Help with USB disk repair

[malch]

I have 1TB Lacie Quadra USB-2 drive with (I think) a badly smashed MBR.

First, the good news: I do not need any data off this disk. I would like to reformat and use it.

If I connect it to a Win 7 system, Device Manager does recognize the device.

Disk manager sees it too but if I try to initialize it, I get an "Incorrect function" error.

I have tried a bunch of other tools without any success. My Linux Mint system and Gparted don't see the drive at all.

I tried MBRWizard and that reported:

Disk: 9 MBR/GPT: None
Size: 0.00Bytes CHS: 0 0 0
Sectors: 0 Disk Signature: 0x00000000
Partitions: 0 Partition Order:
Media Type: Fixed Interface: USB
Description: LaCie d2 quadra
No partitions found on this disk

and an attempted Repair operation gave:

Error 505: Unable to save the specified sectors to the selected disk

So I'm thinking the drive has lost its geometry information and thinks it's has 0 sectors in which to write a new MBR.

The hardware was working yesterday -- the problem arose following an accidental unsafe removal when my kid tripped over the USB cable :-(

Any suggestions?

 

[Jim Cockfield]

It sounds like your issue is more serious than a simple MBR/Partition Table issue if common partitioning tools can't see the device at all.

Linux Mint, huh?

What does this give you from a terminal?

sudo fdisk -l

If the drive does not show up that way, then you have a more serious issue.

I'd try a different enclosure for starters (as you may have a bad power adapter, USB to SATA chipset issue inside of the enclosure the drive is installed in; or something else in common with the external enclosure).

Of course, don't rule out the cable being used or port being used either (try a different cable, try a different port on your PC).

IOW, the drive itself may be OK. So, I'd remove it from the enclosure and attach it directly to a SATA port (or IDE port if it's not SATA), and see if it works (or try it in a docking station or different enclosure as an alternative). I have a BlacX docking station I use for that kind of thing (plugging bare drives into).

More often than not, an external drive is still OK, and the problem is with the power adapter used by an enclosure, or the USB to SATA chipset in the enclosure (versus an actual drive failure).

I'd see if the drive works OK directly attached to a SATA or IDE port as a first step. If so, then you can buy another USB Attached external enclosure for pocket change (they're very inexpensive now, and you can even find USB 3.0 attached enclosures for under $10 if you're a good shopper).

--
JimC
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[Jim Cockfield]

P. S.

testdisk (available in most linux repos) can write a new MBR and Partition Table to a drive for you.

But, your symptoms sound more like you have a hardware problem if the drive is not being recognized properly by partitioning tools like GParted.

I'd see what fdisk -l tells you for starters (using sudo to call it with an Ubuntu based distro like Mint, as mentioned in my last post). IOW, this way from a terminal using Mint:

sudo fdisk -l

If it doesn't show up with the correct drive information (at least for the drive itself, even if partition info is wrong), then you probably have a hardware issue of some type.

If the drive info is OK (and partition info is just corrupted), then you can use a tool like testdisk to create a new partition table on it.

BTW, it's also smart enough to search for existing partitions and try to create a correct partition table (by scanning a drive and looking for information that would represent how a partition would start and end and save that information). That can be tricky, but it's been a life saver for me in the past when I've accidentally destroyed a partition table on a drive.

But, I suspect you probably have a hardware problem (power adapter failing, USB to SATA chipset in the enclosure failing, etc.).

--
JimC
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[malch]

Jim Cockfield wrote:

It sounds like your issue is more serious than a simple MBR/Partition Table issue if common partitioning tools can't see the device at all.

Linux Mint, huh?

What does this give you from a terminal?

sudo fdisk -l

It doesn't see the USB drive at all. My mSATA SSD and spinner show up fine of course.

If the drive does not show up that way, then you have a more serious issue.

I'd try a different enclosure for starters (as you may have a bad power adapter, USB to SATA chipset issue inside of the enclosure the drive is installed in; or something else in common with the external enclosure).

Of course, don't rule out the cable being used or port being used either (try a different cable, try a different port on your PC).

Power supply seems okay (disk spins up and the DC voltage looks okay) and I've certainly eliminated the cable/port variables.

More often than not, an external drive is still OK, and the problem is with the power adapter used by an enclosure, or the USB to SATA chipset in the enclosure (versus an actual drive failure).

You're right although this unit is about 4 years old now so I may just scrap the thing. I don't like using drives more than 5 years old for anything important and the same goes for 4 years and in need of repair!

 

[theswede #100093]

The hardware was working yesterday -- the problem arose following an accidental unsafe removal when my kid tripped over the USB cable :-(

That sounds violent. Did the disk move about rapidly or even hit anything while still spun up? Rotating platters tend to be very on/off when things like that happen, either they stay OK and nothing happens or they fail rather completely, even if it can take a while before the extent of the damage becomes apparent.

Any suggestions?

Sounds like the drive is toast. Sorry. :/

Jesper

 

[malch]

theswede wrote:

The hardware was working yesterday -- the problem arose following an accidental unsafe removal when my kid tripped over the USB cable :-(

That sounds violent.

No, he just yanked the USB cable out of the front panel.

Sounds like the drive is toast. Sorry. :/

Yep, it's looking that way!

 

[joey_B]

malch wrote:

SB cable out of the front panel.

Maybe a long shot, but did you try using another cable? Or opening up the casing and plugging the drive in directly?

 

[digitalshooter]

[No message]

 

[malch]

Jim Cockfield wrote:
But, I suspect you probably have a hardware problem (power adapter failing, USB to SATA chipset in the enclosure failing, etc.).

Well, I finally removed the drive from the Lacie enclosure. It's a 1TB Seagate Baracuda.

I plugged into a free SATA port and ran the Seagate tools. They would recognized the drive OK but would not allow me to do anything -- most attempted operations produced an error to the effect of "The drive is not responding to ATA commands".

So I think the drive itself is definitely toast.