Question about ZAR

[benihime]

Hi, i am searching for technical question, but it seems that the forum is the only way for me to ask this technical related question, i hope someone can answer my question.

I have an ext 120g hard disk, which for an unknown reason the file system corrupted and windows doesn't recognized the file system (RAW)

I came to know about ZAR from search engine and through links. It claims that it can read data from RAW file system. So i download the trial/demo version of it. And to my horror, when i try the function, a box pop up said that "It is not possible to process the device because the size appear to be zero blah blah..."

Now, did i read wrong, or is there something that i need to click or change to make ZAR recognize the file system? thank you.

edit:
Well it is possible i did read wrong, since i read it on tutorial page (accidentally formatted hd i assumed)
http://www.z-a-recovery.com/unformat-tutorial.htm
This tutorial describes the data recovery procedure when

* the volume was accidentally formatted
* Windows reports the volume is "raw filesystem", or "not formatted"

[Alexey V. Gubin]

Yes, that should be correct approach, but I can't tell you what the problem is without seeing the log. Could you please do this:

Find and delete the log file C:\Program Files\ZAR\logfile.txt
Run ZAR up to the point where the error message is thrown.
Acknowledge the error message and exit ZAR.
Open the log file (C:\Program Files\ZAR\logfile.txt) and post its entire contents here. Should be small enough to fit.

[benihime]

Hi,

I copy and paste the logfile below.

Init done - logging
NT 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2; 511 MB RAM
Open physical drive 00000100 success, 57231 MB : IC25N060ATMR04-0 - Port 0, Bus 0, Target 0, LUN 0; maxLBA=117210240
Open physical drive 00000101 success, 0 B : SAMSUNG HM120JC; maxLBA=0
Open physical drive 00000100 success, 57231 MB : IC25N060ATMR04-0 - Port 0, Bus 0, Target 0, LUN 0; maxLBA=117210240
Open physical drive 00000101 success, 0 B : SAMSUNG HM120JC; maxLBA=0
TS: Stop validation
TS: Stopped validation
Logging - shut down


Thank you.

[Alexey V. Gubin]

It just reports zero accessible sectors. This means we can't read from it at all.

Given the model number, the device appears to be a 2.5 inch laptop ATA hard drive in some sort of enclosure (USB?). If this is correct, I suggest you get the drive out of the enclosure and either use a different enclosure, or attach directly to the mainboard ATA port using an appropriate converter.

There is a similar query, about the laptop drive with 0 size (http://z-a-recovery.com/data-recovery-forum/showthread.php?t=296), discussing 2.5-to-3.5 converters, worth looking, although the outcome was never reported.

[benihime]

It is indeed a 2.5 ext harddisk(portable) with usb connection, my perception from your suggestion is, ZAR can't access the harddisk because it is on USB connection, try to attach it to ata connector.

I will try to make it as an int harddisk, and hope ZAR can access and fix the problem.

Thank you for your reply.

[Alexey V. Gubin]

ZAR cannot access the disk because something does not work properly in the assembly (disk+enclosure). There is no certainity about the failed component. We just know that either disk or enclosure does not work.

By attaching the disk directly to mainboard, we eliminate the enclosure and either have a working disk, or declare that disk is beyond software repair. Hope that clarifies.