Trying to recover a file from HDD with bad sectors

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kiwijunglist

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#111338 30-Oct-2012 19:48

Hi

My parents windows 7 install died on their laptop, probably due to bad sectors on the HDD. I've replaced the HDD.I'm trying to recover their outlook emails/contacts.

I put their old HDD into an external enclosure. I ran chkdsk /f which found 93kb of bad sectors. I found outlook.pst on their old HDD (which presumably has all the outlook information) however I get an error when I try to copy + paste the file from the HDD.

Is there any command I can perform on this file to allow me to copy it off the old HDD?

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

dontpanic42

1574 posts

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#709411 30-Oct-2012 20:02

I seem to be recommending this piece of software quite a lot over the past few days.
It's not free, but it's your best bet if the data on the HDD is critical.

SpinRite - http://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm

I should probably add:
Disclaimer - I have no affiliation whatsoever with SpinRite, I just know it works well. If the data is recoverable, SpinRite will most likely recover it.

kiwijunglist

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#709428 30-Oct-2012 20:16

Also tried terracopy and bbcopy.
bbcopy was able to process the whole file but when it finished it didn't create a copy.
terracopy failed at 64mb of 320mb

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

Athlonite

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#710161 1-Nov-2012 01:34

Chkdsk /r is the cmd line for bad sector recovery or CHKDSK /B which re-evaluates bad clusters

kiwijunglist

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#710164 1-Nov-2012 02:24

oh i thought chkdsk /f fixed them ???

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CYaBro

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#710166 1-Nov-2012 06:51

If the hdd has bad sectors running a chkdsk is a bad idea!
You want to try and recover your data first.
The best software I've found for this is getdataback.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

allan

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#710192 1-Nov-2012 08:10

+1 for GetDataBack. Not free, but it's saved me and family several times with hard drive recovery, including an SD card with irreplaceable photos.

trig42

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#710206 1-Nov-2012 08:51

I'd say a CHKDSK /R will get fix the bad sectors for long enough to recover the PST file. I've used it heaps on HDDs with a few bad sectors (it won't work on a really borked drive).

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

myopinion

938 posts

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#710213 1-Nov-2012 09:05

This software is free and excellent for getting data off a bad drive: http://www.piriform.com/recuva

Free version from here: http://www.piriform.com/recuva/download/standard

jonb

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#710227 1-Nov-2012 09:56

I used the free Unstoppable Copier when I tried to get data from a decaying external hdd, it got more off than the windows standard file copier:

Unstoppable Copier: http://www.roadkil.net/program.php?ProgramID=29

heretohelp

360 posts

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#717378 14-Nov-2012 22:21

allan: +1 for GetDataBack. Not free, but it's saved me and family several times with hard drive recovery, including an SD card with irreplaceable photos.

+ 1 for Get Data Back. This is what I use at work, We paid for this and it has paid for its self 10 fold with all these people buying cheap and nasty hard drives from these white wear sales places and the hard drive fails lol when will people learn.

Hu? did i do that?
16Mb (EDO RAM), K6-II processor, 2Mb of onboard graphics. 32k dial up modem. 12 speed CD ROM. 5¼-inch floppy drive. 500Mb HDD.