[ptolamy]

Hi, I recently moved a 2TB drive containing much needed data from a thecus m3800 nas (which I no longer have) to a desktop (win 7) machine and whilst the disk management can see the drive partitions, they are listed as healthy, but no drive letter is assigned and tho only available option is 'delete'.

I've tried, testdisk which lists 4 deleted (D) Linux partitions but none of the actions available will correct the drives. 'P' to view files crashes the programme.

Have also tried recuva, r-studio, stellar phoenix.

I know the drive is healthy and that the data is still there, do have to buy another thecus unit to get at my data

Please help.

P

 

[Networks]

Re: HDD moved from nas to desktop unreadable

The NAS only had 1 drive in it ? tell us more how the nas was setup

 

[ptolamy]

Re: HDD moved from nas to desktop unreadable

I had just bought the nas and had not fully populated it yet. Discovered what a turkey it was and returned it. Yes it only ever had 1 disk. What else would you like to know.

I have tried the drive in 2 machines and on win7, winXP and ubuntu. All can see the drive but reprot the partitions to be empty, unallocated, innaccessible (type od stuff).

Testdisk reports 4 partitions (where I'm sure there were only ever 2). They are said to be

D Linux [md0]
D Linux Raid
D Linux [md1]
D Linux Raid

(D in testdisk apparently stands for deleted)

Does any of that help?

 

[raptor_pa]

Re: HDD moved from nas to desktop unreadable

Most of the NAS drives use a linux OS and format, which won't be visible in Windows. Often there is a partition with a Linux Soft raid setup that is the actual data container using XFS. You can try UFS explorer to see if you can view the files and copy them out. There is a thread here from someone who recently recovered on using Linux. OK found it - it was reiser but may work.
http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f16/repairing-reiserfs-559692.html

 

[ptolamy]

Re: HDD moved from nas to desktop unreadable

I did try accessing the drive through ubuntu but nothing anywhere near as complicated as in the link you posted. I'll do some more investigation in that direction. Will re post tomorrow.

Many thanks.

 

[raptor_pa]

Re: HDD moved from nas to desktop unreadable

UFS explorer under Windows may be able to locate your data.

 

[Networks]

Re: HDD moved from nas to desktop unreadable

As posted the reason for my question about the number of drives in the NAS was due to the linux operating system and the raid that was created. A raid with more than 1 drive which is the norm needs all drives to be usable. yes the post about recovering the reiserFS is complicated welcome to data recovery its not a push button operation. That makes it not really a DIY job. It all depends on each persons understanding of the technology and technical ability. I think most people here truly wish everyone only the best outcome with their data recovery projects. keep us posted on your progress

 

[raptor_pa]

Re: HDD moved from nas to desktop unreadable

I'm sure Networks and I would both love those 'Recover' and 'Evidence' Buttons on our keyboard

 

[ptolamy]

Re: HDD moved from nas to desktop unreadable

Right update,

Have tried reding the drive in Fedora (suggested by the NAS manufacturer), no joy. They also told me the file format is XFS (Does this help you help me?)

Tried UFS explorer, no joy.

I had setup the single drive as JBOD in the nas but the drive now reports itself to be Linux Raid. I assume this must be a software Raid as I'm not even sure the disk was partitioned. I have attached a screen from the testdisk analysis.

I also ran photorec which recovered lots of files but no structure or file names. The data is fairly unusable (many txt files, and images which have incorrect resolutions) but proves that the files are on the drive and readable. I am pretty sure now that it is only the partition table that is screwed.

In testdisk I have tried to make the drives Primary (P) rather than deleted (D) but the changes are not maintained after application and rebooting? They still show (D).

I am wondering if I should change the drive types from FD Linux Raid to 83 XFS ? And then maybe running xfs-repair as suggested here?

Thanks to any/all who can help.

 

[Networks]

Re: HDD moved from nas to desktop unreadable

ptolamy That looks like a linux software raid set which is why the other tools are not getting anywhere. This recovery will need to be done while booted in the linux realm. How are your linux skills ? I haven't seen this with 1 drive before normally it takes 2 drives to setup the raid as even raid 0 1 need 2 drives. Was a 2nd drive ever in the enclosure at one point during setup ?

 

[ptolamy]

Re: HDD moved from nas to desktop unreadable

Nope, there was only ever 1 drive in the nAS, in fact I only owned 1 sata drive at the time (hence 100% sure.) I am 95% sure that I did not set up a raid on the single drive, however it would appear that the JBOD setup created some sort of raided partition when it initialized itself for usage with the nas.

I could try some linux based suggestions but maybe somethnig a bit less extreme than the one suggested here (and above).

What linux xfs partition recovery application options are there?
Does testdisk work under ubuntu (is there a version)?

Ptol

 

[Networks]

Re: HDD moved from nas to desktop unreadable

Here is a link to a lot of live CD's that have testdisk installed TestDisk Livecd - CGSecurity . If you value your data as I am sure you do otherwise why would you be here posting "If it were me" I would clone the disk before I ever wrote any changes to the partition table. Work on the clone copy only. Clonezilla - About works well with Linux drives and formats.

 

[Networks]

Re: HDD moved from nas to desktop unreadable

Doing some more research on your specific issue it seems others have had to recover their JBOD drives and had results using Hard Drive Data Recovery Software Utilities & Disk Data Recovery Tools - EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard Professional.
It seems you can download it and try it before you purchase it.

 

[ptolamy]

Re: HDD moved from nas to desktop unreadable [SOLVED]

Right!

The file format was confirmed to me XFS.
The drive whilst running as JBOD had a software raid partition pointing to the main 1.8tb partition of the drive.

The windows version of testdisk reported all the correct info but crashed when trying to preview any of the files in the partition found, and could not write any new data to the partition table.

1. I installed ubuntu.
2. Then installed (with some difficulty as it was not in the synaptic manager and the machine in question was not networked) and ran the linux testdisk.
3. Wrote an XFS partition table.
4. Attempted to start the RAID service in the disk manager.
5. It informed me there were not enough components.
6. Googled this and found I was missing something called mdadm.
7. Installed this (with some difficulty as it was not in the synaptic manager and the machine in question was not networked.
8. Rebooted
9. Afterwhich the volume was instantly recognised and all my data intact.
10. Copied it off to a sensible NTFS windows partition!
11. Job done.

Thanks everyone here for all your help.

Hope this helps someone else out .

Ptol

 

[Networks]

Re: HDD moved from nas to desktop unreadable

That is terrific news ! Yes Linux is an awesome data recovery environment especially in your case since the drive was setup with the xfs partition. You learned a ton with this one for sure.