tb 2 1/2" and a 2tb 3 1/2")
I see nobody talking about backups, its so important. i have 2 copy,s of ALL my important stuff on 2 seperate external HDD,s. if 1 crashes i can go to the other and create a new copy. Thats what i call a solid backup.
@whyme MY new 4TB and Cloning Unit arrived from Amazon 1 day after the drive's MBR was corrupted by Microsoft Windows 10, and its USB Release routine not working. Normally you power down your system, and any external connected will be removed from the system, but for some reason, Windows 10 did not release it at all, even after shutting the PC down completely.
The next time I went to load the drive - it came up as RAW - NOT FORMATTED and missing the MBR - as it is 4TB and not 2TB or Less, it is apparently according to Microsoft itself - a KNOWN BUG... with NO SOLUTION.
This NEVER happened to me like this before. And I have never had a hard drive fail on me in over 20 years.
I don't BOOT from an external - I boot from an SSD internally. This was my archive drive, I was consolidating all my data cleanly over to it, from multiple drives. I have a large amount of the data either in my Daz account itself or on multiple MEGAs, but still, its like going into a book library, and dumping all the books out of all the shelves, and then looking at the massive task of figuring out if any of the books are missing, and then the monumental task of putting them in numerical order again.
That is why I had a massive panic attack when this happened.. I have high functioning OCD and that caused a short circuit in my head.
I'm very appreciative of all the suggestions and assistance I am getting from the community - it really warms my heart to know so many of you actually care about one another.
I'm going to be trying a solution given to me here in this group tomorrow, wish me luck.
AnjaBear
I see nobody talking about backups
It's not helpful to blame someone for the lack of an update when he/she lost his/her data. Either you learn it the hard way or never!
Nearly everybody knows how important backups are. And the rest makes updates. 😉
@anjabear Any luck on your data recovery?
@snooker i didnt blame anyone. i whas just wondering. And yes i learned it the hard way.
Also I'd like to point out that backups were mentioned, and second the notion that blaming someone (intentionally or otherwise) for not doing a back-up, for using an external drive, for whatever really, doesn't help when someone is asking for assistance.
There also seems to be some confusion about the problem from the people in this thread, that the problem is the master boot record (MBR) of the drive, not a deletion of files, not the drive not being formatted, and not Windows being unable to read the drive.
I do hope that everyone uses this opportunity to go set up a back up if they don't have one or to go run their back up if they do have one and it's been a while. Best practice for back-ups is to have it run on a schedule--less often for replaceable files, and very often for irreplaceable ones. Remember to as much as possible to have your back-ups on different drives as much as possible, and to have separate and organised back-ups for different things.
I also advise against using drive docking stations with external drives, I have had failures myself with them and know of many people who've had similar failures with them. Either use an enclosure (they're very cheap! Just make sure you get one that works with the size of drive you have, both in terms of physical size and disk space) or put it directly in your computer.
Best Wishes for Anja's restore as well as all our member's hard drive (and physical) health
~SJJust to explain in the simplest of terms - I had a 4TB WD-Blue hard drive, and have a Sharktoon external hotswap drawer I use for various hard drives I use to BACKUP my stuff to. When I have filled a drive to a particular point, I have a ORICO Clone Drive unit which holds up to 4 Hard Drives, and can offline CLONE drives. I have a box special for hard drive backups, literally a copy of every 2TB WD Blue Hard drive I use for Rendo, Hivewire, Rotica and my other stuff from the past as well.
This particular situation is a BRAND NEW DRIVE I have been filling with JUST DAZ INSTALLERS from MULTIPLE DRIVES and my own Daz Account, organizing them with promos and template files etc so that everything is perfect (MY OCD FORCES ME TO DO THIS).
I just received a brand new 4TB WD-Blue drive and the cloning station the DAY AFTER Microsoft Windows 10 inexplicably lost the drive's MBR, due to its USB 3.0 release system bug. Literally the DAY BEFORE the DUPLICATOR & NEW DRIVE to back it up on arrived.
I actually was done with the drive, everything was safe and perfect on that drive.
I told Windows 10 via the normal method to SHUT DOWN completely and turn off the machine. Which normally releases any USB connections on ShutDown.
Apparently Windows 10 --- DIDN'T.
When I got the NEW drive and the clone unit, I put the FULL 4TB Drive in, and was greeted with "DRIVE FORMAT IS RAW - DO YOU WISH TO FORMAT?"
Meaning there was NO MASTER BOOT RECORD on the drive anymore.
This is a KNOWN MICROSOFT WINDOWS BUG - WITH DRIVES USING THE LARGER THAN 2TB Boot Record style, which is different from the larger ones.
This happened once before on another drive.
I recovered 90% of the stuff on it (all the ZIP files) but lost most of the jpg/png/gif product images. And All the file directories were named with garbage names.
Being OCD - This was like coming into a pristine castle just after a tornado went thru it. For me, it was hell on earth. And I, with the help of my sons, went thru it bit by bit and got it all back together again. I have programmed routines to get the promos from Daz, Rendo and Rotica and rebuild all the product folders, it just took time.
So, this was a simple OMG moment, in which I only want to do one thing - REPAIR the missing MBR (the larger than 2TB boot record) so it finds everything that is exactly as it was when it happened.
That's pretty much it. - As a person with high functioning OCD, telling me I don't have enough backups is really nonsense - I have backups of my backups. This was a consolidation effort, and I do have a lot of this stuff on multiple drives and sources, including tons of free MEGAs I use to share with ZoneGFX.
Conclusion:
Somehow, I'll get it all back, my biggest fear is if I attach a 4TB drive internally to my SATA connection cables to my Motherboard - will this problem that happens with Windows 10 possibly happen again - where a large drive directly attached to the PC, will lose it's MBR for no reason or not?
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS KINDLY GIVEN ADVICE AND HELPED OUT WITH THIS ISSUE.
This shows me we have a caring and great community here.
Love to you all,
AnjaBearI have two 8TB Drives inside my MacPro. It's running macOs and Windows 10. There is not the slightest problem with it! One of the drives is nearly full. I was using 4 and 6 TB drives before without any glitches.
That Windows seems to handle bigger external drives not correctly is my experience too.
TBH I never would rely on an offline duplicator. My 2 SATA USB3 docking station can do this too, but I never will use it.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
