Passport Now showing as Local Disk and asking to be formatted

WD External Drives WD Portable Drives
1

My WD passport now shows as local disk. and asks me to format it before i can use it… It shows RAW partition in disk management and also shows it’s healthy… i have tried to recover it using TESTDISK to no available.(have very IMPORTANT data in it that is tied to my job)…at a point, i was so frustrated that i wanted to format it, but windows couldnt format it. After that i saw online that PHOTOREC helps in recovery, i used it and it recovered very few file esp .txt, .pdf. but not the main files i NEED. Pls what do i do to recover these files as it may cost me my job. thanks

Note: Using Testdisk, it stops @ 74/121597 while scanning the cylinders, i dont know what that means or implies…

2

Hello,

Try using a different data recovery software. Check online, you should be able to find a free one that might help you. Once you get your files, you can use the WD DLG Tool to write zeros to the drive to fix the RAW format.

How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows

3

Either of the following provide a selection of free utilities. I have had success with Hiren’s Boot CD in its Linux mode boot up. If you try this, use the default Parted Magic (first thing listed under Linux.) It will take you to a graphical desktop with menu access to the recovery applications. Linux seems to be less easily thrown out of kilter than Windows when NTFS is in a disturbed condition.

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/  (use the Linux boot option, default settings.)

OR

http://www.sysresccd.org/SystemRescueCd_Homepage

Please don’t be intimidated by the fact that it is Linux. Have a look, at least.