Cause of loss · a RAW volume
Hand Windows a volume it does not know how to read and Format is what you will be offered, because Format is all it has available. The physical hardware remains intact; what was written to it has simply stopped adding up. Much more data is lost to people in Plymouth accepting the Format option than to the corruption that made the box appear.
You will be talking to an engineer
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| The behaviour | What that points to | Where to start |
|---|---|---|
| The hard drive is not accessible, and Windows offers to format it before it will open. | Windows cannot understand the file system and therefore reports RAW | Ignore that prompt |
| CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives. | CHKDSK never starts: there is no file system for it to start on | Disconnect it from the PC |
| File or directory corrupted and unreadable (0x80070570) | Entries in the MFT that no longer read | Close the window and stop browsing |
| Disk structure is corrupted and unreadable (0x80070571) | Damage to the partition table or the MFT | Image it first, repair it later |
| The parameter is incorrect — X:\ not accessible. | Broken structures over failing sectors | Treat it as a hardware fault too |
| …does not contain a recognized file system | Nothing left that names a file system | The contents have not gone |
| The disk you inserted was not readable (macOS) | macOS wording for the same issue. Avoid the Initialize button | Eject it, and never Initialize |
Whatever is delivered is booked in using a unique reference (case number) on the date it arrives at the bench. The engineer will identify the actual fault at no charge. This gives a straightforward answer on what can be recovered from the drive and what cannot, plus one written quotation. There will be no further activity until you have read and accepted the quotation.
Before any repairs occur, a sector-by-sector copy is made. Every area which reads poorly is logged and left until the end. Broken structures and tired hardware often arrive together, and a single image handles both.
All processing occurs within the image itself, never on your drive: the partition table, boot sector and Master File Table (MFT) are rebuilt there. So if a particular step goes badly, it can be rolled back and repeated.
However badly damaged the MFT is, the contents of each file remain in the clusters they always sat in. Each file is then carved out of the image based solely on its signature, and whatever folder structure the surviving records support is re-established around the recovered files.
Give yourself time to consider it. It costs you nothing. We list all of the files we recover for you before sending out an invoice, and we only ask for payment once you have authorised it. We also buy media specifically for your recovery and send it back to you, with the return postage paid by us. The case stays here on our bench until we have your confirmation that the files open properly on your own machine.
Each of these tools shares a common habit: CHKDSK, Disk Utility's First Aid, or whichever free RAW repairer a forum is pushing this month, they each write to the very disk they claim to be repairing. If there is no physical issue underneath, no harm will come of it. If there is, what could have come back whole comes back in pieces. Waiting for an image will only cost you one day.
The lead was removed while the disk was writing. In the morning, Windows had one suggestion: format. The 4TB was fully imaged before anything else was done, and every repair after that was made to the image, the boot sector first, then the damaged mirror of the MFT. Nothing went back to the original. Fifteen years of client work was restored, folder tree intact.
Decline. Format creates a new blank file system directly over the damaged one, landing on the exact records that contain your folder names, their structure and their dates. Those records are what a rebuild is made from.
Windows has lost the ability to understand the structures that describe your volume, usually the boot sector, Master File Table or partition table. However, the files themselves sit under these layers and are not harmed.
Nothing good comes from it. Against a RAW volume, CHKDSK won't even attempt to run. And with a worn drive, each repair pass costs a little more of its life. This type of work must happen on a copy, not on the original disk itself.
Most probably, and you're definitely not alone. Pull the cable in the middle of a write and the index is left incomplete, still pointing to healthy files.
Diagnosis costs nothing. We give you a report listing which files can be read, which cannot, and what is needed to get them off. Do not connect the drive until then.