CAN SOMEONE REALLY HELP? Corrupted HDD - HOW TO GET BACK TO original main PARTITION, OS and DATA?

First rule: When you get data corruption or when you need to recovery data you Immediately STOP to use this hard drive.

Keep in mind that there's none of your data (picutres, documents, videos) on the Master Boot Record (MBR)

What I suggest is to connect your laptop harddrive to another computer. The I would use Spinrite (www.grc.com) and R-Studio (http://www.r-studio.com/)

ok first step,

do the clone of the hdd, and work on the clone, get a hold of disk imaging programs.  Acronis True Image and or Norton Ghost, whatever works :)

then work on the clone.

get the clone in + a windows XP cd.

now what you will need to do is boot off the windows xp cd
and go into "repair" on the first screen, it should give you a dosprompt.

in there type the following commands in this order, if the first chkdsk doesnt work, go to the next commands.

chkdsk c:/p   (not sure about the /p i think it is that, forces a chkdsk)
fixmbr
fixboot c:
chkdsk c: /p

those 3 commands should get you up and running again.  let me know how you go

~Jaymz

Once you have your data saved elsewhere and if HDD shows reasonable health you can try OS recovery or re-install.

Thanks very very much for all the suggestions here!

* FYI, "Recuva" Software returns "Unable to read boot sector".

I will get on it... but it will take a bit of time to get thru all that's been suggested.

Hey Jaymz...
Thanks for your suggestion, but there's so much info and I'm getting bit confused. So let me explain, maybe I can understand better.
U said "get the clone in + a windows XP cd."
The affected HDD actually runs on Vista, but obviously that's not working.
And I do have access to another laptop running XP SP3. Both are laptops both with USB and 2.5 connections to HDDs.

Can you confirm the following steps... just so I can follow your steps correctly.
1) Get a clone of my affected HDD. (locate clone on external USB HDD is ok? don't have 300Gb of space lying around in the working laptop - Because I haven't done a clone before, I'm assuming that the clone would be an exact copy (300Gb) of my HDD, right?)
2) Boot off CD. (On my affected laptop (Vista) or the working laptop (XP)) - what CD/DVD to use?
3) Somehow booting off the CD/DVD, I can access the clone too and get them to work together? (I don't know how to do this, will get to it when reach this step).
4) then select repair: (depending on what works)
chkdsk c:/p   (not sure about the /p i think it is that, forces a chkdsk)
fixmbr
fixboot c:
chkdsk c: /p

Also, are you actually saying that even tho this is a 2.5 SATA drive, connecting this HDD via USB will not get good results due to lack of control over HDD via USB controllers?
If so, you're saying I should connect HDD directly via IDE on motherboard, right?
But how can I get it a 2.5 SATA to work on either laptops by using IDE?

- - Just wondering, isn't this similar to using the VistaRecoveryDVD and selecting Repair, and choosing Command Prompt to command bootrec.exe /fixboot or bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd ? - -

Hi Daniel,

Have your hard drive in, and boot up using a windows xp cd (never tried a vista cd) but what we are after is Recovery Console, to perform the tasks i mentioned.  Use your vista cd and see if there is an option to enter Recovery Console.

LOL, sorry i didnt finish your post,

what you said is pretty much right,  Just to protect your data, you should have a clone of your corrupted hard disk, if you don't mind risking it, work with your faulty hard disk (just in case its mechanical failure starting, you will only have a certain amount of reboots left).

so yeah

1) start laptop with faulty hard disk in (if you have a hdd with a copy of your original, use copy)
2) startup with either Windows Vista install cd or XP Install CD
3) we are after "Recovery Console"  - haven't used my vista cd in ages, hate it :)  i only have love for XP
4) perform the above steps in recovery console

also to answer your last question, whoops, misread,

if you have 2.5 sata, the connections are the same as 3.5 sata.  I believe, not quite sure.

so if you are plugging it into a desktop computer, please us the onboard sata controllers, by plugging it in to the mobo directly using a spare sata cable and the Power supply SATA Power.

Grabbing a raw byte dump of this drive is a very good suggestion.  Doing that will get you a copy of the drive as it is.  This doesn't mean you can recover the data though but it will preserve it's present state.

I can't recommend any programs that will do this for you as I don't necessarily have to do that.

It is quite possible that this disk is physically defective.

You can test this by downloading the UBCD http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Download links are the icons at the top of the page above Overview.  Browse the page and see what utils are there for you.  Check the memory and hard disk utils especially.

Make the CD and boot from it.  Run the memory tester first - memtest -  and let it do two to three passes through your memory.  Memory could be the problem so get that test done first.

Then test the hard disk with the correct manufacturer's util for your hard disk.  Do the long test.  That will show you if there are hard disk defects.

Question

Did GetDataBack see the first partition or only the second partition?

Many good comments.
 But this kiwi has another.
Don't overstress HDD and reduce you chances.
Find out HDD sector condition first then proceed.
 
Since you have serial ATA usb Check HDD health with http://www.hdsentinel.com/dl.php (trial version has restricted features, but you dont need them) standard version runs in windows and will test any HDD via ATA or SATA connection or usb SATA connection.
Also see:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/24224088/Recoverying-a-hard-drive.html

bit more info:
"GetDataBack for NTFS" was able to 'see' the 2 partitions.
it offered various options including something about the mbr i think...
I DON'T KNOW what difference in results the OPTIONS make, I have tried 2/3 combinations.

It got back the 2nd partition okay - totally useless for me.
the main partition came back with multiple directories in the form of [sdfo1923],
some directories had more directories in the same form, with almost a few strange files, sometimes none.

1) RIGHT NOW I WILL CHECK IF PHYSICAL DRIVE'S CONDITION USING
ultimatebootcd or hdsentinel as suggested above.
[so what if physical condition is good? (just means that problem is purely non-physical, which is good, right?)
what if condition is bad? (just means I've got fewer options to get my data back, right?) ]

2) THEN I'll clone the HDD byte-by-byte to another HDD.

3) THEN I'll use the xp or vista on my CLONE to boot up CD/DVD to get to the recovery console to perform chkdsk or fixmbr etc... (as suggested above)

- - - with the workload I have, this may take me another 2 days, which is fine if it'll work eh.
Q) - - - - - Meanwhile, if it's already been mentioned that GetDataBack is industrial strength, and not being able to recover using GetDataBack may mean I'm in serious trouble... THEN will a simple chkdsk or fixmbr be more help?

Feeling really deflated cos nothing's screaming out, "you're really close..."
I need the data so I'll keep doing whatever needs to be done.

Cheers mate.

>> [so what if physical condition is good? (just means that problem is purely non-physical, which is good, right?)

Non-physical which is good but means corrupt partition and file table system.  May still not be good.

>> what if condition is bad? (just means I've got fewer options to get my data back, right?) ]

Yes.

>> chkdsk or fixmbr

Stay away from these.   If the partition/file system is screwed then these will make it worse.  Stay away from anything that writes to this disk at this stage.

>> the main partition came back with multiple directories in the form of [sdfo1923],
some directories had more directories in the same form, with almost a few strange files, sometimes none.

Which seems to be describing screwed partition/file system.  But let the disk testing show if it's physical damage first.

1)  CHECK DRIVE'S PHYSICAL CONDITION USING
ultimatebootcd or hdsentinel as suggested above.
Good.
what if physical condition is good? means that problem is purely non-physical, which is good, right?
Probably.
what if condition is bad? means I've got less chance to get my data back, right?
Yes.
2) THEN I'll clone the HDD byte-by-byte to another HDD.
If sectors OK then:
Get Data Back" http://www.getbackdata.net/recover-data.html  choose FAT or NTFS depending on HDD file system (demo will let you see if your data can be recovered but you will have to buy it to do recovery) to recover and copy any readable data to good HDD.
If sectors BAD then:

1/ Use a disc tool such "Paragon Partition Manager" http://www.paragon-software.com/business/hdm-server/ this is 30 day free trial (after that it's $599)  to set drive as "inactive primary partition". ( this will stop your drive trying to read any corrupted system files giving you better access to your data)
2/ Use "Get Data Back" http://www.getbackdata.net/recover-data.html  choose FAT or NTFS depending on HDD file system (demo will let you see if your data can be recovered but you will have to buy it to do recovery) to recover and copy any readable data to good HDD.
3/ If the HDD is showing immenent failure it's a matter of luck (don't over-stress a dying HDD, let it rest then 4/).
4/ try again( I recovered a rasping and clicking HDD's data 100% after 4 day's of trying again and again.)
5/ Running "HDD Regenerator" first may help if HDD is not failing, but this extra stress may kill a failing HDD.

cool...

I am totally relying on you guys now when you're talking about linux commands to save sectors by sectors.

If I understand CoreDateRecovery correctly,
using these linux terminal commands should recover secots by sector of the HDD to recover the files + writing them onto new HDD. (am I using the original HDD for this too?)
Then once done (assuming I can follow all your instructions!?), I should use the recovery softwares such as GetDataBack or etc... to recover the data -
this is supposed to make the recovery better, right?

Okay, going to try this process soon.
WIll take awhile, hope I'll pull me some data.
Watch this space - OR ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS? OR EXACT/SIMILAR EXPERIENCE like this??

>> using these linux terminal commands should recover sector by sector of the HDD to recover the files + writing them onto new HDD. (am I using the original HDD for this too?)

This is a sector dump - not a file dump.  All your data is in the dump.

Yep.  The source disk in CoreDataRecovery's post above is your original HDD.

Once the dump has been made then recovery attempts can be made on your original disk.  If needed then writing can be done on your original disk as a copy of it's contents have been made.  Done with extreme care and not using chkdsk.

If something goes wrong - then the dump is your backup or the emergency copy.  It can also be searched for data but this is not a pretty task.

Hello,

"Hard Disk Sentinel" reports that
performance = 100%,
but Health = 38%.

OVERVIEW:
"The drive found 3 bad sectors during its self test.
Problems occurred during the spin up of the disk. This can be caused by the disk itself or huge power load (weak power supply). There are 3 weak sectors found on the disk surface. They may be remapped any time in the later use of the disk. It is recommended to examine the log of the disk regularly. All new problems found will be logged there."

"3 weak sectors found on disk surface" - does this mean physical damage?
(Is it safe to totally assume this HDSentinel has the Final word on my HDD's physical condition?
IF SO, JUST MEANS I CAN MOVE ON TO SOMETHING ELSE.)

GIVEN THIS REPORT, WHAT SHOULD I DO NEXT?
I'll have to get my external terabyte HDD tomorrow,
then will try the CLONE byte-by-byte,
followed by GetDataBack for NTFS.

That's physical damage.  The question is where in the disk the bad sectors are.  If it's in data that's bad.  If it's in unused (unallocated) areas that's OK.

Hard Disk Sentinel is reporting back what the hard disk itself found.

Get the external disk and do the clone.  And keep your fingers crossed.

Referring back to the other thread on this same subject - https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/24236398/HELP-MASSIVE-PROBLEM-Err2Err3-No-boot-GASP.html?cid=238&anchorAnswerId=23916313#a23916313, GetDataBack may not help here but R-Studio should.

Too hard to follow duplicate conversations, I quit.

Chris B

"Hard Disk Sentinel" reports that the drive found 3 bad sectors during its self test????
300GB HDD at 38% would have bad sectors in the100's
(I have 80Gb HDD Health = 26% 148 bad sectors with expected remaining 3000 Hrs life: that's a year if never shut down )

Reconfirm by testing again.
Seems your HDD still has some life in it, as I said shock may have damaged sectors with system files on before they could be relocated, +
 What you've tried:
recuva, getdataback for ntfs, ontrack - 3 recovery programs to various successes:
  access HDD via USB via another computer
  i have retreived my 2nd partition (which is a Hp recovery drive, with none of my
  data/information on it) - so the recovery of this partition drive is useless.
  one recovery program returns gibberish tree-structure of my main partition
  eg. [sdfjs2341] directory with no files.
WindowsVistaRecoveryDVD by NeoSmart.net - HDD attached to original laptop to boot off DVD
  selecting REPAIR and CHOOSING COMMAND PROMPT and BOOTREC.EXE COMMAND,
  but when prompted to SELECT OS, DVD fails to recognise any OS except it's own WINPE with
  0mb of partition - so I couldn't even get as far as bootrec.exe command to try fixing the affect
  OS.

has probably made it worse.
Good news: if only 3 sectors (1 sector = 512 bytes)  then chances your data is in good secters.

Hard to follow duplicate conversations??? so is the answer now worth 1000???
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/24236398/HELP-MASSIVE-PROBLEM-Err2Err3-No-boot-GASP.html?cid=238&anchorAnswerId=23916313#a23916313
So see the expert answer I posted before:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/24224088/Recoverying-a-hard-drive.html

Hello Daniel,

try to go the simplest way, download the product of well known rescue software maker: http://www.paragon-software.com/home/rk-express/download.html
Then, execute the downloaded file and let it burn the CD. Boot the laptop from this CD and use File Transfer Wizard to copy out your important data from  the partitions to external HDD or to DVD drive. As soon as the Rescue Kit is loaded you can eject the drive from CD-ROM and insert blank DVD drive to burn the data to it later. I think this tool could save your time and nerves.
As soon as you copy out the data you can try all other operations with HDD via Boot Corrector tool.

Please not repeat
Already advised same application + more + free trial
http://www.paragon-software.com/business/hdm-server/

Michael, sorry if I did repeat the link but specifying exact software and giving precise instructions on using it could be useful for danielme1981. Reviewing your posts I could not see any notice about Rescue Kit software suggestion. But still, I could miss.
Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2009 Business is a software designed for server. And as far as I see danielme1981 is using XP on laptop so Paragon Rescue Kit should be ok for him.

He's Vista
This does everyting he wants
see:
Hard Disk Manager 2009 Server allows you to:
Perform basic partitioning operations: create, format, delete partitions.
Use advanced partitioning operations (resize, move, copy, merge, undelete partitions) with safety and confidence.
Change partition properties: hide/unhide, make active/inactive, assign/remove drive letter, change volume label, convert file system, etc.
Redistribute the space between volumes.
Clone disks or separate partitions.
Perform Real-time server disk backup.
Use advanced backup operations: differential backup, synthetic backup, cyclic backup,        incremental backup.
 Add only changed or new files to a previously created image.
 Exclude files and folders from an image.
Restore entire disks or separate partitions and roll-back your partitioning operations in case of user error.
 Restore Windows Vista and all installed programs to completely different hardware.
 Restore your system anytime to a specified date.
 Restore each backup level or each file separately.
Quickly browse FAT, FAT32, NTFS, Ext2 or Ext3 FS partition, edit or copy files and folders with Volume Explorer (fully embedded within the application).
Defragment partitions and optimize their cluster size.
Setup and manage multiple operating systems on the same PC.
Automate any routine operations from server disk imaging to disk partitioning.
Secure disk wiping: completely erase a whole hard disk, a separate partition or clean free space.
 Upgrade the demo version to the complete version - no further downloads or installations needed.
  Features and Benefits:
Partitioning Features

 
Create, format, delete partitions without data loss through user-friendly wizards.
Convert File System - Easily convert file systems from one to another without loosing data.
Move/Resize partition - You can safely resize your partitions up and down to optimize disk space usage.
Merge/Undelete partitions You can merge two partitions or recover accidentally deleted or lost partitions.
 
Backup features

Backup/Restore different types of partitions, MBR, an entire hard disk or a combination of disks.
Hot Backup of locked partitions - Perform real-time server disk backup.
Dynamic Volumes Support - Backup and restore dynamic volumes.
Synchronous Backup of multiple volumes (with MS VSS).
 
Cloning Features

 

Copy Hard Disk or Partitions Wizards - Easily upgrade/migrate hard drives or copy partitions.
Copy with resize - Resize (shrink or enlarge) partitions and disks during the copy process in order to fit the target space.
     

Rescue and Recovery Features        

   

Recovery Media Builder - Create a bootable backup CD/DVD to restore a system and data even from a bare-metal state when Windows won't boot.
Recovery Media - Use the Bootable CD to start your PC and perform all partitioning and recovery functions when your system crashes.
Boot Corrector - Comprehensive wizard to solve typical boot problems.