FAT data-recovery with TestDisk

[hmorris]

Hi Everyone

A couple of years ago, after I had added a DVD drive to my windows 98 computer, my storage hard disk (not the booting disk) became inaccessible (via both Windows and Knoppix live CD). I hadn't touched the disk so I wasn't too worried. That windows 98 install was on it's last legs, and, as I knew I would never have another Windows computer, I decided to leave the disk aside and deal with it in the future after I had moved to GNU/Linux.

That computer is now running Ubuntu and the problematic disk is /dev/hdb, but it is not mountable.

I set to work on it with PhotoRec and TestDisk. I know the data is there and intact as I have been able to copy most of it off with PhotoRec (but out of sequence and without filenames).

TestDisk cannot find any trace of a partition table via "Analyse" or "Search!" but it is able to list the filenames of the data.

The disk is a Maxtor 80 GB, installed in 2003 by a local Mom & Pop computer store which I now realise may not have been particularly conscientious. Could they have installed the disk without putting a partition on it? Is that even possible?

This is all the information that TestDisk has provided:

Disk /dev/hdb - 81 GB / 76 GiB - CHS 158816 16 63, sector size=512

When I run TestDisk telling it the disk has Intel type partitions it returns no info at all. When I run it telling it that the disk has no partitions it returns:

P Unknown 0 0 1 158815 15 63 160086528

Where do I go from here? Is it possible, given this information, to write partition information etc to the disk to make it mountable?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

[CodeRoot]

...my storage hard disk became inaccessible...

Can you describe in as much detail as [reasonably] possible what occurred that caused this? Also, what is the nature of the evidence exibited?

Could they have installed the disk without putting a partition on it?

No.

Is that even possible?

No. (Understand the context.)

Any advice would be gratefully received.

You might try:

fsck -t vfat /dev/hdb

(No guarantees... )

[devils casper]

That computer is now running Ubuntu and the problematic disk is /dev/hdb, but it is not mountable.

does output of 'sudo fdisk -l' command display /dev/hdb? post its output here.

[hmorris]

The cause is a mystery to me. All I did was change the disk from slave on one IDE connector to slave on the other. I didn't execute any commands on it at all.

The output of "fsck -t vfat /dev/hdb" is:

fsck 1.39 (29-May-2006)
dosfsck 2.11, 12 Mar 2005, FAT32, LFN
Both FATs appear to be corrupt. Giving up.

The output of "fdisk -l" regarding /dev/hdb is:

Disk /dev/hdb: 81.9 GB, 81964302336 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 158816 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

(With no information under these headings)

One interesting entry form the TestDisk log is:

disk_get_geometry BLKGETSIZE64 /dev/hdb number of cylinders 65535 != 158816 (calculated)

Is that important? Should I do anything about it?

Thanks for your help.

[devils casper]

hdb harddisk is not partitioned or partition table has been corrupted. if there isn't any important data in it, i suggest you to repartition harddisk. you can use GParted LiveCD fot that. GParted is one of the best partition manager and its very easy create/resize/delete partitions with it.

[hmorris]

The data is important enough for me to make a determined effort to recover it intact. Especially as I know it 's on there.

[devils casper]

try UBCD or System Rescue CD.

[hmorris]

Thanks for your help. I don't think I need a system-rescue CD. The computer has a working Ubuntu install on it. It's just the one disk I'm having problems with.

[devils casper]

did you really check the System Rescue CD's link?
UBCD and SRCD have a lot of partition recovery, harddisk scanning and fixing tools.

[hmorris]

OK. I see those tools are in the Ubuntu repositories. I'll have a go at them later. Thanks.