Windows 10: External HDD is corrupted and unreadable

Rufus is a lot more involved. Tuxboot is not helpful. LinuxLive USB Creator is a whole lot easier. It is just like burning a disc media. Another is Win32 Disk Imager, which is easier than LinuxLive USB creator.

 

I would like to know how Rufus is lot more involved. Download Rufus 2.12. Download Lupu 528.005iso.

Plug in your pendrive. Run Rufus.





Check the correct Device is shown. ( If you have more than one device plugged in select the correct device using the drop down arrow.)

In "Create bootable disk using" select ISO Image in the dropdown arrow.

Click on the Disk Icon next to the field, navigate to the location where you had downloaded LUPU ISO, click on it and then click on Start.

Rufus will do its job.

If this is so much involved, OMG, Windows itself is too much involved. Linux is much more involved.And data recovery using Live Linux way too much involved.

Nothing happens at the flick of your index finger.

 

And @bro67, just to confirm how easy and less involved it is to create a bootable Live Linux pen drive with Win32 Disk Imager as suggested by you, I downloaded it from SourceForge.

It would not recognise the lupu-528.005.iso. (asking for only *.img., and *. IMG), When forced to take the .iso file by *.* , it wrote something to the pen drive but it was not bootable. The pendrive has some unrecognisable file system and needs to be formatted. Can you please guide me how to create a bootable pendrive with that iso using Win32 Disk Imager? Even the OP will require that if he has to follow your suggestion.

 

I've already created the pen drive. I was missing putting the empty drive in! (duh)
Anyway, if lucid puppy is doing the grunt work all is ready to go except the hardware which should arrive early next week.
Thanks again for your help. I will post again with my results.
t

 

Never mind. We all overlook certain things and learn from our mistakes.. I guessed that you wouldn't have plugged in your pen drive. *Smile.

Now till you get your new drive, you can experiment with Lucid Puppy. Check whether you are able to boot from it and see the existing drives. You can also connect other working external drives/Flash drives and get to know how those are presented in Linux. You can try mounting and unmounting the drives , copy the files from one drive to another etc., Just make sure you do not delete the files . Do not move the files . Only copy.

 

Yeah was going to do a few dry runs just for those reasons. Great minds think alike? Fools seldom differ. lol
t

 

Files are copying as I write this. It'll be a long process as there are over two and a half tb's of data and of course lucid puppy doesn't support usb 3. So how is it that windows couldn't access the files but Linux can? I did notice that the recycle bin was reported as corrupt when I tried to open the drive in windows. Could this have been the root of the problem and could a corrupt recycle bin render a complete drive inaccessible?
t

 

Good to know the file copying process is on.

"how is it that windows couldn't access the files but Linux can? "

A good question. Here is the answer from some experts. Why Can Linux Systems Sometimes Recover Data Windows Can’t?

"could a corrupt recycle bin render a complete drive inaccessible?"

Answer: "If your Recycle Bin is corrupted, you can face various problems when using it. The Recycle Bin may not show the files that you may have been deleted from your File Explorer, or you may be unable to delete the files in it – or even empty the Recycle Bin completely. At times you may even receive an Access Denied or a Corrupt Recycle Bin error message. In such a situation, you may need to repair or reset the Recycle Bin."

Fix: Recycle Bin is corrupted in Windows 10/8/7 Fix: Recycle Bin is corrupted in Windows 10/8/7

 

To tell you the truth I wasn't aware of the fact that the external drive even had a recycle bin. I just took for granted that the "c" drive bin was used.

 

"3. Once you have copied all the data, check your faulty drive with SeaTools for Windows. SeaTools | Seagate If it reports problems with that drive, do not blink. Discard the drive. It will no longer be safe to entrust any data to it."

I have run the self test and the short generic and both passed. I'm running the long generic now but it will obviously take a while. Which other tests should I run?
t

 

If Seatools clears your drive, well and good. If you consider that the corrupt Recycle bin was the cause, fix it and check whether your drive is accessible.

If the drive is still unaccessible, then consider writing zeros to the drive using Seatools , and then format your drive. ( Make sure that you wipe the correct Drive.)

 

Can I just delete the recycle bin when in lucid puppy. There was no bin until files were deleted so will it let me delete it and will the system just create a new one when there is a deletion?

 

Yes, you can delete the recycle bin in Lucid Puppy. When you boot into Windows it will be recreated.

 

OK thanks.
Let me know what you think of this.
Fix Hard drive Access denied [ Hard disk is not accessible ] - YouTube

 

I'm quoting myself here but had to let you know that the you tube video worked like a charm. OMG after all that it was a permissions issue! Oh well, I now have a new 3tb hard drive full of backup files so no worries.
Thank you again for all your help with this perplexing issue,
t