My external hard drive's... broked

[Masaki-kun]

Okay, I'm gonna try the Testdisk thing first. But it's not recognizing the drive at all anymore... It won't acknoledge that it still is a drive. I'm screwed aren't I?

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Masaki-kun

Okay, I'm gonna try the Testdisk thing first. But it's not recognizing the drive at all anymore... It won't acknoledge that it still is a drive. I'm screwed aren't I?

It doesn't show up at all? If you can't get it to do that, you have damage to the drive's master boot record, most likely. At this point, what you need to do is find a way to get the computer to recognize that something's there, if at all possible. If you can rebuild the MBR or get a raw read of all the data, you can either maybe save the drive or at least get your files off it before recovering its full use. I can walk you through what I did to get mine to go with an XP disc, but I can't say it will preserve your data.

[Masaki-kun]

If you can rebuild the MBR or get a raw read of all the data, you can either maybe save the drive or at least get your files off it before recovering its full use. I can walk you through what I did to get mine to go with an XP disc, but I can't say it will preserve your data.

TECHNOBABBLE WAHHH.
What does any of that mean, and how do I do it? I'm reduced to percussive maintenance here.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Masaki-kun

TECHNOBABBLE WAHHH.
What does any of that mean, and how do I do it? I'm reduced to percussive maintenance here.

The master boot record is the file on the drive that says "this is how you run me." If that's gone, the drive won't boot. Data recovery tools will sometimes let you rebuild that. The one I currently use allows me to rebuild it from a file saved from elsewhere. If you can do that, you have a working drive again.

A raw read simply means that your program reads the raw data off a drive, without trying to make sense of it. In a worst-case scenario, you can do this and make sense of it all later.

[Eltargrim]

Originally Posted by Masaki-kun

TECHNOBABBLE WAHHH.
What does any of that mean, and how do I do it? I'm reduced to percussive maintenance here.

You're on XP, right?

Go to Start > Run > type in 'devmgmt.msc' and hit 'ok' > You're now in the device manager.

With the drive plugged in and powered on, can you see it under "Disk Drives"?

Alternatively, it (might) show up in your BIOS if not Device Manager. I'll explain how to check for external drives in the BIOS soon.

[Masaki-kun]

Well. Doesn't show on the device manager.

[Eltargrim]

Hmm. Well.

When you boot up your computer, do you get a long stream of complex technical information, or do you get a logo that pops up?

[Masaki-kun]

It tells me a couple files are missing, some system files I think.

[Eltargrim]

Would it happen to be NTLDR?

[Masaki-kun]

Umm...no...