3tb drive troubles

problaze · 03-28-2012, 06:05 PM

Hey all,

I recently bought a Hitachi 7k3000, I took it out of it's enclosure and plugged it into my pc but now the previous gpt ntfs single partition is instead recognised as unallocated!! :( is there any fix!?! When it asked me to initialize the drive I selected GPT...

Just to specify system:
Mobo - Asus Maximus Gene-z Gen3

Any helps appreciated!

Problaze

**JMPC** · 03-28-2012, 06:08 PM

Is this a brand new drive? Is there any data on it?

problaze · 03-29-2012, 01:43 AM

Recent drive but the data on it significant too...
So no simple format!

What's surprising me is when it was in the USB enclosure I could use it fine it was just when I put it into Sata...

spunk.funk · 03-29-2012, 02:22 AM

Quote:

When it asked me to initialize the drive I selected GPT...

Quote:

You can convert only empty, unpartitioned disks (raw drives or empty MBR drives) to the GPT format. To convert a volume that contains data, you must first manually delete the partition.

If you chose to Initialize a drive with Data on it as GPT you basically removed the data. Download the demo version of R-Studio and let it scan your drive (it will take a long time) Then you decide if it is worth it to actually restore your files. You will need another drive of the same size to recover your files to.
Moving this thread to the HDD forum for better results.

**Networks** · 03-29-2012, 04:05 AM

Can you put it "back" into the ext case and access the data ? I haven't looked up the specs but I guess this is the new 4K sector format and the ext case is doing the conversion for compatibility sake so the OS can see it as 51K sectors

problaze · 03-29-2012, 10:22 AM

Thanks for the help so far guys!! (and moving the thread!)

Okay so I put the hard drive back into ext and now it doesn't show in explorer but does show in Disk Management, although it is asking me to initialize the disk!! I haven't selected anything...

EDIT:
Interestingly I used the ext and plugged the hd into my mac, it told me the drive was MBR...although I thought this was not possibly with partitions greater than 2tb...

Problaze

problaze · 03-29-2012, 02:10 PM

Sorry for bump BUT!

Crisis averted...

I used gdisk in ubuntu to find out partition information
Promptly took drive and used testdisk to rewrite partitions and have recovered the majority if not all of the data!!

Thanks again for the help!

**Networks** · 03-29-2012, 05:21 PM

Windows 7 strikes again re-wrote the sector and messed up the partition. Now its time to get a backup to either another drive or the cloud of the important data and best to either leave it in the ext case or remove and re-partition / format and leave installed inside PC can't have it both ways.

problaze · 03-30-2012, 11:49 AM

Okay so its happened similarly again!

This time I DIDN'T initialize the drive!
I re-installed the intel storage drivers...
this is when it's plugged in via sata -> I just want it working over sata really, I did however fix it originally over usb 2...

EDIT:
Could my machine just not be liking the GPT partition table?

**Networks** · 03-30-2012, 11:52 AM

When you are connecting the drive via SATA win7 is re-writing the sector you don't even have to ask it to it does it behind the scene. You didn't follow my advice !

problaze · 03-30-2012, 11:57 AM

Whoops I really should learn to read :P

Is there no way to fix it without using another drive? I do understand the importance of backup (hurray world backup day) but as I am strapped for cash I can't really afford another similarly sized drive :(

**Networks** · 03-30-2012, 12:00 PM

not that I know of. You have to get the data off then re-partition/format and put the data back on it. Now you have to "fix" it again with testdisk and put it "back" in the ext case to get access to the data.