[-AaronJ-]

Hi guys I wonder if someone could give me some advice

 

Last night I was browsing the contents of my portable HDD and a window popped up that asked if I wanted to use Master boot record (MBR) or the GUID partition table (GPT)

 

I was trying to fix a problem with a USB stick at the same time and I had Disk Management (Win 7) open so I thought the message was something to do with that and I clicked MBR

 

I noticed the windows explorer pane for my portable HDD closed so I quickly disconnected it but whatever I have done to it has stopped it from working, and even worse it seems as though it has been formatted in that split second after I clicked MBR

 

Its a 2TB Seagate Backup Plus Portable Drive and it was full almost to capacity. The file format was NTFS and I'm using Win 7 HP x64

 

Now when I plug the HDD in I hear the sound but nothing else happens and it doesnt appear in explorer. It does appear in Disk Management, but it basically says its empty

 

Ive tried it on my TV that I normally plug it in to and also a laptop but it isnt working on those either

 

I do know a good data recovery company that I've used before and I suspect I may have to do that again, I'm just wondering if the data has in fact been deleted or if I could do something like rebuild the MBR (got that idea from google)

 

Any advice would be much appreciated

 

Thanks

Edited by -AaronJ-, 08 February 2018 - 09:18 AM.

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Based on what you said, it seems likely that the partition table was wiped out. The data should still be there.

 

Do you know how it was partitioned? Was it one large partition?

 

One problem is that Windoze tools tend to do more than that actually want. You might be able to use a Linux LiveCD, such as Knoppix, and create a new partition table and mark it as NTFS.

[Kemasa]

Based on what you said, it seems likely that the partition table was wiped out. The data should still be there.

 

Do you know how it was partitioned? Was it one large partition?

 

One problem is that Windoze tools tend to do more than that actually want. You might be able to use a Linux LiveCD, such as Knoppix, and create a new partition table and mark it as NTFS.

[-AaronJ-]

Hi Kemasa thanks for the advice

 

The device was one large partition yes. I have a feeling the data is still there. I'm not sure how to do what you suggested but I found this http://findandmount.com/so I think I'll give that a try

 

Failing that I'll look into the partition table a bit more I think you're diagnosis is probably right by the sounds of it, thanks again

[Kemasa]

That looks like it might work, but I have not used it. It is what it appears to do what you need to do.

[-AaronJ-]

Hello again, unfortunately it didnt work, I ran all 3 scans and no partitions were found. I also used EaseUs Partition Master to rebuild the MBR but that hasnt worked either I suspect that if I can get my PC to recognize the drive then I may be able to see my files. If I tried the LiveCD/Partition table fix you suggested would that have any effect on the drive that cant be reversed or would make data recovery more difficult if I needed to do that?

 

Edit:

 

Good news to report - I use Minitool Partition Wizard and it found the partition instantly and restored it withiin a few seconds, I now have all my files back

 

I sent a donation - thanks for the advice!

Edited by -AaronJ-, 10 February 2018 - 11:40 AM.

[Kemasa]

Great, thanks for letting us know and thanks for the donation.

 

Not that it matters since you got it fixed, but the using Linux to modify the partition table would not change the data on the rest of the disk.

 

As a side note, this is a good time to remember to do backups.