Stuck in a loop!

[KenB]

Hi Labi,

 

There seems to be a problem with your hard drive that you have in the caddy.

 

Do the following please:

 

With the new caddy connected .....

Click on the icon [bottom left of screen]

Type in diskmgmt.msc > hit Enter

This will take you to a new screen that will show all of the drives connected to your machine.

 

It would help if you could show me a screen shot of what is showing.

[Labi]

Ken

Hi Ken

Moving swiftly on from yesterday's confused attempt to explain how things appeared on screen...

 

Attached are two pics: hopefully, the first will shed some light on the condition of HD...while the second is a snapshot of the file list which finally opened under a folder entitled

"_acestream_cache_".

Strangely, this was accessed through a small window box headed AutoPlay

which pops up repeatedly when I'm exploring Data F: (?)

 

What I notice is many of the file numbers are identical (see example in pic 2) throughout the entire list - which is long!

And - every single one is prefixed with "live." The folder symbol (a traffic cone) beside many is that of the media player VLC which I use

instead of Windows media player. It suggests to me these are music files- I do have many in iTunes - and in

the past have inadvertently duplicated some, which might possibly account for the repeats...although I'm guessing

at this really.

 

Shouldn't the HD also contain Documents/PDF's and all that sort of thing, as well as music files: prefixed differently, surely...?

 

Labi....

[KenB]

Hi Labi

 

 

Looking at your images of Disk Management:

 

Your hard drive in the caddy [ E: and F: ] has problems.

It looks as if it is divided into two partitions.

E: would be the one with Windows on it.

Data F: looks like a partition for storing files / photos etc.

 

E: is showing RAW which, basically, means that the information on the drive cannot be read.

Somehow it has become corrupt.

 

You may be prompted to format this drive - DO NOT FORMAT

It may be possible to retrieve data but if you format it you will LOSE ALL DATA.

 

The RAW drive is the reason why you cannot boot up.

 

=============

 

As you cannot access Data F: properly either it looks as if this has been corrupted too but not as bad as E: because the file system is still showing as NTFS - which is normal. [ but with a problem ]

 

=============

 

This is where we are at the moment.

 

There is no guarantee that we can get your hard drive to boot up again - there are things we can try.

 

We can look for Recovery Software - to try to locate and recover the data on the RAW drive and the DATA F: drive.

Different software produces different results - it really depends what the problems are.

[Your Win7 hard disk has over 200GB free space]

Again - there are no guarantees.

 

We can attempt to repair the RAW drive so that Windows can boot up again.

 

Both of these processes are long-winded and offer no guarantees.

The repair of the RAW drive could take hours and hours - and still fail at the end.

 

So - where do you want to go from here?

I am quite happy to continue to try to help you - it depends how far you wish to go with this :)

Edited March 31, 2018 by KenB

[Labi]

Ken

It seems to me the files listed in F: are all to do with Media - photos & music etc. PC defaults to AutoPlay each time it's opened.

At the top of the long file list is a "LOCK file", dated 14.03.18. it appears to be 'empty'...

Don't know if this is at all significant...?

Am attaching a pic of the Properties box in case its helpful.

My priority is of course to save data: photos, music & documents, PDF's etc.

 

Is it possible to at least 'save' the contents of F: by any means - before going on to something

perhaps irreversible? I'm assuming that docs & PDF's are at risk anyway as they don't appear

to be held in F:......but where exactly are they stored if not in the F: partition...?

 

At this point should I perhaps look for a Data recovery service, I wonder....?

 

Labi.

[KenB]

Hi Labi,

 

At this point should I perhaps look for a Data recovery service,

It depends what value you put on the content of the drive.

Data recovery services are very expensive [ possibly hundreds of pounds ]

 

Is it possible to at least 'save' the contents of F:

We can certainly have a go.

 

I have not used this software before - the one I have used is now a "pay for" after locating your lost files.

 

Download Disk Drill from here [ the free version ]

Data Recovery Software for Windows. FREE File Recovery!

 

Install it on your Win 7 machine [obviously have the caddy connected ] then open it.

I have installed it on my machine and you should get something like this.

 

 

 

Locate your Data F: drive and click on "Recover"

The search may take some time.

I think I read that this free software will only recover 500MB of data for free.

 

Make sure you save any recovered data to the folder you created on the desktop.

Obviously DO NOT save recovered data to the problem F: drive :)

 

Let's see how you get on.

[Labi]

Ken

Thank you so much for all the research & time spent on my problem. I really do appreciate it.

Before doing anything else, I'm going to look more closely at the files in F: drive. The first one

I opened - with a VLC icon on the folder, bizarrely, contained live footage of a football match

which I'd obviously watched weeks before and was somehow saved. This was totally unexpected

- and unintended! If everything else in F: is related to things I've watched in the past few weeks,

does it in fact contain any of my important files - photos & music etc?

Perhaps, ominously, the clue is in the prefix - "live"!?

 

After taking a few deep breaths, a purge of the 400 odd files will be necessary to at least eliminate

the duplicates together with the unwanted footage of past matches!

Once I've gone through the Data F: files, I'll take another look at your helpful email above and consider

my options.

 

Thanks again, best...Labi.

[Labi]

Hi Ken

Back again after reviewing contents of F: partition!

 

As I suspected, the folder "_acestream_cache_" contained over 400 files, all

of which were (unwittingly) saved video clips from football matches watched over a period of months.

No other type of file appeared in the list - which has now been entirely deleted.

The attached pic of F: "properties" taken after the mass deletion, shows that a segment of the disk still contains data,

and I'm hoping that it holds my pics/documents/music files.

 

The E: drive "properties" window shows the disk is empty...?

 

The other pic shows the list of drives/partitions available to scan on Disk Drill. (Thanks for that!)

Can you please tell me which one/s to select and in what order?

I can only assume the Hitachi reference at the top refers to the HD on the PC I'm currently using - but

then why should Acer C: (also on this PC) - be shown separately ?

 

More questions: sorry!

 

Labi.

[KenB]

Hi Labi,

 

From what I can see in your photos:

Acer C: is the hard drive of your Win7 computer

PQService - this is a recovery partition [ part of the Win7 hard drive ]

System Reserved - this is a small partition that holds Boot Manager / Boot Configuration data etc [ again relating to your Win7 machine]

No Partition Name - this is a very small [ RAW ] partition [ un-formatted ] again relating to the Win7 hard drive

 

The E: drive "properties" window shows the disk is empty...?

This is because E: drive is RAW - it cannot be read by Windows so it assumes there is nothing there.

 

I can only assume the Hitachi reference at the top refers to the HD on the PC I'm currently using - but

then why should Acer C: (also on this PC) - be shown separately

If you look at my example in my previous post it is the same for me.

The whole hard drive at the top and partitions listed below.

You have the option of recovering the whole or a single partition.

Obviously you do not want to select any of the above as they are ALL related to your Win7 machine.

 

What is a bit confusing is that your E: and DATA F: partitions are not showing.

What is showing is Mass Storage Device USB Device

If you only have your caddy [with the problem drive in] plugged into the USB port then this must be what you need to select.

 

There looks to be a down arrow next to this. [ left side ]

Does this give you more information if you click on it?

 

Are there any "Hidden Items" - top right of the Disk Drill window ?

If so - click on this to see if E: and F: show up.

 

Obviously you want to try to scan DATA F: first.

If you locate it - there is a down arrow on the right - if you click on this you can select "Quick Scan"

See what this locates.

 

The scan may locate lots of Windows files too.

Obviously you don't want to save these.

 

You may find that the software finds files etc but you don't recognise the names.

The software could allocate its own file names to your files.

[ not sure how this specific piece of software works ]

Photos have .jpg or .png after the file name.

 

Give it a go and see what you can find.

Scanning will take a VERY long time.

You are also limited to the amount of data that you can recover so be selective and look for photos first if they are most important to you.

 

Remember - if you are saving anything that has been recovered, save it to a folder on the desktop of the Win7 machine.

 

Best of luck :)

Edited April 2, 2018 by KenB

[Labi]

Hi Ken

I'm attaching 3 x pics - post Quick Scan. I can't make much sense of the results.

Nothing I click on there seems to give any clue to the contents....?

One pic (middle) shows the data log screen which (to my untrained eye) doesn't look good!?

 

Do you think I should QS the other partitions: could that be informative?

If I choose to Upgrade, eventually, is there still a recovery limit?

 

Thanks, Labi.

[KenB]

Hi Labi,

 

Your first pic shows that E: and DATA F: have been identified.

 

You don't say which partition you scanned ??

 

Your last pic suggests that the scan found the Recycle Bin with 154 items in it.

This was probably on E: where Windows would be.

 

You need to scan DATA F:

 

If I choose to Upgrade, eventually, is there still a recovery limit?

DO NOT upgrade.

If this version is not finding any files the upgrade certainly will not either.

 

There is other software we can try - but stick with this for the time being and see if scanning DATA F: brings up anything.

[Labi]

Thanks Ken

 

The scan results/data log are for partition F: (see top left corner).

Is there any way to examine the contents of the recycle bin?

18GB of 'rubbish' seems a lot...?

 

Is it worth running the deeper scan on F: - or any of the other partitions?

 

Labi.

[KenB]

I have just run a scan on a USB Memory Stick.

 

The first pass didn't locate too much - but it did locate files.

I then clicked on Pictures and it found all of my pictures - 624 items !!

 

If you click the + next to the files found this will reveal the contents of the file.

 

You may [ or may not ] be so lucky - it depends on how corrupt your files are.

 

Is there any way to examine the contents of the recycle bin?

Yes - click the + next to it :)

 

Edited April 3, 2018 by KenB

[Labi]

Ken

It appears as though the Recycle Bin contains only the recently deleted files from data F: partition

all of which are unwanted video clips. Odd though, that the overall size of the deleted files

- 44GB - and those now in the Bin - 18GB, differs by a considerable amount...?

 

At this point, I suppose there's no harm in scanning the other partitions to see what they contain?

 

Labi.

[Labi]

Ken

Have now run a deep scan of E: drive - results shown below.

I can't figure out how Documents can be such a large file - 570GB, when the HD

can only accommodate 500 GB in total??

 

Clicking on the + beside each entry brings up a baffling list of prefixes against each item.

At this stage do you think it's going to be possible to return these files to their original format

- photos/documents/music etc. by utilising DD Upgrade version ?

 

Thanks, Labi.

[KenB]

Hi Labi

 

If you click the + next to Pictures - do any of the files have a .jpg extension ?

 

If so - these are photographs.

Do you see any?

 

At this stage do you think it's going to be possible to return these files to their original format

If you can't find the photos etc using this software we can try another.

[Labi]

Ken

 

JPG extension file opens up 145 group folders each bracketed (1000).

Looking at a few samples reveals the vast majority are random

images from various web pages - unaccountably saved for posterity!?

Scattered throughout these groups, I find only the odd one is actually a photo

I intended to keep!

It looks like there are over 145000 images held in JPG format alone - under Pictures.

My collection numbers a few hundred at most.

Going through so many to find them would be like panning a hundredweight of sand to locate

an ounce of gold dust! Even if I could ID the relevant ones without having to open them first,

there is still the problem of 'capturing' each one individually.

I haven't even begun to search for documents/music files etc!!

 

Does software exist which can sort the wheat from the chaff, I wonder.....???

 

Yours, Labi.

[KenB]

Hi Labi

 

Try this one [ the Data Recovery one]

EaseUS Download Center - Free Download Data Recovery Software, Todo Backup Software, Partition Manager

 

This is a FREE TRIAL of a PAID FOR software.

You can use it but you will not be able to save what it finds.

 

You can compare what it finds with Disk Drill.

 

Easus has a good reputation. - but I stress again - you would be expected to pay for the software to save what it finds.

[Labi]

Thanks Ken for the software details

 

Have now scanned both Drive E: - & the "Recovery" section, identified by EaseUS.

Screenshots attached for information. (First is "Recovery": E: 2nd & 3rd)

 

I did save the Drive E: scan results - in case its useful, and - because to re-scan will probably take a long time.

During the deep scan the list of folders appearing on screen was much more lengthy than the

concluding screen (below) shows?? Maybe I haven't got the hang of navigating this programme yet...but

it seems strange that the finished list is relatively short and doesn't, for example, show "Pictures"

which did appear in the list while the scan was running!?

 

Results do look more promising than with Disk Drill, but not really sure where to go at this point...?

 

Labi..............

[KenB]

Hi Labi

 

I was hoping that with EaseUs that you would be able to see specific files - especially photos.

The quick scan is showing nearly 5GB of files.

The deep scan - considerably more.

 

These are obviously not all your personal files - many of them will be related to Windows.

 

I installed EaseUS and ran a scan on a Memory Stick.

You should be able to view the files that were found.

 

This is the result of my scan.

Put a tick in the box of the partition you wish to look at - in your case "Existing Partition" [ centre image]

I then clicked on the arrow next to "Quick Scan Result"

 

 

I then saw the following - which are the folders on that partition [ drive in my case ]

There were more but I have cropped the image.

From these folders I put a tick in "Ellesmere" which is the one I wanted to look at.

 

 

 

 

Then click on the down arrow next to "Graphics" and select .jpg and .png [ i.e. photo extensions if this is what you are looking for ]

Or you can select "All File Types"

 

 

Then click on the partition you wish to look at to highlight it - it turns blue.

 

You can then click on the "Preview Button" [bottom right ]

 

 

These are the results that I got

 

 

From here you can "Select All" as I have done - or - leave it blank and select individual photos.

 

The next stage is to hit "Recover" - However, you will be prompted to pay.

 

Don't be frightened to play with the software.

You can do no harm.

 

You can decide if you wish to buy the software or we can try running chkdsk /f to try to fix the problems with the partition.

The only problem with this is - it may corrupt even more files. Which is why I have held off suggesting it so far.

[Labi]

Ken

There is definitely light at the end of this new software tunnel!

Still haven't mastered the myriad of headings, folders, sub folders and files,

yet....but one or two have given up their secrets and I've found photos and

songs (itchycoo Park among them!) which I should - hopefully - be able to

recover once the software upgrade is installed.

The idea of running the CHKDSK command (this time at arms length!) is a thought

but obviously I don't want to risk losing/corrupting data in the process....?

Is it possible to copy the entire contents of drive E: to my Win7 PC - and save it there

while running CHKDSK - to 'preserve' the data should the scan fail or damage

the HD in some way?

 

Thanks again - for the pictorial guide and on-going advice.

 

Labi.

[KenB]

Hi Labi

 

Is it possible to copy the entire contents of drive E: to my Win7 PC

It may be possible BUT if the drive is corrupt [ or partly corrupt ] then whatever we do with it is not going to help recovery.

The more the partition / drive gets written to the less chance of recovering data.

 

I've found photos and songs ....which I should - hopefully - be able to recover once the software upgrade is installed.

Progress :)

I think you have a decision to make.

The EaseUS software seems to have located your files which should be able to be recovered.

The question is - do you wish to spend £60 or so on the software to do this?

 

I have just had a look through the thread again ....

Post #50 you said ... Partition E: had the error Data Error (cyclic Redundancy check)

It is normal to try a chkdsk fix for this

Do you have any data on E: that you particularly want?

 

You can use EaseUS to scan this partition to see what it finds.

 

Let me know what you wish to do. :)

[ I will continue to try to help whatever your decision ]

[Labi]

Ken

I gather that to run CHKDSK scan may carry an element of risk to the

data stored in drive E:

Remembering the original problem started after running

CHKSK /R on my win 8.1 Asus, is it likely that repeating the process might

now somehow fix the defective HD?

But then, remembering as well how often I 'crash' closed the Asus after getting stuck

in the loop - apparently it seems without rendering my data irretrievable, so.....

perhaps one more time won't make any difference?

 

To recap for a sec: on the upside is the possibility of restoring the HD to good health and re-using it (?)

- & I avoid paying £60.00 for software...

while the downside looks like... a) the HD remains defective - but without further loss of data, or....

b) the HD goes into meltdown and takes my data with it!!

 

On balance, I'm more inclined to take the gamble, partly because it will bring this to a swift conclusion and -

if successful - will cost me nowt!!

 

Best Labi.

[KenB]

On balance, I'm more inclined to take the gamble

 

OK Labi let's try to repair the E: drive first.

[ I am assuming that you have more data on the F: drive]

 

With the caddy attached to the USB port.

Click on the icon bottom left of screen and type in ......... cmd

 

You should get a panel appear on the left side of screen

Right click on "Command Prompt" and click on "Run As Administrator"

 

At the Command Prompt type in ,,,,,,,,, scandsk /r E: ......... [ there is a space before and after /r ]

This is assuming that your problem drive is still showing as E: and DATA F:

 

The scan may take sometime to complete.

[Labi]

Ken

The Command "scandsk /r E:" isn't recognised on Win 7 OS.

 

I'm reasonably confident that Data F: doesn't contain anything other than

contents of the Recycle Bin where discarded files of live football matches

finished up. It looks like the mystery folder _acestream_cache_ was storing these files

for months while they gradually accumulated, contributing perhaps to the very slow

Start-up & shut-down of my Asus. I've no idea why a separate partition Data (F:) would

be created exclusively for the retention of that folder and its contents....?

 

Incidentally, deep scanning of drive E: identified several 'bad sectors',

saying, in effect, it will take time to examine those.....over 2 hrs, in fact.

 

Labi.

[KenB]

Hi Labi

 

I've no idea why a separate partition Data (F: ) would

be created exclusively for the retention of that folder and its contents....?

DATA F: must have been manually created I can't see any way Windows would be able to do this without being instructed.

 

The Command "scandsk /r E:" isn't recognised on Win 7 OS.

I must be cracking up !!

Try ..... chkdsk /r E: