30+ hours to scan 3 TB drive via USB 2 with Rescue Kit 11 boot CD?

I am trying to recover data or the partition from a 3 TB sata drive. I have it plugged in via a USB 2.0 dock. It's currently scanning for deleted partitions and has been for over the last 30 hours. The HDD activity light still blinks. I am using the free Rescue Kit 11 boot CD. The progress bar has hardly anything left. But I counted the pixels and it hasn't moved for at least the last 5 hours. But that doesn't mean it moved 5 hours ago. I just didn't pay attention that closely until 5 hours ago.

It says 57 mins left. But 5 hours ago it said 1 hr 40 mins. So obviously I don't expect it to actually finish in 57 mins.

So I am wondering. Should it really take this long to just the scan/search portion? And should I be worried that the progress bar hasn't moved 1 pixel in the last 5 hours or more? I know it's not frozen as the times do keep changing.

 

LOL. Go figure. It's been over 5 hours since the progress bar moved. Maybe longer.

But it just moved! So I guess I just have to wait longer. Guess I should have plugged it in via SATA instead of the USB 2 adapter. Looks like this might be done after 40-50 hours.

 

Doh! It finished sometime in the middle of the night. But says:

Empty search result

This wizard did not find any recoverable partitions.

wow. That long to find nothing. I wonder what else I can do to see if I can recovery any data from the drive.

 

Well, I think it's the drive. I just tried it on the original USB 3 controller and then I can't see the drive at all and it clicks. That same controller doesn't work on any other Sata drives. And when I use the 3TB Sata drive in question on my USB 2 controllers, I can see the drive, but several tools show IO errors and bad sectors. So I think the drive itself may have become damaged at the same time the external controller was damaged. I have tried many tools now and none are finding anything. So it's time to see if my friend really wants to pay for drive savers.

I will repeat myself here, what I always tell people. A backup is a when data is duplicated. Storing files in 1 place, like an external hard drive, is NOT a backup. I am amazed at home many people think storing a single copy of data on an external drive is a "backup". I hear people all the time say "yeah, I backed it up on my external hard drive." And then I ask if it's still on their internal hard drive and they say "no". DOH!

My friend may be learning a painful lesson.

 

Good advice! I am sorry you were unable to recover any of the data on the drive, it's always hit or miss when a drive fails... and its not if a drive will fail, but when it will fail!

You might want to suggest your friend use our Backup and Recovery software.

We have a free version over at https://www.paragon-software.com/free/ that he can try, and if he likes it I'd recommend the paid version, for $39.95 it's some of the best peace of mind you can have!