Member Avatar for masocha

l have a crushed laptop drive that is partitioned into two.

The C drive is completely unreadable while the secondary drive l can open and read the files but l cant move them from the drive even if l try open and save as for some of them.

Any ideas?

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  • 9 Months Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by happygeek

Dani AI

Generated

Short summary and a strong caution: since is accessing the drive through an externally powered SATA hub and one partition is already unreadable, avoid any operation that writes to the disk until you’ve secured an image. Writing (chkdsk, repairs, file moves) can permanently reduce recoverable data. ’s check-disk idea is useful only after you have a safe backup — not before.

Quick checks that can save time

  • Confirm the destination you’re copying to is writable (try copying a small, known-good file from somewhere else).
  • Note any exact error messages when a copy fails — they point to permission, path-length, or I/O errors.
  • If files open but refuse to copy, consider Windows permission/EFS issues or an MFT/metadata problem rather than simple file locks.

Safe recovery workflow (work on a copy, not the original)

  1. Boot a Linux live USB and attach a second drive with equal-or-greater free space.
  2. Create a sector-by-sector image with GNU ddrescue (it learns bad sectors and keeps a log). Example sequence:
sudo ddrescue -f -n /dev/sdX /path/to/backup.img /path/to/ddrescue.log
sudo ddrescue -d -r3 /dev/sdX /path/to/backup.img /path/to/ddrescue.log

Replace /dev/sdX with the source device (find with lsblk or sudo fdisk -l) and write the image to the other drive. Always work from that image thereafter.

After imaging
Mount or attach the image read-only and attempt recovery tools on the image (TestDisk for partition/metadata recovery; PhotoRec or file-recovery tools for carving files). If you’re uncomfortable with the commands or the drive is noisy/clicking, stop and consult a professional data-recovery service — further DIY can raise the cost of a successful lab recovery.

Recommended Answers

All 9 Replies

Member Avatar for caperjack

if it a chrashed drive ,how are accessing the files ,can you drag and drop the file to a hardrive or ThumbDrive berhaps

Edited by caperjack
Member Avatar for masocha

l can't not drag and drop , thats the main prob l can open the files read but can not do anything that moves the file from its current location

Edited by masocha because: typo
Member Avatar for JorgeM

Try plugging this drive into another computer using a USB/ATA interface.

Member Avatar for caperjack

so my other question in my last post ,you didn't answer it ,how are you accessing the drive ,what do you have it hooked up to ??????????????

Member Avatar for masocha

Sorry for late reply.l am accessing the drive through an externally powerd SATA HDD hub

Member Avatar for caperjack

weird ,you should be able to simply right click and do a copy /paste .
try doing a checkdisk on the drive ,right click the drives icon in mycomputer and go to tools and setup the check disk there

Member Avatar for sheikhali449

try to connect with another system as hard as you can..

Member Avatar for razib8bd

u can delete ur all pertision & make new drives.

commented: are you even reading the questions you are replying to? -2
Member Avatar for happygeek

And how does that help in recovering data, as the OP asked? It just deletes all the data... Please, read the question that you are 'answering' (I use that word with a fair amount of ironic intent given your posting history so far) and then stop and think whether you can add any help, any value, at all to the thread before you start typing.

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