Hi, I screwed up my external Drive somehow and it has an I/O error and I can NOT access the drive and the Data on it. I mainly had used this drive for all my DL programs and such and now I can not access it..

I tried to chkdsk /r and it could NOT repair the disk, is there anyway possible to access the data on this disk now??

It wants me to format the disk because windows says it can't read the disk.. ?? HELP!!

First thing to try: Another computer to access the drive. Failing that, try accessing from a Linux Live CD.

I would NOT format, at all.

Ya I tried accessing it from numerous PC's and different OS..

What is a linux livecd?? is it a program of sorts? Link?

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download


Burn a UBuntu Live DVD, You'll be able to boot the Entire O/S from the DVD without having to install it, Linux uses different host access than windows so it may allow access to the data of a corrupted drive.

I was able to Recover Almost every file from numerous harddisks that windows reported as unformatted using ubuntu linux live DVD or if i had to Get Data Back for NTFS.

Ezxternal Drives usually encounter this when you do not tell windows to "safely remove" the device and you unplug while there is a delayed write in progress thus destroying file system indexes that windows relies on.


Also google "Get Data Back NTFS" or "Get Data Back FAT32"

OK I got Ubuntu working but not sure how to access my external USB HDD through ubuntu?

I went to computer and it was not listed?? I saw it once but not sure how I got there??

Testdisk - http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

Open up the file manager, I'm not sure what Ubuntu is using these days.

This is a screenshot of the file manager in my OpenSUSE 11.4 (Gnome 2.3 desktop) which is similar to Ubuntu, which shows the drives:



This is the "Computer" location (accessed by clicking the small computer icon on the navigation bar. What you are seeing inside:

160 GB Filesystem: One of my other HDDs
160 GB Storage: Another HDD
File System: This is the Linux file system, the OS you are using to browse.

Also note the "Places" panel on the left. All external devices appear here when "mounted" by the OS. After connecting the device, wait a moment or two and see if it appears.

You see my same HDDs in this list. Your external drive will appear there, too. Click it, and you can browse the volume in the right pane.

And remember, even in Ubuntu, use the "Eject" or "Unmount" button (should look like an "eject icon" in the left "Places" pane) and wait until any drive activity stops before unplugging.

Ok, for reference I've plugged in my Sansa 4GB mp3 player, which acts like a 4GB external USB drive.

Here is what the file manager is showing now. Note the drive appears in "Computer" (twice because the Sansa has two storage volumes), and once for the main volume in the "Places" panel on the left.

The "eject" button is right beside the drive icon in "Places".

I am using this right now but it is going Painfully slow.. bout 10 hours and it is only at 20%..Hopefully this will work as I do not wanan stop the process now..

also try
"chkdsk <x:> /p /r"

You did not happen to knock the drive over or bump it did you?

well I kinda was at fault it was user error that caused this problem. I did drop it too!!

Just to clarify, was it the drop that caused the problem, or some other action?

it was user error. not from the drop..

skatezilla i tried chkdsk /r and that would not reapir the problem it stated it is a non repairable problem :*

Dropping a drive or even bumping it when it is running can kill a drive. I knocked over an old firewire 400Gb drive a few years ago and it locked up the spindle so hard, I took the cover off and you could not turn the platters with a pair of channel locks.

So are you sure it's even spinning?