Toshiba Laptop Will Not Boot - Hard Drive Problem

I have a year old Toshiba laptop that just stopped booting up this week. Worked fine Sunday, then Monday it would not start. Black screen with the option to repair or start normally. Repair goes through the motions and then states it was unsuccessful. Starting normally will eventually reach the desktop, but nothing will function at that point. The pointer is in perpetual hourglass when held over the task bar. Nothing, such as Explorer, will start.
I pulled the hard drive out and connected it to another Win 7 computer via SATA/USB cable set. Initially, I could see the drive and access the files. Foolishly, I chose to run an antivirus before backing up the files. I was concerned about backing up the potential problem. MalwareBytes did not identify any malicious files, but Semantic threw up a warning about Yontoon-S.exe, so I attempted to delete it via Explorer. That action locked up Explorer. I rebooted the host computer. I should have backed up first because now I am unable to see the files. Explorer will assign the drive a letter, but when I select the drive to do anything, Explorer thinks about it for some time and then puts up a message that the drive must be formatted before it can be used. I do not want to reformat until I recover my data first. I tried to use SeaTools to diagnose drive problems. Drive fails the short generic test. I am not able to run Check Disk because Explorer thinks the drive must be formatted first. How can I get to the data before reformatting?

 

I tried chilling the drive in the freezer for one hour and then connecting it to the host computer as an external drive again to see if there were any heat related issues. Still no joy. Via SeaTools for Windows, I got into the Disk Management program. Some screenshots are below. Hope this helps someone help me. Thanks.
Device Management:


Driver Details:


Volume Details:


Device Properties

 

Hi, you can try Partition Wizard.

Here is a guide.

Basically, you select the disk then do a Full Disk and Quick Search. It should come up with three partitions. The middle one with 282gb is your main concern. When you get to screenshot #4 double click that large partition and see if it will show your file system structure. If it does and you see your lost files then you want to recover that partition as well as the other two small ones (you need to tick the box for each partition you want to keep not just the lost one). The only problem would be if it shows anything as overlapping. IF that should happen then post back and ask for advice.

 

Tried to use TestDisk from CGSecurity before I received your reply. I seem to have made things worse as opposed to recovering anything. I ended up with a recovery directory (empty) in one drive letter and then another drive letter, also empty. I have shut everything down, ejected the drive, and rebooted the host computer. Now the external drive does not show up (no drive letter, and Partition Wizard only found the drive on the host computer). Situation seems to be spiraling down to a total loss of data. Kicking myself for not saving all I could when I first plugged the hard drive in instead of worrying about virus scanning. Should'a, could'a, would'a. Hope somebody has some options to recommend, aside from self-lobotomy. Thanks again for all the help.

 

Apparently I was too impatient. After about 10 minutes, the Toshiba drive finally showed up with a drive letter, which Windows want to format before I can access it. I canceled that nonsense and restarted Partition Wizard. Full Disk Quick Scan now in process. Many body parts crossed in hopes of a chance to recover data. As long as I can recover the data, I do not mind reformatting the drive afterwards. BTW, I quit waiting to buy a proper back-up system and got one at Best Buy (Black Friday deal). No more excuses for me to not maintain a proper back-up.

 

6Sometimes USB connections are just flaky. Although you also have the SMART failure complicating things. Leave the drive unplugged for a few hours and then try connecting again to see if you can get it recognized. Sometimes a cooler temperature helps a failing HD to function a few more times.

Also is it possible to make a direct connection to the host computer rather than using USB? Does your host computer have a spare SATA connector? Sometimes an internal connection is helpful to remove the USB interface altogether.

Edit: OK well we can see what PW has to say. Good for you on the backup solution, I can't say that I am exactly diligent about backups despite the countless threads I have read that should teach me otherwise.

 

Partition Wizard has finished the full disk scan. See the results in the screen shot:


I tried to Explore the recovered partition to see the files - no joy. It appears to be empty. Not sure what I am doing wrong. Thanks again for all of the help.


I have also tried PLDataRecovery, but I did not have any success with that. I am using the free download, so it may be an issue with that or as always with the nut loose behind the keyboard.

 

I am using the data recovery utility from Mini Tool and seem to be making some progress now. I at least appear to be saving some data. Hopefully it is not a mirage and I can then reformat the laptop drive and reinstall Windows. We shall see. No victory laps yet, but I have hope.

 

When you did the Partition Recovery, you should have gotten a list like this. Did it say that all space was used, the same as your first screenshot in your most recent post?

I would go back and do another recovery but use the Full Disk and Full Scan option (it will take longer) and see if it gives more than one entry for the large partition. You are looking for one with some used and some free space ie. 282GB with 140gb free. That would be the most likely candidate for having the correct file system. In that same recovery window you would try to explore it and see if it gives a list of your missing files.

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The other option would be data recovery which means if it finds any files they have to be copied to another HD not your Toshiba. This version will work but you must tick the box for "I am a Home user" when it first starts or it will ask you to pay to upgrade. http://www.powerdatarecovery.com/free-file-recovery-software/recover-lost-partition.html

Edit: Unfortuantely I was too late in my reply. The newer versions of the recovery software are limited to 1gb of free recovery. The version I linked to was free for all data. If yours finds everything perhaps uninstalling it and trying to install mine will still let you get things for free.

 

Mini Tools worked great! I was able to recover my most important data. After all my efforts, the OS still will not boot. Fortunately, the laptop is still under warranty. I conferred with Toshiba support and the conclusion was that there must be a board level problem. Therefore, I am shipping the laptop off today for warranty repair. I ended up buying another laptop (Asus) at a Black Friday sale as a replacement/supplement. It has been a bad year for laptops at my home. The Toshiba is the third one this year to go down. The others are different brands and much older. Hopefully, I will have a fully functional Toshiba back in two weeks. Thanks again for all of the useful advice and support. I get the fastest and most helpful response from this site, even though I have used two others for the same issues. Cheers!

 

Found this thread interesting. Always out learning...and have my own problems with a Toshiba laptop. But I noticed a couple of comments about backing up files and thought I'd just mention:

Mozy http://mozy.com/home/free/?ref=3f9a896b&kbid=143547

Ya get 2g of free storage. I like the idea of storing files at a seperate location just in case of vandels, fire or whatever. Uploading files is kinda slow to this site but I live in the backwoods and just happy to have any wifi...HA!