SATA disk turned "Dynamic" and "Unreadable" [Archive]

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LeftEyeNine

05-27-2007, 03:09

Urgent help needed !

I had posted this problem in my other recent thread, but you know, I need attention. I'm a cry baby, yes.

After setting up my computer back up running again, my Samsung SATA HDD which was being used (storing my whole music, images archive. simply indispensible) is now seen as dynamic and "unreadable" in Disk Management by my Windows XP Pro SP2. And it says it will erase the date to make it basic after right-clicking it (the only executive option in that menu besides "help" and "properties"). I can't think of doing that, no way. I'd better bury the HDD rather than doing it, hoping that some tech could save my data one day.

Around the internet it says that Windows XP Professional is capable of reading dynamic disks, however my OS does not, as indicated by saying "unreadable" noted under its name in Disk Management.

What can I do ?

sapi

05-27-2007, 04:28

Maybe try loading it via a linux livecd and getting the data off, then formatting?

That wont' work if it's your only hdd, of course ~:(

LeftEyeNine

05-27-2007, 05:30

Hmm, I've been recommended that. Seems some kind of last resort. :/

I'm still concerned with why it turns dynamic and unreadable. Is my luck that far good with me ? :wall:

LeftEyeNine

05-27-2007, 06:05

I'm downloading SLAX (http://www.slax.org) live cd iso right now. It was top voted among others in a website indexing those distros.

Guaranteed that it can see that Dynamic and Unreadable SATA HDD (under normal circumstances) ?

LeftEyeNine

05-27-2007, 07:24

No luck with SLAX.

Being an all-time fan of DOS, I was never able to reach my HDDs. Anyone has an idea how to ? Through some file explorer, all I could do was reaching the root of the CD, nowhere out of it.

God. This humble creature of you asks: Why do you test me on electronical gadgets ?

Lemur

05-27-2007, 07:43

Just an idea, LEN, but is this the sort of issue that SpinRite (http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm) could address? I've heard of it raising disks from the undead ....

LeftEyeNine

05-27-2007, 08:35

How the HELL people on the net (no one here meant) can suggest backing up the data through Windows and turn the HDD into basic while my DAMN problem is being unable to reach the HDD ?!!

AAAAAAARGH !!! I HAVE MY WHOLE GIGS OF MUSIC ARCHIVE IN IT ! IT CAN'T BE BROKEN DOWN ! HOW COME THAT STUPID **** WHICH WAS BRAND NEW CAN SHOW UP AS BEING DYNAMIC AND UNREADABLE AFTER ALL THE MESS I'VE GONE THROUGH ?!! WHY AND DAMN WHY DO THESE DAMN WICKED ******** COME ONE AFTER ANOTHER ?!!!

...I need a break off all of these..

Lemur

05-27-2007, 08:39

Well, the advantage to a program like SpinRite is that it does NOT use windows, but rather a freeware version of DOS. So if the disk error is rooted in your Windows OS, it should sidestep it neatly. If your problem is hardware-based, however, you're going to have to think about sending the disk to a specialist.

-edit-

And of course every recovery program mentions how you should back up before, ignoring the fact that you would not need a recovery program had you done so. An irony of the business, I guess.

DukeofSerbia

05-27-2007, 22:38

Around the internet it says that Windows XP Professional is capable of reading dynamic disks, however my OS does not, as indicated by saying "unreadable" noted under its name in Disk Management.

My hard disks are dinamic as I have stripped partition (software RAID 0).

https://img87.imageshack.us/img87/3360/hddjp9.jpg (https://imageshack.us)

Not some help but I used it for creating: http://www.techimo.com/articles/index.pl?photo=149

What can I do ?

To go in service with hard disk and pay them to save data from your disk.

LeftEyeNine

05-27-2007, 23:25

Lemur

05-28-2007, 01:26

Spinrite 6.0 made a thorough data recovery operation, which it says to be succesfully completed.

The problem is, the BIOS and the Device manager manages to "see" the HDD but the OS fails to recognize it.

It seems the data can be recovered, don't you think ?
There should be an option to transfer the data to another disk. That would be a real good idea right about now.

-edit-

Since the problem seems to be in Windows, the thing to do would be to find a nice DOS cloning tool ...

DukeofSerbia

05-28-2007, 08:44

Spinrite 6.0 made a thorough data recovery operation, which it says to be succesfully completed.

The problem is, the BIOS and the Device manager manages to "see" the HDD but the OS fails to recognize it.

It seems the data can be recovered, don't you think ?

Yes. Even is disk physical damaged can be saved, but that cost a lot of money and can only do specialized services.

Last June my WD 1200JS was dieing. Every five minutes I have blue screen, and I didn't backup anything (how desparate I was don't ask)! I brought computer in service (I had warranty) where I bought it (from friend) and they managed to save all data from disk, but it took whole week as disk worked maximum 5 minutes before crash.

So yes, there should be no problem in saving data, it is just matter how much money you'll have to pay.

As Lemur wrote...

There should be an option to transfer the data to another disk. That would be a real good idea right about now.

-edit-

Since the problem seems to be in Windows, the thing to do would be to find a nice DOS cloning tool ...

Yes, that can be done through DOS. But how, I really don't know.

Lemur

05-28-2007, 19:02

Here's a DOS-based disk cloning tool (http://www.x-ways.net/replica.html). Haven't used it, so I can't vouch for it, but it might do the trick. Hang in there, LEN.

DukeofSerbia

05-28-2007, 22:17

Better to pay professional service to do it. :yes:

Caius

05-28-2007, 23:49

Better to pay professional service to do it. :yes:
Agreed

Blodrast

05-28-2007, 23:54

You can also try to backup your data under linux, one command is sufficient - assuming you can access and read the problematic disk.

As for going to a "professional"... I personally had 3 experiences with crashed/dead harddisks, and I am aware of all the details of another friend's experience. This is with 3 different companies, and the results were meh at best, ripoffs at worst.
Naturally, it all depends on the problem, etc, but my point is, in all cases a lot of money was spent, and the results were less than stellar, bordering on useless. I can give you more details, if you really care.
Just saying that "professional" recovery isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Good luck.

LeftEyeNine

05-30-2007, 16:30

SLAX (http://www.slax.org) sees my SATA HDD thoroughly !

Now the problem is (they never end), the file manager SLAX uses (named Master Commander or something) refuses to create a directory or copy files from SATA to my IDE HDD. It gives the following error:

"Error: Read-only file system (30)"

The problem is for sure about my IDEs this time. I have already asked for help about this in SLAX forum. And I really don't want to pay for the retrieval of the data I have seen lying healthy there in the SATA HDD.

If you have an idea about how to deal with that read-only situation, you're welcome. My file system is NTFS, by the way.

SwordsMaster

05-30-2007, 17:35

LeftEyeNine

05-30-2007, 18:04

Actually, it could be a System32 file error. After reinstalling XP on my old system, it refused to recognise my SATA drive because System 32 was corrupt. I solved the problem by reinstalling XP Pro.

Alternatively, I'm told that XP Home comes with specific SATA drivers included (go figure why XP does not...) so you might want to try that.

I was thinking about the same possibility, but I have just formatted my system. Nothing has channged with its accesibility through Windows.

Someone has answered what to do to have a read/write enabled NTFS drive. I'll be trying soon.