"File system is damaged"

Hi everyone,

My 500GB Western Digital My Book Pro all of a sudden disappeared from Windows (XP & 7). I uninstalled, reinstalled the drivers but did not help. Windows could detect, but whenever I clicked on the drive, it asked me to format it, to which I obviously said 'No'.

Running the WD diagnostics tool went fine as the drive was detected and no errors were found. Disk management in Windows found the drive but without any file system.

So I booted with GParted Live CD and the drive was recognized there and all details were correct expect for the file system, to which it said no file system. Among the reasons given were "File system is damaged".

How do I recover from an error like that? As this WD is my backup of the hard disk and the original data is not there (after a clean install). If I were to tell GParted that this is a NTFS file system, what would happen? Will all my data be wiped out? I hope not! :S

Waiting for your responses.

Thanks.

 

Can you run a CHKDSK /f on it in command prompt or XP repair mode from the XP Disc?
(The /f will fix filesystem errors)

 

Hi,

Running chkdsk /f gives me this message: "The type of file system is RAW. Chkdsk is not available for RAW drives".

I will try the XP CD once I am home; but I hope it does not mess around with my data :/

Thanks for your help.

 

Can you download and boot from an Ultimate Boot CD to test the hard drive?

Can you remove the hard drive from the enclosure and attach it internally to the computer to see if the enclosure's converter is damaged?

 

I'm thinking something's foul with the partition table- I would suggest running a program such as Partition Recovery. Have you contacted WD about this yet?

 

Hi,

I haven't downloaded the ultimate boot cd yet. If its going to help, then I will. And as for the enclosure, I am not too comfortable opening the case so I rather not touch it. Besides, I really don't think that is the problem. Problem seems to be at partition table :/

gimpster123, any software you recommend for partition table recovery? and no, I haven't contacted WD about it.

Thanks guys for your responses.

 

Sorry, forgot the most basic test:

Will the drive work plugged into another computer?

 

Nope. Tried on 3 different XPs, 1 vista, and a Windows 7! All ask me to format it!

 

Perhaps your best bet would be some file recovery software, if you really need the files.

 

Re: [RESOLVED] "File system is damaged"

Hi everyone,

I am back, and my WD is back from the dead. Or at least, the files are.

I tried various suggestions from different forums from using XP recovery cd, to downloading various recovery and partition repair utilities but nothing worked except for Zero Assumption Recovery found at http://www.z-a-recovery.com/

I downloaded the trial version and the program saw my driver without any problems and found _all_ my files (~450GB worth). I bought the full version, let it run and 24 hours later, I have all my files.

I highly recommend for people who have lost any kind of file evern when accidentaly deleted.

Thanks to everyone who contributed with a suggestion.

BTW, I downloaded knoppix live cd but would not work on my computer. After booting, I get a "sh: can't access tty; job control turned off" -- any help with this?