Solved Run chkdsk /f BEFORE running chkdsk /r on exernal hard drive?

First thing that you should be doing is to try and back your data up from the drive, see tutorial below for "how to"



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***Required Hardware***

CD Burner (CDRW) Drive,

Blank CD,

Extra Storage Device (USB Flash Drive, External Hard Drive)

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1. Save these files to your Desktop/Burn Your Live CD:

• Download Latest Puppy Linux ISO (i.e.: lupu-528.iso)
  
  
  Index of /puppylinux/puppy-slacko-7.0/64/
  
  
  
  Download BurnCDCC ISO Burning Software
  
  
  
  There are instructions on how to boot from flash drive with puppy here; http://www.pendrivelinux.com/put-lucid-puppy-on-usb-flash-drive-from-windows/
  
  
  
  • Open BurnCDCC with Windows Explorer
    
  • Extract All files to a location you can remember
    
  • Double Click
    
    BurnCDCC
    
  • Click Browse
    
    and navigate to the Puppy Linux ISO file you just downloaded
    
  • Open/Double Click that file
    
    IMPORTANT: Adjust the speed bar to CD: 4x DVD: 1x
    
  • Click Start
    
    
    
  • Your CD Burner Tray will open automatically
    
  • Insert a blank CD and close the tray
    
  • Click OK
    
  Puppy Linux Live CD will now be created
  

2. Set your boot priority in the BIOS to CD-ROM first, Hard Drive Second

• • Start the computer/press the power button
    
  • Immediately start tapping the appropriate key to enter the BIOS, aka "Setup"
    
    (Usually shown during the "Dell" screen, or "Gateway" Screen)
    
  • Once in the BIOS, under Advanced BIOS Options change boot priority to:
    
    CD-ROM 1st, Hard Drive 2nd
    
  • Open your ROM drive and insert the disk
    
  • Press F10 to save and exit
    
  • Agree with "Y" to continue
    
  • Your computer will restart and boot from the Puppy Linux Live CD
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

3. Recover Your Data

• Once Puppy Linux has loaded, it is actually running in your computer's Memory (RAM). You will see a fully functioning Graphical User Interface similar to what you normally call "your computer". Internet access may or may not be available depending on your machine, so it is recommended you print these instructions before beginning. Also, double clicking is not needed in Puppy. To expand, or open folders/icons, just click once. Puppy is very light on resources, so you will quickly notice it is much speedier than you are used to. This is normal. Ready? Let's get started.
  
  
  
  3a. Mount Drives
  • Click the Mount Icon located at the top left of your desktop.
    
    
    
  • A Window will open. By default, the "drive" tab will be forward/highlighted. Click on Mount for your hard drive.
    
  • Assuming you only have one hard drive and/or partition, there may be only one selection to mount.
    
  • USB Flash Drives usually automatically mount upon boot, but click the "usbdrv" tab and make sure it is mounted.
    
  • If using an external hard drive for the data recovery, do this under the "drive" tab. Mount it now.
    
  
  3b. Transfer Files.
  • At the bottom left of your desktop a list of all hard drives/partitions, USB Drives, and Optical Drives are listed with a familiar looking hard drive icon.
    
  • Open your old hard drive i.e. sda1
    
  • Next, open your USB Flash Drive or External Drive. i.e. sdc or sdb1
    
  • If you open the wrong drive, simply X out at the top right corner of the window that opens. (Just like in Windows)
    
  • From your old hard drive, drag and drop whatever files/folders you wish to transfer to your USB Drive's Window.
    
  
  For The Novice: The common path to your pictures, music, video, and documents folders for XP is: Documents and Settings >> All Users (or each individual name of each user, for Vista and above C:\Users\$USERNAME\[...]. CHECK All Names!) >> Documents >> You will now see My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos.
  
  
  
  Remember to only click once! No double clicking! Once you drag and drop your first folder, you will notice a small menu will appear giving you the option to move or copy. Choose COPY each time you drag and drop.
  
  
  
  YOU ARE DONE!!! Simply click Menu >> Mouse Over Shutdown >> Reboot/Turn Off Computer. Be sure to plug your USB Drive into another working windows machine to verify all data is there and transferred without corruption. Congratulations!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

For computers that have UEFI as opposed to legacy BIOS, to be able to boot from your USB device you may need to disable secure boot and change UEFI to CSM Boot, not all computers and BIOS are the same, please refer to your user manual if you have one as the following steps are only one such example.

Restart the computer, Windows 8 and 8.1 from the Start or desktop screen move your mouse pointer over the upper or lower right corner of the screen, when the Windows Charms appear click the Settings Charm, click on Power and then the Restart option.

Windows 10, Click on Start,Power and then Restart.

While the computer is re-starting,you will need to continually tap or hold down the particular key that will allow you to access the BIOS on your computer, we will use the F2 key as an example here;

After restarting the computer, when the screen goes black, press and hold down the F2 key, wait for the BIOS to load.

Select Security -> Secure Boot and then Disabled.

Select Advanced -> System Configuration and then Boot Mode.

Change UEFI Boot to CSM Boot.

Save the changes and Exit the BIOS, commonly F10.

If your computer will not boot into Windows at all, power up or restart the computer continually tap or hold down the key that will allow you to access the BIOS on your computer and then do the following;

Select Security -> Secure Boot and then Disabled.

Select Advanced -> System Configuration and then Boot Mode.

Change UEFI Boot to CSM Boot.

Save the changes and Exit the BIOS, commonly F10.

Puppy is a lot easier on CD but being that we don`t know anything about your notebook we had no way of knowing if it has an optical drive.

That latest message sounds like the data has become corrupted or perhaps even converted to RAW.

Can you upload an expanded screenshot of Disk Manager for us.

Access Disk Management via Run.

Press the Windows+R keys to open Run, type diskmgmt.msc in the empty box then press OK.

To capture and post a screenshot;

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start...all programs...accessories...paint....left click in the white area ...press CTRL + V...click on file...click on save...save it to your desktop...name it something related to the screen your capturing... BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG ...otherwise it may be to big to upload... after typing in any response you have... click on Upload a File to add the screenshot.


Screenshot instructions are provided to assist those that may read this topic but are not yet aware of the “how to”.

Not looking good I`m afraid, the drive has been converted to RAW and is shown to be 100% free which effectively means that there is nothing at all on the drive.

Couple of (free) ways of converting RAW to NTFS here

Methods one and two are the suggested as they are done from within Windows and therefore there is no fee to be paid.

Just so that you are aware, even if we could see any data on the drive none of the options (including the paid one) are guaranteed to recover any of the data let alone all of it.

Scan the drive with Recuva which is free, if that finds nothing the data is not there.

You are welcome and good luck

Lani said:

Please advise on next step after the scan has completed-

Click to expand...

You need to follow the steps provided by Recuva, once you have any files saved you then try methods one and two at the previous link that was provided, if neither method helps you then have the option of purchasing EaseUS Partition Master, we are giving you free help and options and at the end of the day only yourself can decide if you wish to put money into this.

Tip
If using a computer and not a mobile phone, please avoid adding multiple posts while waiting for us to reply to your last, edit your last post to include anything that you wish to add, this will ensure nothing gets overlooked which can sometimes happen if a thread has more than one page + it avoids filling up folks inbox

Thank you for the kind thought bur really not necessary, I do this for free and my reward is helping others to save money if we can.

Lani said:

Although >2,300 files were found, most are listed as Unrecoverable due to being overwritten.

Click to expand...

I have lost count how many people in the past have argued that you don`t need to keep plenty of room on a storage device to avoid the data on the device being overwritten, you can vouch that this is the case now and I am sorry to hear it

Please be aware that data recovery services are extremely expensive and that they will not offer you any guarantee of recovering anything off the drive at all.

You are welcome and have let us know that you no longer require assistance which is all that we ask