Data Recovery Case File · Formatted & Logical Faults · Configured by Someone Who Is Not Here
A Drive Arranged by Another Person May Be Working Exactly as Intended
Her enquiry contains a fact that changes where to look. A drive that "is recognised by the computer and says it's working, but it won't open" — and which was partitioned by a former partner, arrangement unknown. Recognised and working are the system's words for a healthy device, so the obstacle is very likely in how the drive was set up rather than in the drive itself.
| Media | External hard drive enumerating and reporting healthy — volume not opening; partitioning performed previously by a third party with the scheme not known to the current owner |
| Reported situation | External drive connected to a computer · device recognised and reported as functioning · volume not opening for access · drive previously partitioned by a former partner · partitioning arrangement not known to the owner · content required |
| Fault class | Device healthy with volume inaccessible — partition scheme, filesystem type or protective configuration unknown; hardware not implicated by the reported state |
| Equipment used | Device health separated from volume accessibility before any repair was considered · partition table and volume headers read directly from a write-blocked image · filesystem types identified from structures rather than from host reporting · encryption presence established from volume headers before any assumption of damage · content interpreted from the image once the scheme was determined |
The decode: what recognised and working rules out, and what remains
What the system's report establishes: the device is fine. It powers, spins, identifies itself, enumerates and reports its own health as satisfactory — an exchange no failing drive completes.
Why that eliminates the expensive possibilities immediately: board faults, firmware-stage failures and mechanical problems all prevent that sequence. None of them is consistent with a drive reporting itself healthy.
What is therefore left: something about how the drive is arranged. The obstacle sits between the working device and the files on it, in the description of how the space is divided and formatted.
The first possibility — a filesystem the machine does not read. A drive prepared for one platform frequently will not open on another. The system sees a partition it cannot interpret and declines to present it, which looks exactly like a fault and is not one.
The second — a partition scheme the machine does not expect. Drives can be divided using more than one scheme, and older or platform-specific arrangements are not universally understood. A machine reading the wrong scheme finds nothing where it expects a volume.
The third, and the one worth establishing early — encryption. A drive set up by someone else may have been protected. An encrypted volume presents as unreadable rather than as locked on a machine that does not recognise the scheme, and it is distinguishable by examining the volume header.
Why that distinction matters so much: the first two are ordinary interpretation problems with straightforward answers. The third depends entirely on whether a key or passphrase is available, and without one nothing can be done by anyone.
Why it should be checked before anything else: it costs minutes and it determines whether the case exists. Discovering encryption late is the worst version of this.
Why the drive should not be initialised or repaired meanwhile: a machine that cannot interpret a scheme offers to create one. Accepting replaces the arrangement that is merely unrecognised, and turns a reading problem into a real loss.
What is done instead: the drive is imaged and the partition table and volume headers read directly from the copy. Structures identify themselves regardless of what any host makes of them, and the arrangement is determined rather than guessed.
On the bench
Device health was separated from volume accessibility before any repair was considered — a device that powers, identifies itself, enumerates and reports satisfactory health having completed a sequence no failing drive completes, which eliminates board, firmware-stage and mechanical causes. The remaining obstacle lies in the arrangement: an unrecognised filesystem, an unexpected partition scheme, or encryption, the last presenting as unreadable rather than locked. Encryption presence was established from volume headers before damage was assumed.
The outcome
Device health separated from volume accessibility, partition table and headers read from a write-blocked image, and encryption presence established before any assumption of damage. Free assessment, one fixed written figure including VAT; where a drive has to be opened, 50% of parts and labour is payable upfront with the balance only on success — otherwise no recovery, no fee. The decode: recognised and working means the hardware is fine. What stands between you and the files is how the drive was arranged — and whether it was encrypted is the question to settle first.
A drive set up by somebody else that will not open
Don't let the computer initialise or repair it, because a machine that can't interpret an arrangement will offer to create a new one, and accepting replaces something that was merely unrecognised. Take the system's report at face value first: recognised and reporting healthy means the hardware is fine and the obstacle is in how the drive was arranged. Three things do that — a filesystem your machine doesn't read, a partition scheme it doesn't expect, or encryption. Establish which early, because only the third depends on a key nobody may have.
Don't initialise it — call Manchester Data Recovery on 0161 871 0788; device health separated from volume accessibility, headers read from a write-blocked image, encryption established before damage is assumed.
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Our case files are drawn from genuine enquiries received by our laboratory over the past ten years, anonymised to protect client confidentiality. Each one describes the diagnostic and recovery procedure our engineers apply to that fault, using the equipment listed.