HD Unknown - 0 Kb
 

Dear Forum Users,

I'm a newbie to the Linux world, although I've been always keenly interested to get to know more about linux and open softwares.

I have a 500GB Hitachi HD that is not recognized by any OS I have, my last hope is Linux, I made 3 Live CD with versions of Backtrack 5, Ubuntu and Big Linux.

When I insert the HD and use GParted in all distributions it finds no hard drive connected.

If I go into the hardware settings I see my HD but it appears as if the capacity was 0 Kb but it has 500 Gb.

Please help me out.

Sincerely,
Barros

From the standpoint of ANY operating system, there's nothing to help you WITH. Either the controller your disk is attached to is dead, the drive is dead, or there's a bad cable. That's it. If NO operating system can pick up a drive, then it's a hardware problem.

You can test it by hooking the drive up to another computer. If the drive works THERE, then you know it's either the cable or controller on your system. If not, then it's the drive. Replace the bad parts. Linux can't 'fix' bad hardware, anymore than any other OS can.

It's not bad cable neither a drive dead, I can see the drive, but it's look 0 kb with no partition.

Check the screenshot please.
http://es.zimagez.com/zimage/screens...4-13-24-38.php

It seems that you have a deleted partition on that drive. Where did you get the 0KB size? On the picture its clear that the disk is 465.8 GB in size (which is consistent for a 500GB drive, formatted).

Is there some data that is supposed to be on the drive?
There is a tool named testdisk that works really well, i recovered deleted NTFS partitions (God knows how they got deleted) with it. The nice thing is that you can see the contents of the lost partition without writing anything on the target disk.

If you run Linux, just open a terminal and type:

That will list all your drives.

Ah..from your first post, you said the DRIVE wasn't recognized by any OS. If the drive doesn't show up, it's a hardware issue. In this case, the drive DOES show up, but there aren't partitions on it.

gradinaruvasile gave some great advice, if there was supposed to be data on it. Otherwise, it's blank...so, use the operating system of your choice, and create a partition.

That's the moment that all the magic happen, when I run the TestDisk I can "see" the drive, i select it for analyse, nothig show to me.

http://es.zimagez.com/miniature/2013-03-04155408.png
http://es.zimagez.com/miniature/scre...4155246685.jpg

And now, what I can do?

Again, no idea. The screen shots you posted are too tiny to read, and AGAIN, if the drive isn't recognized by ANYTHING, then chances are, the drive is bad. Could be a firmware issue, could be something else. You aren't posting any other details (has this drive ever had data on it? Was it partitioned before? What changed? Anything??), so we don't know if someone deleted a partition, you had a lightning strike, or any of the thousand other things it could be.

If it had a partition and it's gone now, use something to partition the drive and format it, then reload your data from backup. If it NEVER had a partition, then make one. If you can't do either of those things, then the drive is bad.

Ok, let's go:
- Yes, this drive had a data on it;
- It was partitioned before but it was in use in a custom hardware;
- Since i took this HD from this custom device I can't "read" it;

This is new print screen:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/692/86315231.png/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/835/77978522.png/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/818/43552508.png/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/577/29105431.png/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/819/72805825.png/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...ntgparted.png/

Q: How can I flash a firmware?

Regards

When I type
nothig happen, just a new line root@root:~#

Ok, what was this "custom device" ? Maybe it used some non-standard methods to format the drive.

If fdisk doesnt show a device, its really weird since testdisk is able to access it. What hardware do you have there (mobo or computer model)?
On the screenshots there were 2 drives connected, i wonder why Linux does not see any of them.
What Linux distro/version did you use?

I have 2 HD's from this custom device;
I have 1 HD running from my Windows PC (please don't kill me) and another one running from my notebook by a live CD (i have a ubuntu, backtrack and big linux distro).

Do you want to connect in my computer by teamviewer to see?

When asking a question, it's helpful to provide the details, rather than have folks ask for them over and over. Did you look at the screen shots?? The second one you posted tells you there's an unknown type of partition there. Since you mention a 'custom' device (and give no details about it), then it's likely it's using some 'custom' disk layout that only it knows about. So, either find out what it's using, or put the disk back in the device, and copy the data off over the network or some other method.
That depends on the firmware, and what you're trying to flash. Typically, wherever you download the firmware from will have instructions. Read and follow them.

This custom device is a Sagemcom decoder, have anyway to fix the partitions for use like an External HD? (In fact the device have unknown partition. I don't care about the data in it)

I will try to flash the new firmware because I think this way the HD back to new condition...

I try the code fdisk -l and the device isn't listed, just my 1st HD, but if I enter in the disk utility from Ubuntu I can see it with no Partition in it and 500Gb. If try to create a new partition it give me a I/O error.

Regards.

Yes, as has been said several times...just create a partition on it, format it, and away you go. Again, though, if NOTHING can see/partition the drive, then you may have a drive problem.
How are you trying to create the new partition? And how are you plugging in this drive? Directly to the controller, or are you using a USB enclosure? And again, have you tried plugging this back in to the sagemcom device, and erasing it from there?

And I said several times too, I had alredy do this, and nothig works, if I plug the HD back in the device it work just fine so I do'nt have a drive problem.

I'm trying trought gparted (doesn't list the drive) and fdisk (doesn't list the drive), in Windows I had tried replace the MBR info (error), EASEUS Partition Manager is the unique program that can list the drive, but show the error I/O.

When I plug in Sagemcom Device and format, then i put it back in my desktop just show me the samething.

If you want you can call me in Skype after 01:00am (Greenwich Time) and I share the screen with you and try all the ways again. I give to you all the access to my computer if you want.

I tried Delpart an didn't work too.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...pturarxjg.png/

Regards,