Need help mounting a 500GB external HD

I had a faulty 500gb Maxtor external HD . It wouldnt be read by any of my computers and when I tried to use it the computer kept saying I have to format it. I used testdisk 7.0 to create a image.dd file of the entire drive. I want some tips on how to properly mount it so that I can recover the as much of the media files & pictures that were on it.

I also wanted to know if mounting it will require another 500gb of space? I only have 32 gb left on the HD that the image file is currently on. Also, will mounting alter the current image file? It took me 10 hrs to create the image file and want to avoid having to start over again from scratch.


Thanks !!

 

Well, sadly, you neglected to tell us anything about your computer or your operating system.

That said, you should just be able to connect the new drive via USB and then "see" the drive with Windows Explorer under Computer. From there, you should just be able to copy the files. You should not have "mount" the drive.

That said, I would not get your hopes up too much because it sounds like the drive may have been corrupted. And an image of a corrupted drive gets you a corrupted image.

 

PC, windows 7. Sorry , I guess I should have said that I am looking to mount the image.dd of a faulty hard drive. Im just a guy with a an issue,. Are you one of the pros/moderators ?? If so , let me know what info you need from me.

The actual physical external hard drive cannot be read or repaired using any tools that I know of in my limited knowledge.. Using testdisk I have created a image.dd file of the entire drive and saved this disk image onto a completely different external hard drive. Im not sure what else I am supposed to be connecting via usb?


Yes I think that the drive is corrupted and therefore the image is corrupted. What next ? Im looking for some tips on how to save as much data as I can on this drive. Thats why I came to this site, Ive had much success with the expert tips in the past.

 

My best advice is to first see if you can mount the drive under a linux operating system, like a linux live cd, to see if it will recognize your drive and you can extract your contents from there.

If that fails, that is if linux doesn't recognize or mount the drive, then you should format the drive using quick format, (not full format), and use a recovery program to recover the contents of the drive. That is your best chance for recovering uncorrupted data.

Maybe someone else here can recommend a good recovery program, I'm a bit out of touch with that.

and FYI, Digerati is very knowledgeable, and if you want help, you should really question the credentials of the help; many of us here are very well versed, despite post count or moderator status. Digerati has been thanked 345 times, that should tell you something.

 

Thanks Blujay. I appreciate the support. I hate to give bad advice so I try not to - but I can and have been wrong - especially since the industries within industries of IT are constantly evolving. What was is often no longer and it is a challenge to stay on top of it. So verifying is not a problem.

@Dan, no, I am not on the staff here - but I have been doing IT tech support for many years so I, like most of the volunteers here, come to share what I have learned before those memory cells degrade further. Plus, as a gathering site for so many experts from many diverse areas within IT, I get to learn something new along the way too - because for sure, the more I learn the more I realize there is to learn.

But it is hard to give hardware or OS advice without knowing the hardware or OS we are helping with. And MOST IMPORTANTLY we cannot assume your skillset, knowledge or level of expertise either. I can not assume you are talking "Linux" when you talk about "mounting" drives any more than you can assume I would never give inaccurate advice. All I can say is I will never give bad advice intentionally.

I agree checking credentials is always a good idea - as much as that is possible when folks use funny usernames and angry duck avatars. You can follow the "Home Page" link under profile and decide if I might have some experience in this area but I note the very purpose of forums is to have an "open" discussion where all can participate - and cross-check facts to [hopefully] keep folks from being led astray.

I pride myself in giving sound advice - though as an old retired Master Sergeant, I tend to be direct in technical discussions which may (if taken personally - which it shouldn't) sound a bit grumpy. Sorry if the case - nothing personal.

 

Sorry If I came off the wrong way too. I hadn't looked at anyone's credentials. And wasn't in any way implying that anyone wasn't qualified. My only desire is to recover as much data as I can off this 500gb drive. Ive done my own google searches and have found all kinds of random advise and freeware and other programs that aid in the recovery of faulty hard drives, ie testdisk , osfmount, etc . But I dont want to just go about it willy nilly because I really don't have the know how to pull that off . Ive posted to majorgeeks with many computer problems that others couldnt solve and was guided by the moderators step by step to successful resolutions each time. So I love this site and this is where I come to when I have a problem I cant figure it out in my limited knowledge. Any definitive steps to resolve my issue would be greatly appreciated.

 

No apologies needed. We are good!

As far as recovering from a faulty drive - there is always risk of making things worse, or not being able to recover anything, even with the best laid plans. That's why a good backup before disk failure is always the way to go.

You are right, there are many utilities and other recovery tools out there - and none can guarantee success. For Windows, I like Recuva from the makers of CCleaner.

Alternatively, there are professional data recovery services - but they can be very expensive.

 

Yea Im not gonna spend any money on a data recovery service. I like the DIY approach that this site promotes. Ive heard of all these, recuva, EASEUS, testdisk, osfmount etc, but is there person on here that is the quote end quote MAN on this stuff? Some one who can provide a a concrete step by step game plan for my issue ? Im great at following steps & directions

 

As far as instructions, I recommend Recuva. Run it and see what it finds. It will not recover anything unless you tell it too. But NO software program will work if the drive is unreadable.

 

So do I run recuva on the actual defective harddrive or do I run recuva on the image.dd file that I created with testdisk ?

 

I suggest you run it on the actual hard drive, and save to another drive, so as not to rewrite recoverable data.

 

Ok thanks, and do you have any suggestions on what recovery attempts I can do on the image.dd file if using recuva on the original external hard drive doesnt work ?

 

Use an image drive mounting program to mount the .dd file and do the same scan and save to another location.
A quick google search gave this program; http://www.osforensics.com/tools/mount-disk-images.html

If someone else knows of a better program they can advise you better.
Maybe the program you used to create the .dd file can mount it as well. You can check for yourself.

 

Unfortunaelty Ive tried to mount with osfmount but it says the image.dd file is corrupted & unreadable. Can I can do a scan / repair on the raw image.dd file ?

 

I don't want to tell you no, but I can say, doing so, goes beyond my current capabilities. Sorry.:confused