SOLVED: "You Need to Format the Disk Before You Can Use It" after improper USB unplugging.
Sometimes the following error appears after you have accidentally unplugged your External USB drive without using the Safely Remove option: “You need to format the disk in drive X before you can use it. Do you want to format it?”. As a result of that you cannot access your data using Windows or another OS. The above error happens because when you accidentally – force – unplug (disconnect) your external USB drive (USB HDD, USB drives, etc.) without using the Safely Remove Option (“Safe Remove Hardware”) option, then the USB drive Partition Table becomes corrupted.
To avoid losing your data or corrupting the storage drive's partition table, always make sure that you have closed any open files and terminate any actions regarding your USB drive (including Windows Explorer), and always use the Safely Remove option before unplugging your drive. In the case that you still receive a warning message when Ejecting USB Mass Storage Devices like ‘This device is currently in use. Close any programs or windows that might be using the device, and then try again’, then log off and log on your computer again or restart your computer.
In this tutorial you can find clear instructions on how to restore the corrupted partition table on your hard drive (HDD) after unplugging it improperly. I have used this procedure several times with successful results to resolve the described problem for my customers.
Attention: Keep in mind that you follow this guide at your own risk and you have to be very careful with the steps on it, to avoid losing your data.
In order to solve the USB HDD unrecognized problem I have use the TestDisk utility several times with great results. TestDisk is powerful FREE data recovery software! It was primarily designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally deleting a Partition Table). Partition table recovery using TestDisk is really easy.
How to solve “You need to format this drive” problem & Restore lost HDD partition table using TestDisk.
Notice. Before you continue to the steps below try to use the CHKDSK command to repair errors on the disk. To do that:
1. Open an elevated command prompt {Command Prompt (Admin)}.
2. Type the following command and press Enter: chkdsk X: /R(Replace the letter "X" in the above command, accordingly the drive letter of the problematic disk).
Step 1. Download Testdisk utility to your computer.
1. Navigate to http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk and download Testdisk utility.
2. Click to download the TestDisk version according your OS. (e.g. Windows).
3. When download operation is completed, navigate to your download location folder and right-click on “testdisk-7.0-WIP.win.zip” compressed file and select “Extract All” to decompress its contents.
.
Step 2. Use Testdisk utility to recover hard drive lost partition.
In this step, you can learn how to use TestDisk, to restore the corrupted partition table on your damaged hard drive.
1. First of all, connect the unrecognized hard disk drive (HDD) on your computer.
2. Now explore “testdisk-7.0-WIP.win” folder contents and double-click to run the “testdisk_win.exe” application.
2a. Click “Yes” at UAC warning message.
3. At the TestDisk utility first screen, press “Enter” at the highlighted “Create” option.
4. Wait until TestDisk scans your computer for connected disks.
5. Using the keyboard arrow keys CAREFULLY select the unrecognized external USB hard drive and press “Enter” to ‘Proceed’ to disk analysis.
6. At the next screen select (using the keyboard arrows keys) the partition table type (e.g. Intel) and press “Enter”.*
* Notice: At this point, TestDisk utility (usually) recognizes the correct partition table type and highlight it automatically. For Windows OS the partition table type is “Intel”.
7. At the next screen press “Enter” at the “Analyze” option and let TestDisk utility to analyze your HDD and find the lost partition table structure.
8. After disk analysis, TestDisk should display the current partition structure. Press “Enter” again and let TestDisk to “Quick Search” your disk for lost partitions.
9. If TestDisk can locate the lost partition(s), during ‘Quick Search’ operation, then you will see a similar screen like below. Press the “P” key letter on keyboard to ensure that the partition found contains your files.
10. At this point two different things (cases) can happen:
Case 1. If you can see a list of your lost files on your screen like the screenshot below, then press the “q” letter key to return to the previous menu and continue to Step 3.
Important Notice: At this point I suggest to use the "copy" (c to copy) function of Testdisk utility, to recover the founded files to another media before applying the instructions on Step-3.
Case 2. If the TestDisk cannot open (recognize) the filesystem or the filesystem is damaged, then you have to perform a deeper search using TestDisk utility to find lost partitions. To do that:
a. Press “q” to quit this section and return to the previous one.
b. At the previous section's screen, press “Enter”.
c. Press “Enter” one more time to perform a “Deeper Search”.
d. Now be patient until TestDisk analyzes your disk. (This operation may take some time).
e. When the Deeper Search operation is completed, press “P” again to see if your files are listed. If you files are listed, then press “q” letter key to return to the previous screen and then continue to the next step.
Important Notice: At this point I suggest to use the "copy" (c to copy) function of Testdisk utility, to recover the founded files to another media before applying the instructions on Step-3.
Step 3: Write Partition Structure back to disk.
1. After successful recognition (listing) of your files as described above, press “q” to proceed to restore the partition table on your disk.*
ONCE AGAIN: DO NOT PROCEED TO OVERWRITE THE FOUND PARTITION TABLE IF YOUR FILES ARE NOT LISTED ON YOUR SCREEN. At this case use one of the recovery programs mentioned on this article to find out if you can recover your files, or visit a data recovery professional service.
2. At the screen below, by using your keyboard arrows, highlight the “Write” option and then press “Enter” to write the found partition structure to the hard disk’s MBR (Master Boot Record). (Press “y” when asked to confirm your decision)..
3. After that, press “Q” several times in order to quit TestDisk utility and then restart your computer for the changes take effect.
IMPORTANT: If during Startup, Windows wants to check the problematic hard disk for errors DO NOT INTERRUPT the check disk operation.
If you follow the above procedure correctly and with a little luck you should see again your hard disk contents back to life!
Suggestion: Before using the disk, follow the instructions given in this article to test and diagnose your disk for hardware problems.
That's it! Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.
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Jimmy
November 29, 2022 @ 6:49 am
Solved the problem just by using the chkdsk X: /R – which actually froze halfway through but it said that it had fixed up some bad sectors. (You can tell if it's frozen if the HDD light has stopped blinking) After this process I could access the data again (which I backed up immediately) and now had the option to defragment the drive. Runs perfectly once again !
Thank you so much for this advise, I was literally about to format the external drive as I couldn't even access it through windows. I had over a TB worth of data I really didn't want to lose. Many thanks !!
Andro Arta
July 25, 2019 @ 9:11 am
Hello
when i followed the very first step this message showed on my screen of cmd :
"The type of the file system is NTFS.
Unable to determine volume version and state. CHKDSK aborted."
What now?
lakonst
July 25, 2019 @ 1:44 pm
@Andro Arta: The disk is damaged. Use one of the mentioned utilities on this article to recover your data and then replace the disk.
Elías Orozco
July 9, 2019 @ 6:52 am
Hi, thanks for this tutorial. I have a serious doubt, please help me! Testdisk is finding the partitions, but once I press "P", I'm getting:
P Mac HFS 262208 3907029151 3906766944
Support for this filesystem hasn't been implemented.
What do you consider I should do? Should I proceed? Thanks again.
lakonst
July 9, 2019 @ 9:17 am
@Elías Orozco: Run TestDisk again and at "Select Partition type" options, choose MAC (Apple Partion Map) or use Photorec to recover your files.
Sulail
January 7, 2019 @ 7:14 pm
Hi,
The "chkdsk" thing did not work for me. It said chkdsk is not available for RAW drives. I tried with Testdrive too. It did not show partitions. My flash has some really important stuffs. Is there any other way?
lakonst
January 14, 2019 @ 9:54 am
@Sulail: Try to recover your files by using the recovery utilities mentioned in this article:
readerfromPH
October 28, 2018 @ 1:21 pm
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
MY WD PASSPORT ASKS ME TO FORMAT EVERY TIME I PLUG IT.
I JUST USED CHKDSK /F
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
p.s: sorry for all caps, im just so happy and excited to see my passport working again.
Soroush
October 7, 2018 @ 7:55 am
You're a real savior my man.
mohammad reza
June 10, 2018 @ 2:10 am
Many thanks 'chkdsk X: /F /R' did it for me. you are the best in world.
Jibz Butt
March 22, 2018 @ 3:01 pm
Thankyou soo much.. it works :)
Goodluck
December 21, 2017 @ 2:44 pm
My friend was terrified but this (chkdsk X: /F /R) magic did it for me. Much thanks
Bob
November 7, 2017 @ 10:29 pm
Many thanks 'chkdsk X: /F /R' did it for me. What a relief.
Mike
July 5, 2017 @ 5:48 pm
Thanks
Kapil
April 27, 2017 @ 12:26 am
Thank you so much ! It saved our very important photos.
john
April 21, 2017 @ 2:59 pm
indeed it wor for me
davy griffiths
April 9, 2017 @ 6:01 pm
Hello I am getting the following message after selecting intel then analysed.
Partition sector doesn't have the endmark 0xAA55
It's for Garmin Forerunner and have a personal best marathon time. HELP!!!
lakonst
April 10, 2017 @ 1:16 pm
@davy griffiths: The boot sector of the logical FAT32 partition is damaged. Diagnose the HDD for errors and then try one of the following options:
Option 1. Try to recover your data by using on of the programs mentioned in this tutorial: How to Recover Data from RAW Hard disk, USB Disk, SD Card
Option 2. (in TestDISK): Instead of ANALYSE select Advanced. Then select the damaged partition. Select Boot and then choose Backup BS to copy backup boot sector over boot sector. If Backup BS isn't available, choose RebuildBS. (refer article
Good luck.
Andrey
February 21, 2017 @ 5:07 pm
thanks so much it worked for me. you made my day:)
this way I recovered my trip photos and now it's very good.
this problem occurs after I unpluged my phone connected as usb mass storage without "usb storage safety eject…"
Jarrod
January 9, 2017 @ 3:18 am
Actually, nevermind…I feel really foolish right now. I have two identical looking drives. The one I thought was corrupt is for my Wii…so there's no issue. >////< But this is good to know for future reference.
Jarrod
January 9, 2017 @ 2:57 am
Hi there, I just came across this board while searching how to fix my external. I'm looking at the contents of the scan here, and there seem to be multiple partitions. One has the * which I'm assuming is the one that needs written, then I have three that are marked D. Which according to the table says deleted, but I know they shouldn't be. Is this a concern or just go ahead and follow suit?
Alex
December 28, 2016 @ 5:54 pm
hii im sorry i need to know what happend when the disk space free and used shows diferent and there is no folder in it.Because my brother apply his own option and eject and reboot the harddisk.
i need to know can i still recover the file with normal step?
lakonst
December 29, 2016 @ 10:06 am
@Alex: Enable the hidden files view and then see if your files are listed. If not, then try to recover your files by using these instructions.
Shireen
October 25, 2016 @ 5:08 pm
I tried this and when I get up to the Copy stage the window just closes off and the files aren't copied anywhere
lakonst
October 25, 2016 @ 6:11 pm
@Shireen: Are the files listed in Step 2? Have you tried to perform the process in another computer?
AYB
October 12, 2016 @ 5:53 pm
Want to know that do the procedure keeps the data intact and data is safe and sound??
lakonst
October 13, 2016 @ 8:46 am
@AYB: If you follow EXACTLY the mentioned steps, then YES the data will be safe. If TestDisk lists your data (step 2) then first copy them to another storage device before modifying the MBR (Step 3): The full details to copy the listed data are here: https://www.wintips.org/how-to-recover-files-from-damaged-inaccessible-disk/#copy-restore-files-using-testdisk
AJMCA
October 6, 2016 @ 8:18 pm
Ok. Which programme do you recommend for best results? Is there any danger of deleting the photo & document files totally during the process?
lakonst
October 7, 2016 @ 8:38 am
@AJMCA: All the programs are recommended. But my first choice is TestDisk. The detailed instructions can be found here: How to Recover Files from a Damaged or Inaccessible disk by using TestDisk.
AJMCA
October 3, 2016 @ 1:15 pm
Thankyou for your clear instructions. We followed your instructions. Unfortunately we can't go any further than the report box which says:
'The type of the file systems is FAT32.
An error occurred while reading the File Allocation Table (FAT1).
An error occurred while reading the File Allocation Table (FAT2).
There are no readable file allocation tables (FAT).
c:\WINDOWS\system32>
Is this really bad news then? I know my daughter transferred the photos over because we could view them on the laptop until the external HDD was removed, supposedly when it was safe to do so, last night then we have never been able to see them or other previously saved photos & documents since then. If you can advise me more then I can try again later when I have plenty of time. I can't bear to lose everything! Thanks for you help.
lakonst
October 4, 2016 @ 8:41 am
@AJMCA: Yes it is bad. It is better to try to recover your files by using one of the programs mentioned on this article before trying anything else.
AJMCA
October 3, 2016 @ 12:19 pm
Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by 'right click on the Command Prompt' I'm on my home screen on the laptop with external HDD plugged in and the only message I got was in a box that appeared on screen saying 'You need to format the disk ….' Which obviously I'm not going to do so I just pressed 'cancel'. Where is the command prompt that I can right click on to 'run as administrator' ? Sorry to be so useless at this. Thanks for your help !
lakonst
October 3, 2016 @ 12:29 pm
@AJMCA: In Windows 7 & Vista OS go to: Start > All Programs > Accessories. Right-click at “Command prompt” item and choose “Run as administrator”.
Ιn Windows 10, 8 & 8.1: Right-click at the "Start" menu (the windows icon at the bottom left corner) and from the pop-up menu, choose "Command Prompt (Admin)"
AJMCA
October 3, 2016 @ 11:03 am
Hello lakonst. I've read with interest all of the above advice. I transferred 8 years worth of mainly precious family photo files onto my 1TB external HDD and then when I reconnected it to check if the photos were all safe I got the 'you need to format the disk..' message box. I was completely distraught, thinking I'd lost EVERYTHING but I now after reading your article I feel a glimmer of hope. What should I do first. Please help me because I'm not a computer whizz ! The first method you describe seems very long and I'm scared to try that so I think maybe I'll try the chkdsk command method. Do I plug in the HDD then type that command chkdsk X :/r or is it chkdsk X :/f (where X is the name of the HDD that my laptop uses) Is the last letter meant to be f or r ? Where do I type this in ? Do I leave any spaces or should it be typed like chkdskX:/r ? What will happen after I type that in ? I'm scared I won't know how to answer any questions or what to click on. I feel devastated at losing my precious photo memories. Unfortunately my daughter moved the files from the laptop to the external HDD rather than copying them, so they're all gone off the laptop. I can't even just buy a new external HDD and copy them again. Please, please help. Thankyou
lakonst
October 3, 2016 @ 11:57 am
@AJMCA: (If you are scared, then is better to visit a computer service)
Try CHKDSK command first to fix the problem: 1. Plug the damaged disk 2. Right click at Command Prompt > Run as Administrator. 3. At command prompt type chkdsk X: /r (change the "X" with the drive letter of the damaged disk). 4. Try to access the disk's contents. If you can access the contents then you are OK.
If chkdsk fails to fix the problem then follow the instructions on the above guide.
Samuel Ekanem
October 3, 2016 @ 10:11 am
I have tried that it's says. "The type of file system is NTFS. Corrupt master file table. Windows will attempt to recover master file table from disk. Windows cannot recover master file table. CHKDSK aborted "
lakonst
October 3, 2016 @ 11:46 am
@Samuel Ekanem: Use these instructions at your own risk: Run TestDisk (on the damaged disk this time) and if testdisk found the partition and you can see your files (Case 1 at step 2) then follow the instructions on Step 3 to Write Partition Structure back to disk.
Alternatively use one of the mentioned programs in this article to recover your files and then reinstall OS.
Good luck!
Samuel Ekanem
October 3, 2016 @ 11:58 am
Thnks so much, but would it be advisable to get a windows operating system CD to boot and repair operating system ? Thnks so much for your response so far.
lakonst
October 3, 2016 @ 12:03 pm
@Samuel You can try that, but I am not sure that Windows repair can fix this problem.
Samuel Ekanem
October 3, 2016 @ 6:08 pm
OK thanks… so when once partition structure is written back to the disk, will it bring everything back to its earlier state? Such that when I put back my HDD to my computer it will boot without the error message or will I still need to carry out an OS reinstallation after all?
lakonst
October 4, 2016 @ 8:36 am
@Samuel Ekanem: I hope yes. If your system don't boot after that, then run Windows Repair (from a Windows boot disk).
Samuel Ekanem
October 2, 2016 @ 4:53 pm
Hello Lakonst I think I had mistakenly tempered with my main pc HDD?. I have disconnected the bad disk tried booting my computer but it's telling me it can't find boot device. Now I have removed my main HDD to plug in a different system it's telling me the disk structure is corrupted and unreadable. I am so desperate to fix it please help me out or is there any hope of bringing it bck?
lakonst
October 3, 2016 @ 9:14 am
@Samuel Ekanem: Run chkdsk command on the disk (e.g. chkdsk X: /f > where X: is the drive letter of the bad disk)
Samuel Ekanem
October 2, 2016 @ 2:00 pm
I don't know what happened to my system after running this. I had a hard drive that had a bad partition and I was trying to recover the bad partition from which I had plugged in to my system but after the whole process of the recovery my laptop is unable to boot. Please help me im so worried I was trying to save my external hard drive not my laptops hard drive
lakonst
October 2, 2016 @ 2:36 pm
@Samuel Ekanem: I hope that you have not modified your main HDD using TestDisk. Disconnect the bad disk and try to boot your computer.
Aca
September 15, 2016 @ 8:47 pm
The guy's a genius, worked for me ,thanks :)
Diego
August 24, 2016 @ 11:29 pm
Hi the capacity of my disk is not correct in the program, It should be 32gb but shows as 32mb. It says on the initial screen that the program must read disk capacity correctly in order for it to work. So when I did the deeper search it didn't find anything… what can I do?
lakonst
August 26, 2016 @ 9:21 am
@Diego: Open Command prompt with admin privileges and run the chkdsk command on the damaged disk: chkdsk X: /f (replace the letter X with the letter of your damaged disk). If the problem persists recover your files by using one of the programs mentioned on this article: https://www.wintips.org/how-to-recover-data-from-raw-disk-hdd-usb-sd/
Naima
August 24, 2016 @ 10:29 am
I'm very impressed after reading this article . my sister removable hard disk of 150 GB have this problem " to formate your disk" now I will try it and hope for the best.
Krishna
August 22, 2016 @ 5:27 am
Nothing appears after Please wait.Help me please
lakonst
August 22, 2016 @ 11:45 am
@Krishna: Try to recover your files by using one of the mentioned programs on this article: Recover Data from RAW Hard disk, USB Disk, SD Card (How-to)
lol
August 20, 2016 @ 4:40 pm
llol
barry
August 17, 2016 @ 7:58 pm
Hi my hard disk is showing the format your disk incorrect parameter.I am running the test disk application as I type this msg.None of the data recovery softwares have worked.There is really critical data including photos of my loved one.Pls help me pls pls pls to recover this I am trying everything desperately nothing seems to work I need your help pls.
lakonst
August 18, 2016 @ 9:46 am
@barry: Try to recover your files by using one of the mentioned programs on this article: Recover Data from RAW Hard disk, USB Disk, SD Card (How-to)
syazana
August 4, 2016 @ 3:19 am
Hye..I already try deeper search but it says the hard disk seems to small and ask to check hard disk size.what should i do
lakonst
August 4, 2016 @ 8:49 am
@syazana: Try to recover your files by using one of the recovery software mentioned at this page: https://www.wintips.org/how-to-recover-data-from-raw-disk-hdd-usb-sd/
jaypee
July 28, 2016 @ 4:45 am
the test disk cannot read my device. dont know what to do with it,.
lakonst
July 28, 2016 @ 8:51 am
@jaypee: Try to recover your files by using one of the recovery software mentioned at this page: https://www.wintips.org/how-to-recover-data-from-raw-disk-hdd-usb-sd/
faraz mobeen
July 27, 2016 @ 2:23 pm
it gives me error invalid fat boot sector
invalid NTFS oe EXFAT boot
what to do and it cant even find partition.
Please reply me as soon as possible
lakonst
July 27, 2016 @ 2:55 pm
@faraz mobeen: Try to recover your files by using one of the recovery software mentioned at this page: https://www.wintips.org/how-to-recover-data-from-raw-disk-hdd-usb-sd/
AP
July 4, 2016 @ 2:44 am
Hi, I tried this but it didn´t work. After it anayzed the HDD it said "Partition sector doesn't have the endmark 0xAA55". What should I do?
Deepak
July 1, 2016 @ 8:48 am
when i clicked on write, it says that you need to reboot. so i rebooted my computer but it shows the same message again. please guide,
lakonst
July 1, 2016 @ 10:02 am
@Deepak: Try to recover your files by following the steps in this tutorial: How to Recover Deleted – missed – files EVEN after disk format.
Emmanuel
June 21, 2016 @ 2:34 am
Thanks. It worked for me.
das
June 13, 2016 @ 11:25 am
what to do if deep recovery option gives error reading data
lakonst
June 13, 2016 @ 2:06 pm
@das: See if you can recover your files using: EaseUS Data Recovery: https://www.wintips.org/how-to-recover-deleted-missed-files-even-after-disk-format/.
Bill
May 27, 2016 @ 12:27 am
The disk analysis is going now. I keep seeing read error with the cylinders. Is necessarily bad or normal?
lakonst
May 27, 2016 @ 6:08 pm
@Bill: The disk is BAD. (Replace it)
Bill
May 26, 2016 @ 4:35 pm
I'm at step 5. The app found the drive, I highlighted it and hit enter. Nothing seems to be happening other than a blinking curser. Help
Thanks in advance,
Bill
lakonst
May 27, 2016 @ 6:35 pm
@Bill: Try Easeus Recovery to recover your files.
Farhan
May 20, 2016 @ 5:49 am
After finishing this procedure will my pc show the Corrupted USB again
lakonst
May 20, 2016 @ 8:56 am
@Farhan: This procedure helps you to recover your files from the storage device. After data recovery, check your disk for hardware problems and if it is OK, you can use it.
Diehard
March 31, 2016 @ 12:01 pm
I really need help with my hard drive. I have a WD My Passport and it stopped working. I didn't eject it improperly, I already learned that lesson several years ago when I lost a semester's worth of work in college. The lesson I apparently need to learn now is to spend even more money on yet more overpriced hard drives which will eventually break so that I have multiple copies of my data when this inevitable crap happens. Don't you just love computers? Anyway, the hard drive was working one minute, I copied some files to another USB drive (a completely unrelated task), ejected that drive properly, and the next time I went to open my WD hard drive it wasn't working. It initially came up with that error message about needing to format the disk. Why do these things suddenly decide they need to be formatted again anyway? For the last two days I have been researching help forums and trying some of the advice. Honestly, I think I am in over my head and made things worse. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers. That didn't change anything. I went into the device manager and changed the letter name. Apparently that has worked for some people but not for me. I ran some chkdsk command in the command prompt window and again nothing happened. Now I have been trying to use this software and it doesn't seem to be working. I get to the deep search and nothing shows up. There aren't any partitions or something. Again, I'm no computer genius but was able to build my own rig knowing the basics. So I'm not completely helpless either. I don't really know where to go from here. Like I said, I think I made things worse because now when I try to click on the drive the previous formatting message is now replaced with a message saying it is inaccessible because the "parameter is incorrect". I don't even know what that means. The only information I was able to find about that was to run that same chkdsk in the command prompt thing which didn't do anything for me.
This has taken up a bunch of time and I was at the point where I was just going to try to recover as much data as I can and then throw this piece of **** hard drive in the trash but I can't even do that without paying for a pro edition of some recovery tool because my hard drive is a 1 TB and I have about 600 GB worth of data on it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you to anyone in advance for taking their time to help me out and I apologize for my frustration in this post. I am incredibly frustrated though. I wish I knew more about computers but honestly, this stuff just doesn't make any sense to me.
Cheers!
lakonst
March 31, 2016 @ 12:32 pm
@Diehard: I think that your disk is damaged. Try to recover the files from your disk with "EaseUS Data Recovery" by using these instructions: https://www.wintips.org/how-to-recover-deleted-missed-files-even-after-disk-format/
Timothy timtak Takemoto
April 19, 2016 @ 3:11 am
It did not find anything but when I quit the application, suddenly Windows was able to access the disk! Thank you for the recommendation.
Fexoxo11
March 23, 2016 @ 2:16 pm
When I do the "deeper search" some words that said 'read error at xxxx/1/1 (lba=61400493)' appear below 'analyse cylinder xxxxx/121600 : xx% ' is that a bad sign? Will my data from hard disk recover? Please answer
lakonst
March 23, 2016 @ 4:09 pm
@Fexoxo11: Yes it is a bad sign. Try with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free to recover your files. (https://www.wintips.org/how-to-recover-deleted-missed-files-even-after-disk-format/)
stinky pinky
March 20, 2016 @ 12:38 pm
this works when i do deep searh, i can see all the files i am looking for. The problem is when i go to copy them to a new folder on my desktop it fails to copy anything… what is my next step
raman
March 9, 2016 @ 1:54 am
is it working for local disk drive like D drive or not. please help.
i m faceing same problem with my local disk D.
lakonst
March 9, 2016 @ 10:09 am
@raman: Yes is working with any external or internal disk.
Ireen Theu
February 29, 2016 @ 6:23 pm
Tried downloading several times but getting the same result whats the other way
Ireen Theu
February 25, 2016 @ 3:09 pm
I am failing to opened the downloaded zipped folder. I receive this error.
"Cannot complete the compressed (zipped) folder extraction wizard. The compressed (zipped) folder is empty. Before you start you must copy files to this compressed (zipped) folder."
So what can I do?
lakonst
February 25, 2016 @ 5:54 pm
@Ireen Theu: Download it again. There is no problem with the zipped file.
anu
January 31, 2016 @ 9:31 pm
thanks a ton! :)
It worked for me.
Angela
January 31, 2016 @ 11:59 am
Thanks it worked! Initially it detected "none" partition but after trying a few times it detected intel and from there on it worked beautifully. Not sure why too
Maseh
January 28, 2016 @ 2:49 pm
Thank you so much, it worked for me.
amir
January 21, 2016 @ 10:25 pm
tnx :)
RandomIndian
January 19, 2016 @ 7:03 pm
How long should the quick search take for a 1tb hard drive?
It is showing 121599 cylinders and at the current rate it will take almost a day.
Is that normal?
lakonst
January 20, 2016 @ 10:10 am
@RandomIndian: Yes is normal…but I 'm afraid your disk has serious problem.
Reza
January 17, 2016 @ 8:40 am
what if i just format the disk? will it work again? i've backed up the data via easeus, since the method above didn't work (can't see the file list). i'm way too scared if i format the disk and the result is same.
lakonst
January 17, 2016 @ 1:23 pm
@Reza: If you have backed up the data to ANOTHER DISK you shouldn't have problem.
Shweta P.
October 26, 2015 @ 9:09 pm
This is not working for me..tried many times..It says this partition cannot be recovered. Please help!!
lakonst
October 27, 2015 @ 8:09 am
@Shweta P.: Probably your HDD is (hardware) damaged.
Shweta P.
October 29, 2015 @ 10:25 pm
Is there any solution for that? as the error I get is same – you need to format disk before using it.
I used the Ontrack Easy Recovery as well.. In the "explore" option am able to see all the files…but as it is free version i am unable to save. I used the 3rd option to recover lost file. It scanned for 1.5 days but only showed few files in result and all other folders were weird and empty.
I would be so glad if you could help!
aqkhan
October 23, 2015 @ 7:57 pm
thanks man…….i got rid of the format disk error using this simple and quick technique,
Great work:)
Rosa
October 8, 2015 @ 6:07 am
I wanna say thanks million times to author of this article. still keep following and always supporting your post on this web !!!
zai
August 1, 2015 @ 8:33 pm
I've got a message "invalid FAT boot sector" after I quick search on step # 8. what does it mean? do I have no luck on this? I cant also do chkdsk because it's a RAW driver.
lakonst
August 2, 2015 @ 9:37 am
@zai: Try the Ontrack EasyRecovery (the free version) to find out if you can recover your data.
Trevor
July 28, 2015 @ 9:20 am
Hi. Please help i followed all the steps and in the end it just says 2 of the files are damaged. What can i do to remove/fix them?
lakonst
July 28, 2015 @ 9:50 am
@Trevor: If files are damaged run a chkdsk X: /r on the damaged disk (where X: = the drive letter of the damaged disk). Otherwise backup the files to another media and format the disk.
Trevor
July 28, 2015 @ 2:02 pm
Thank you very much. The problem is I can't access my files to copy it. So is there a other program that i can try thet you can recommend?
Ron
July 23, 2015 @ 2:26 am
When I perform Quick search. Partition shows up and then I press "P", I can see the list of files on my hard drive as described. But when I go back and press enter , it says WRITE isnt available because the partition table type " NONE" has been selected .
HELP !
lakonst
July 23, 2015 @ 9:52 am
@Ron: When you see the list of your files (at Quick Search) use the copy (c) function to write (recover) your files to another media and then format the damaged disk. (The detailed instructions can be found here).
Dalip
July 21, 2015 @ 7:55 pm
after quick search the program does not list any partitions like in your examples.
the headings "Partition" , "Start" , "End" , "Size in sectors" have nothing below them.
at the bottom of the screen it says Keys A: add partition, L: load backup, Enter: to continue.
when i click enter is says no partition selected then takes me back to the quick scan and deep scan options. when i press A to load partition it says no partition and gives options cylinder, head, sector, cylinder, head, sector, type, done
lakonst
July 22, 2015 @ 8:46 am
@Dalip: Try to 1. Perform a check disk repair on your removable drive (e.g. chkdsk e: /r) or 2. Perform a Deep Scan using testdisk (if available) or 3. Recover your files with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free. (https://www.wintips.org/how-to-recover-deleted-missed-files-even-after-disk-format/)
Sam
July 12, 2015 @ 4:13 pm
Does it wwork for harddisk partition that's not external to the pc
lakonst
July 13, 2015 @ 9:26 am
@Sam: Yes it works.
NickyMo
July 12, 2015 @ 2:17 am
Hi, For some reason it cannot find any partition
lakonst
July 13, 2015 @ 9:27 am
@NickyMo: Perform a check disk repair on your hard drive (e.g. chkdsk e: /r)
syed shoeb ahmed
July 10, 2015 @ 5:03 pm
dear sir,
as you told that perform chkdsk repair due to which i was successfully recover from the error that"you need to ….".but now i m facing new problem that when i m trying to open any folder on the drive it show me a error "YOU DONT HAVE A PERMISSION TO ACCESS THIS FOLDER"CLICK CONTINUE TO GET ACCESS TO THIS FOLDER".
when i try to chk properties of hdd it show"the recycle bin on drive is corrupted do you want to empty the recycle bin for this drive".
it show total size and remainig space on the drive but when i chek the size of any folder it shows "0 bytes".
help me to resolve this.
lakonst
July 10, 2015 @ 6:43 pm
@syed shoeb ahmed: Boot in Safe Mode. If you can access the files, then copy them to another media. Then diagnose your disk for problems.
HKK
July 8, 2015 @ 12:36 am
Hi,
my disk automatically detect "None" partition typed, what should i do now?
lakonst
July 8, 2015 @ 10:04 am
@HKK: Try the Ontrack EasyRecovery (the free version) to find out if you can recover your data.
PRASHANT
September 16, 2015 @ 7:43 pm
USE COPY FUNCTION JUST AS DESCRIBED IN THIS ARTICLE (IN "NONE" MODE INSTEAD OF "INTEL") TO COPY FILES. READ COPY ARTICLE CAREFULLY WHICH IS PROVIDED IN THE LINK IN ARTICLE. AFTER COPYING, FORMAT THE DISK AND AGAIN MOVE THE FILES IN IT…MINE WAS ALSO SAME PROBLEM AND DID THIS WAY…
THANKS WRITER AND DEVELOPERS FOR GREAT HELP…
Ranju
July 4, 2015 @ 9:37 pm
I compltd all d steps above and after restarting wen I m trying to open the hard disk its showing- H:\ is not accessible "the parameter is incorrect". Please suggest
lakonst
July 6, 2015 @ 10:14 am
@Ranju: 1) Run Testdisk again. {From Step-2 (1-9)}.
2) If the "Structure is OK" follow Step-3 and "Write" the partition back to disk.
3) Reboot the computer.
syed shoeb ahmed
July 2, 2015 @ 8:10 pm
i reallly thank you from bottom of my heart .it worked.you are really great.
again thanks a lot.
Trish
July 2, 2015 @ 7:42 am
I just finished step 8, and when the scan finishes (it takes a long time too) it doesn't find the lost partition, so it's an empty list. Help?
lakonst
July 2, 2015 @ 9:52 am
@Trish: Try the Ontrack EasyRecovery (the free version) to find out if you can recover your data.
syed shoeb ahmed
June 30, 2015 @ 8:27 am
dear sir,
when i plug me external hdd into pc it showed me a error"you need to format the disk before u can use it"or"drive is not accesible unreadebale or crupted".i followed all above procedure succesfully.but it is still showing a same errror.
there is very valuable data in the drive plz help me.
lakonst
June 30, 2015 @ 5:10 pm
@syed shoeb ahmed: Perform a check disk repair on your removable drive (e.g. chkdsk e: /r)
Sathesh Kumar G
April 26, 2015 @ 4:19 pm
Dear Sir,
I have annalysed my hard disk as per your above steps. Now i am getting the following error.
"Read error at 385/226/34 "
So please help me solve the above problem..
lakonst
April 27, 2015 @ 9:00 am
@Sathesh Kumar G: Perform a check disk repair on your removable drive (e.g. chkdsk e: /r)
salman
April 19, 2015 @ 12:40 am
update: I fixed the problem by running windows chkdsk.
simply go to start menu and write "cmd" the press enter
then write "chkdsk /r e:" (where e is my external drive letter. you can write ur own drive letter instead of e) and press enter. it took some time but when it was done windows could detect my external hard drive normally.
alternatively you can also try easeus partition master. click on ur desired partition or hard drive and select "check partition" from the left side menu. after it is done, ur hard disk will be back to normal.
hopefully it helps.
thanks
john
April 11, 2015 @ 12:37 pm
does it work with sd card or even usb flash drives? i want to test it.
lakonst
April 15, 2015 @ 9:37 am
@john: Yes it does.
Ujjwal Kapoor
March 7, 2015 @ 1:28 pm
I am facing problem in 6th point. My hard disk is not detecting its partition type. The option "None" is highlighted. I don't know what to do next. As o selecy "None" it doesn't do anything further.
lakonst
March 9, 2015 @ 12:22 pm
@Ujjwal Kapoor: try with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free. (https://www.wintips.org/how-to-recover-deleted-missed-files-even-after-disk-format/)
Sophie
March 6, 2015 @ 1:01 am
I have completed all steps above but when completing an advanced search there is no list to proceed further. Any help will be appreciated?
lakonst
March 9, 2015 @ 12:21 pm
@Sophie: try with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free. (https://www.wintips.org/how-to-recover-deleted-missed-files-even-after-disk-format/)
sean
March 4, 2015 @ 3:23 am
@lakonst
I followed all the steps as stated.on pressing P, I see all my files well placed. But then, when I boot my laptop again, it simply does not boot at all with the external hard-disk plugged in. The system keeps restarting without any message. And if I unplug the external HDD, then upon restarting the HDD is back to same condition(and remains unrecognized). My HDD is not damaged as I never have to do Deeper Search. Quick Search itself gives me all the result.
Help me out in making the drive right. I cannot backup everything because my HDD is 1TB and 80% space is occupied. The data is very valuable and has been meticulously collected since last 4-5 years.
If you want, I can send you my screen-shots.
And help is greatly appreciated.
lakonst
March 4, 2015 @ 1:59 pm
@sean: You perform Step 3?
Ramkumar
February 27, 2015 @ 8:32 am
There is a easy way to solve this simply by command prompt.
if your removable or hard disk drive is "g:" means in cmd type
chkdsk /r g:
when asks recover as files give "Y".
It will solve the problem easily no need to install any software.
marius
November 6, 2015 @ 8:11 pm
is blocked like this from 20 minutes
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)…
0 percent completed
stinky pinky
March 20, 2016 @ 9:32 am
this didn't work for me so i think i'm going to have to try this software
Samuel K.
January 27, 2015 @ 12:58 pm
@lakonst
with this error :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-wU9FcUoLQTZkliM1luQmxQaHc/view?usp=sharing
I Know the disk is corrupted and have very slim chance for recovery , but what is you advice ? would format it and then try to recover formatted data help at all ?
I apreciate with your work to help others
Thank you
Samuel K.
lakonst
January 27, 2015 @ 6:41 pm
@Samuel: See if you can recover your files using: EaseUS Data Recovery: https://www.wintips.org/how-to-recover-deleted-missed-files-even-after-disk-format/. If you can, then recover the files first and then format the disk. In case that you cannot recover files, then is better to go to a data recovery professional for data retrieval.
Zekus
January 25, 2015 @ 6:47 pm
What if i still don't see any files after deep search ?
lakonst
January 27, 2015 @ 9:41 am
@Zekus: Maybe your storage device is damaged. But you can try -also- to recover your files using: EaseUS Data Recovery: https://www.wintips.org/how-to-recover-deleted-missed-files-even-after-disk-format/
Bk
January 7, 2015 @ 4:36 am
hello
i followed the procedure correctly but after restart the pc , i see all the HDD (except drive C) dispappeared. I cant understand why. Help me
lakonst
January 7, 2015 @ 10:04 am
@Bk: Hope that you have not modified the other HDDs using TestDisk. Go to disk management and see there if the other HDDs are appear.
Bk
January 7, 2015 @ 9:35 pm
i see a partition allocated but its capacity is equal to the capacity of my external hard drive …everything is out of my control
Bk
January 7, 2015 @ 10:19 pm
ah never mind. I have overcome the problem. Thank you
Ants
January 4, 2015 @ 4:44 pm
Hello
My external hard-drive gave the error after i tried to browse it while writing on it, that i need to format it in order to use it. Then I used this program and method you suggested, but it did not
help. Now I get : "Drive is not accessible. Data error (cyclic redundancy check)"
Can anyone recommend anything?
Thanks
lakonst
January 5, 2015 @ 12:07 pm
@Ants: See this article on how you can recover files from a damaged disk.
AAA
January 3, 2015 @ 4:36 pm
Step 2. #8 doesn't work for me. Analyse part says:
Analyse cylinder 4/941: 00%
HELP What to do.
lakonst
January 4, 2015 @ 11:43 am
@AAA: You have to wait to analyse all cylinders. If the program stacks there then read here on how to recover your files. After recover you have to re-format your disk in order to use it again.
Daniel Ramirez
December 29, 2014 @ 11:03 pm
Hey guys! for me this method doesn't worked at all, but inside this tool we can copy the files and backup into another hard disk, this method it's found in the step 2.e (when you see the list files),only you got to do is press the C key and search the path you want to save this file or folder (this options are shown in the menu of this tool), and that's all, you can save all the files you want if the steps above didn't work. Have a good luck!.
Florinm
July 17, 2015 @ 7:50 pm
Thanks for mentioning this! It didn't work at first for me either, but the copy feature worked great and I was able to salvage my data and re-format the drive.
ashwin phusey india
December 2, 2014 @ 3:09 pm
This is really best software, it worked and fix it within minute.
Malhar
November 25, 2014 @ 4:15 pm
Will It Save The Data In The Disk Or Will it Be Deleted??
lakonst
November 25, 2014 @ 5:58 pm
It it will save your data…but if you want you can take your data before using these instructions: https://www.wintips.org/how-to-recover-deleted-missed-files-even-after-disk-format/
hamide
November 19, 2014 @ 9:58 am
THx, simply it worked for me:)
payal verma
November 13, 2014 @ 12:19 pm
not working :(
youssef
January 9, 2017 @ 9:52 pm
me too it doesn't add any partition i lost my school project
lakonst
January 10, 2017 @ 11:04 am
@youssef: Try to recover your files by using one of the mentioned programs on this article: Recover Data from RAW Hard disk, USB Disk, SD Card (How-to)
BugattiB
November 1, 2014 @ 7:45 pm
Might want to note that photorec_win works good for recovering photos. I got an error using testdisk_win, but photorec_win worked for me. Thankyou
iladelf
October 14, 2014 @ 12:36 am
Does this work for standard thumb drives as well, or just hard drives that are mounted via USB? And, does this work for FAT32 drives, either HDD USB or standard "chipset" thumb drives?
lakonst
October 14, 2014 @ 10:46 am
Yes, it works.
matt garghian
May 4, 2015 @ 5:25 am
if the above dosent work you can go into the advanced section and recover your files
the above didn't work for me but the copy fuction worked a treat
for that I am donating into paypal thanks…..
James
January 1, 2018 @ 3:00 pm
Hey guys, don't run chkdsk if this is a result of hard drive damage, e.g. you dropped it. Chkdsk might further damage it. Try this, boot up into Ubuntu from a flash drive. Once logged in, plug in your hard drive & if you lucky you'd be able to access it. The error at times is as a result of windows not being able to read it in it's format so you need to try a different OS