External USB-drive failing

T

titus483

New Member
Hi,
I'm running Vista HP SP2 (on 2 systems). When I tried to write on my external Seagate FreeAgent Go it failed. I tried to schedule a checkdisk but the system told me that the volume is busy and that the check will be done after restart. When the system was shutting down it told me that volume G: (the Seagate) needs a checkdisk. So far so good. But after the reboot there was no checkdisk running and worse: the volume did not show up with a drive letter. I attached the volume to my 2nd system with the same result.
The disk admin console tells me that I have a volume which is "unknown" and "not initialized". Richt-clicking would offer an assistant to create a "new simple" volume (I apologize for my translation, I'm running a German system). Now if I run that assistant I will at most get an empty volume with all data lost (if there is no real hardware failure).
What should I do as a next step? Is there any possibility to save the data (rebuilding the MFT or whatever)? I used that volume as a backup device - so it's "only" backup data but nevertheless it's frustrating to lose everything...

Greetings
Titus
 

My Computer

System One

Welcome Titus

Rather than get involved with all kinds of possiblities, lets go slow
Test the HD
Test Hard Drive HD Diagnostic or this test Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.

I can come up with all kinds of suggestions and possiblites, but lets start slow and we will get this solved.


I would try this
PC Inspector FILE RECOVERY
It says not compatible with Vista, but it has been used in situations like yours by others. Caution is also advised concerning use with damaged drives. It is up to you, whether to use or not. The risk versus the reward is up to you.
http://www.suite101.com/content/hard-drive-recovery-tips-a28288
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
I have made revisions to my prior post; please check it again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
This seems to become a hard one. In the meantime I did the following:

1) Downloaded and ran Seagate Tools for DOS 2.22 (from your 1. link).
This tool does not find the external drive at all, but on starting is says:
"InitDisk illegal partition table - drive 01 sector 0"
Drive 01 seems to be my Seagate as the internal boot drive is recognized as drive 0.
2) I downloaded and installed PC File Recovery.
PCFR finds the physical drive (I see that by drive size) but no logical drives on this physical drive. Hence no recovery possible.
3) I downloaded and ran another utility (from another post in this forum):
USB Device Viewer. Here it's output:

Code: 
[FONT=Courier New] ---===>Device Information<===---
English product name: "FreeAgent Go    "

ConnectionStatus:                  
Current Config Value:              0x01  -> Device Bus Speed: High
Device Address:                    0x01
Open Pipes:                           2

          ===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength:                           0x07
bDescriptorType:                   0x05
bEndpointAddress:                  0x81  -> Direction: IN - EndpointID: 1
bmAttributes:                      0x02  -> Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize:                  0x0200 = 0x200 max bytes
bInterval:                         0x00

          ===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength:                           0x07
bDescriptorType:                   0x05
bEndpointAddress:                  0x02  -> Direction: OUT - EndpointID: 2
bmAttributes:                      0x02  -> Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize:                  0x0200 = 0x200 max bytes
bInterval:                         0x00

          ===>Device Descriptor<===
bLength:                           0x12
bDescriptorType:                   0x01
bcdUSB:                          0x0200
bDeviceClass:                      0x00  -> This is an Interface Class Defined Device
bDeviceSubClass:                   0x00
bDeviceProtocol:                   0x00
bMaxPacketSize0:                   0x40 = (64) Bytes
idVendor:                        0x0BC2idProduct:                       0x2101
bcdDevice:                       0x0142
iManufacturer:                     0x01
     English (United States)  "Seagate "
iProduct:                          0x02
     English (United States)  "FreeAgent Go    "
iSerialNumber:                     0x03
     English (United States)  "2GE4VYQ1"
bNumConfigurations:                0x01

          ===>Configuration Descriptor<===
bLength:                           0x09
bDescriptorType:                   0x02
wTotalLength:                    0x0020  -> Validated
bNumInterfaces:                    0x01
bConfigurationValue:               0x01
iConfiguration:                    0x00
bmAttributes:                      0x80  -> Bus Powered
MaxPower:                          0xFA = 500 mA

          ===>Interface Descriptor<===
bLength:                           0x09
bDescriptorType:                   0x04
bInterfaceNumber:                  0x00
bAlternateSetting:                 0x00
bNumEndpoints:                     0x02
bInterfaceClass:                   0x08  -> This is a Mass Storage USB Device Interface Class
bInterfaceSubClass:                0x06
bInterfaceProtocol:                0x50
iInterface:                        0x00

          ===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength:                           0x07
bDescriptorType:                   0x05
bEndpointAddress:                  0x81  -> Direction: IN - EndpointID: 1
bmAttributes:                      0x02  -> Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize:                  0x0200 = 0x200 max bytes
bInterval:                         0x00

          ===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength:                           0x07
bDescriptorType:                   0x05
bEndpointAddress:                  0x02  -> Direction: OUT - EndpointID: 2
bmAttributes:                      0x02  -> Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize:                  0x0200 = 0x200 max bytes
bInterval:                         0x00
[/FONT]
So the question seems to be: How to repair the partition table (without having a backup of that table)? The hardware of the drive seems to work...

Titus
 

My Computer

System One

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
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