Trying to run FABS against a drive that apparently won't initialize

[brandonkick]

I have a ThinkPad T520 that won't boot. OS is win 10.

I ordered an SSD, hooked up the SSD to my USB 3.0 to SSD adapter cable and booted the laptop from a macrium reflect recovery USB drive. The machine took a LONG time to boot up the macrium reflect PE. Wouldn't see the internal 2.5" SATA HDD. Macrium Reflect did see the SSD connected to the USB adapter cable though. So I pulled the drive and hooked the original 2.5" HDD and the new SSD to my main workstation and same behavior. So, lets just hook the original HDD to the machine, and boot my workstation normally. Sat at the "spinning rings" for a good five min. No dice there either.


These aren't important data files, but they would like them if it's not too much trouble. Otherwise they said to just load win 10 on the new drive and ship it so to speak. It's been quite a while since I've done any real amount of break fix (and I'm remembering why....), and I'm wondering about and possibly forgetting the SOP here.

Does it sound like the drive isn't initializing? Can I use something like parted magic to try to clone / repair / recover data from the drive? Does that software have the ability to work at the drive without initializing it (if that's even a thing... again it's been a LONG time since I've done this specific activity and as you might guess I wasn't an ace at it before).

 

[britechguy]

Take a look at the open source TestDisk as far as trying to recover files from the HDD. If you can clone it first, I would, and I would use the cloned copy to run TestDisk against.

If push were really to come to shove, you can use PhotoRec (which is included in TestDisk, and recovers way more than just photos), but that gets much messier to plow through as far as the results go.

 

[brandonkick]

Take a look at the open source TestDisk as far as trying to recover files from the HDD. If you can clone it first, I would, and I would use the cloned copy to run TestDisk against.

If push were really to come to shove, you can use PhotoRec (which is included in TestDisk, and recovers way more than just photos), but that gets much messier to plow through as far as the results go.

Cloning, as far as traditional means, is out. The drive won't show up as a source to clone from in Macrium Reflect (if you wait the 45 min it takes for the software to load with this bad drive attached).

I'm thinking if anything will be successful, it will be a software or a process where the file system doesn't need to be mounted / the drive initialized.

I'll take a look at TestDisk

 

[britechguy]

I'm thinking if anything will be successful, it will be a software or a process where the file system doesn't need to be mounted / the drive initialized.

I'll take a look at TestDisk

If the drive is recognized as existing, that's what TestDisk is all about. I cannot recall but it may have an option to clone under these circumstances, but I am not certain of that at all. I have used it multiple times to recover data, both from drives I could not clone (and praying that "the final nail in the coffin" did not get driven in while using the utility itself) or on cloned copies.

When push comes to shove I will attempt recovery from an original drive where the only other option is a data recovery lab AND the data is wanted, but NOT critical. If it's critical I won't touch it, and even if it's really, really wanted I push for professional data recovery services.

 

[frase]

Have you tried hooking it up in a Linux distro?

 

[Markverhyden]

First place it sounds like the SSD is ready to melt down. So I'd download a copy of R-Studio. Run that against the patient. You can download a maximum file size of 256k to check. Then tell the customer if they want to give it a go to online, by a license, around $70 if I remember. You can plug in the license key without having to scan it again to recover files.

 

[Larry Sabo]

if they want to give it a go to online, by a license, around $70 if I remember.

Since he would be providing data recovery services, he would require a Technician license, which is more like $900 USD, IRRC.

 

[brandonkick]

Have you tried hooking it up in a Linux distro?

I have not. I can give that a shot. I assume a live distribution on a USB drive would work just fine?

 

[brandonkick]

First place it sounds like the SSD is ready to melt down. So I'd download a copy of R-Studio. Run that against the patient. You can download a maximum file size of 256k to check. Then tell the customer if they want to give it a go to online, by a license, around $70 if I remember. You can plug in the license key without having to scan it again to recover files.

The original is a mechanical 250GB regular 2.5" HDD and I'm sure it's all but scrap. I'm hoping it is possible to get it to a state to where I can at least get a working clone of it, purely to rub FABS against.

If not, not big deal. I've been very clear with the customer about professional data recovery vs my attempts and if or not this data is critical. It's mostly just a few spread sheets they put together for tracking their swimming pool chemistry and a sheet they created for tracking a medical condition. They aren't going to be upset if the attempts fail, they'll just recreate and not worry about it. I'm only really bothering because I like to give an OS back as close to the way it was as possible.

 

[Haole Boy]

I have not. I can give that a shot. I assume a live distribution on a USB drive would work just fine?

Sounds like you don't already have a Linux distro you like. I suggest Parted Magic as it already has a LOT of the Linux tools you might want to use in this situation. Sometimes Linux can recognize a disk that Windows will not. If you get lucky and PM does recognize the disk, then you can try to find the spreadsheets they really want and give them to the customer. Or, you might need to run ddrescue to (hopefully) rescue the files on the disk. There is a great ddrescue tutorial right here on Technibble.

If you have questions, feel free to ask. Lots of folks here willing to help.

Harry Z

 

[frase]

As long as it is not clickin it's still kickin -
MiniTool tool has helped me in sits like this as well, no guarantee though has worked for me always.

If you want to try Linux :-

Linux Mint
How to Burn to USB

 

[Markverhyden]

Since he would be providing data recovery services, he would require a Technician license, which is more like $900 USD, IRRC.

This is the way I use the regular license @Larry Sabo. Customer is getting computer repaired, dead hd. New drive installed and paved, hook up old drive on computer, run R-Studio in trial mode. If it works I tell them they need to buy the license and email me the info. Install key, complete recovery, they take everything with them. They pay me labor for the recovery. That's all well within the strictures of a regular license.

 

[Larry Sabo]

That's all well within the strictures of a regular license.

You may be right, but I am not sure. Their EULA defines a user as...

1.13 "User" means an individual who is authorized by you or your Affiliates to use the Software, has been given access credentials by you to access and use the Software, and who is bound by enforceable terms at least as protective of the Software and the RStudio Confidential Information as this Agreement.

The last part is unclear to me, i.e., the extent to which you are bound to the same EULA terms as your client. Even if you were, it seems to me that as his/her proxy, you (the agent) are not using the software to provide data recovery services but are performing data recovery for "yourself." It's anything but clear to my feeble mind. It would be interesting to put the question to R-TT. Has anyone done that?

 

[britechguy]

In the case of ambiguity, the old saying, "It is easier to get forgiveness than permission," virtually always applies.

 

[Markverhyden]

You may be right, but I am not sure. Their EULA defines a user as...

The last part is unclear to me, i.e., the extent to which you are bound to the same EULA terms as your client. Even if you were, it seems to me that as his/her proxy, you (the agent) are not using the software to provide data recovery services but are performing data recovery for "yourself." It's anything but clear to my feeble mind. It would be interesting to put the question to R-TT. Has anyone done that?

Generally speaking when one person hires another to do a task, and that includes corporations, the hiree becomes a de facto agent of the hirer. Simply stated there it little difference between the two. So as long as the EU pays for the software and the work is done on/using their equipment. However I will admit to what might be considered cheating. I always try to image the patient and work on the patient to recover data. For obvious reasons. Depending on the space, and since EU's generally don't have extra drives lying around, I'll use one of my scratch drives for the image.

In the case of ambiguity, the old saying, "It is easier to get forgiveness than permission," virtually always applies.

I like to use 'to ask permission is to seek denail and I'm not talking about the river in Egypt."

 

[brandonkick]

If the drive is recognized as existing, that's what TestDisk is all about. I cannot recall but it may have an option to clone under these circumstances, but I am not certain of that at all. I have used it multiple times to recover data, both from drives I could not clone (and praying that "the final nail in the coffin" did not get driven in while using the utility itself) or on cloned copies.

When push comes to shove I will attempt recovery from an original drive where the only other option is a data recovery lab AND the data is wanted, but NOT critical. If it's critical I won't touch it, and even if it's really, really wanted I push for professional data recovery services.

BIOS recognizes it, windows will not

 

[Fred Claus]

This may sound stupid, but can't you just run Fabs through a boot disc? Over on my WinPE thread people were talking about being able to run Fabs through Gandalf. Will that not work in this case?

 

[frase]

Can you check the drive in Disk Management - to check if it isn't in RAW mode. Again I would suggest trying drive in a Linux Environment if you have not done so yet.

 

[brandonkick]

So I gave Parted Magic a shot, and the drive seemed to "mount" (if that's the correct terminology) and was accessible just fine. Just loaded the ISO onto a USB via rufus and booted the ThinkPad T520 straight from the USB.

I was able to use file explorer to grab the files from the standard folders (documents, desktop, downloads, pictures, music, favorites.... and so on) and then copied them back over to the 8GB USB that Parted Magic was on. Then I just plopped them into the new install on the new SSD.

Done and Done


I'd have been slightly happier if I could have used FABS in this process... but it doesn't run under linux and the drive itself won't mount under windows (even a winPE environment). I was going to try cloning the drive via Parted Magic, but the system wouldn't recognize my SSD attached to my sabrent USB 3.0 to SSD adapter cable.

Oh well... it literally was just a handful of spreadsheets and documents. Grabbed em, put em on the new install... and that's a wrap.


I suppose if I were hell bent on it, or it weren't such a lite data migration effort, I'd have used clonezilla to clone the drive and then run fabs against the clone.


Thanks for the help and suggestions!

 

[Diggs]

IMHO every tech should have a Linux machine on their workbench. From mounting and reading drives that Windows won't/can't to using ddrescue for recovery it's a resource all of us should have and use (especially considering the price - heh).