Problems with disk format

[LynchpiN]

I just got a weird problem...

I took an Hard Disk Drive with data of an album for me to master. But it doesn't read in my WinXP, and using an diagnostics software it shown that the disk format was NONDOS (Non-DOS, like it was made in another operational system). The fucked up part is that it used to be NTFS, recorded with Nuendo in a PC. I read some forums and people said it can be a virus or worm. Or maybe something different?

I'm writing this to ask you guys if any of you ever came across such a problem, and if there's any known solution for this (recovering the data and not formatting it, of course).

I'll keep Googling in the meanwhile...

And yeah, Macs rules, I know...

 

[Kazrog]

Have you tried running Norton Disk Doctor on it?

 

[LynchpiN]

It's labeled as Non-DOS so for Windows (and the programs running in it) is like the unit doesn't exist - so I can't use any ScanDisk in it because it doesn't even appear in the system.

The drive was only visible to me in the BIOS Setup and with Seagate's DiscWizard.. But I could not recover the files that are in the drive. Pretty scary, really.

Thanks anyway.

 

[Ermz]

I forgot where, but you have to actually get windows to assign a drive letter to it and 'recognize' it as a drive. Windows help is your friend.

 

[LynchpiN]

Hey there, thank you guys.

Moonlapse, good hint you gave me, but didn't work. The problem was the partition format, not the driver or anything like it. I read in may places that it must be due to a virus or worm, probably from the studio computer...

I decided to give back the HD to the guy who recorded it and he will try to handle it out.. And give me the files on CD

 

[SickBoy]

I suppose the disk is having an error in his MBR, it may be that it's developing bad sectors.

If you plan on rescuing the data don't use Scandisk, Norton Disc Doctor or any of those tools, as they'll convert all your data located on damaged areas to uselless *.chk files. If they at all succeed in repairing your disc, that is...
They are good for minor file system troubles, but if you want to restore the data, use R-Studio or similar recovery program, this particular one saved me lots of data. Also, if it turns out you do have bad sectors, you can make them readable using HDD Regenerator. That helps a lot, cause even the best recovery program won't be able to read the bad sector properly.