Unrecoverable System Error during Defrag

[jemmo]

I got an error while doing a Defrag and now the PC is recognising the drive, but is asking me if I want to format it. I can't access anything on the drive.
Now whenever the PC is running, you can hear the drive chirping like a cricket - while it's trying to hunt I guess.

Is the data recoverable?

[Gecko]

[jemmo]

Cheers Gecko.

I downloaded Stellar Phoenix Windows Recovery - it displayed all the data in the application window so I purchased a license.
And yes it's taking a while to run.

ALl of my AVI files are coming back as 'Disk read error....error reading cluster' (damn and blast) but hopefully it will recover the more important stuff.

Looks like it's going to have to run through the night.

[jemmo]

Okay - this program has been running for 2 whole days and nights now. And it's not even half way through.
Would it run any quicker in Safe Mode do you think?

[jemmo]

Well I have recovered my data so that's good - took about a week!

Anyways, I am trying to reformat the drive that got corrupted (thankfully not the C: drive). I am using the Windows Computer Management tool but all I am getting is the same 3 cricket chirps then a couple of clicks (like the drive readers are resetting). Should I be getting an indicator as to the progress of the reformat? I really don't think it's doing a great deal, and if it is, it's very slow.

How long should I expect a 42 Gb drive to take to format?

[liljim]

a 42 gig drive shouldnt take long at all, depending on the interface but even IDE shouldnt take 30 minutes. Chances are your not going to save the drive but the last resort would be to download the manufacturers software (maxtor, seagate, Hitachi, etc.) and run their health test and possibly a low level format also known as zero fill.

[Axelation]

Dude if that drive is chirping like that, don't bother trying to format it. It is a paperweight waiting to happen.

[jemmo]

Yep - finally got around to changing the drive.
Replaced it with a SATA 160 Gb.
Recovery software got most of my data back but struggled with jpegs, mp3's, wav's.

Cheers all.