Data Recovery Case File · Formatted & Logical Faults · Two Layers, One Working
Partitions Listed Without Sizes Means the Table Was Read and the Filesystems Were Not
This trade enquiry reports a state that separates two layers cleanly. A drive connected through an adapter where "the system sees the two partitions with drive letters but no volume sizes", and a consistency check "runs to a point then errors out." Those are two different structures failing differently: the record describing where the partitions are is readable, and the filesystems inside them are not.
| Media | 2.5-inch hard drive connected through an adapter — partition table readable with two partitions enumerated and lettered; volume parameters not reported; consistency check terminating partway |
| Reported situation | Drive connected to a host through an adapter · two partitions visible with drive letters assigned · volume sizes and parameters not reported · consistency check run · check progressing partway before terminating with an error · recovery quotation requested |
| Fault class | Partition table intact with filesystem structures unreadable — layer separation indicating damage confined to volume metadata; consistency check terminating at the point of unreadability |
| Equipment used | Partition-layer readability distinguished from filesystem-layer readability · no further consistency checking or repair permitted · imaged write-blocked under strict per-sector timeouts before any interpretation · filesystem structures recovered from duplicate copies within each partition · content carved by signature where structures did not reconcile |
The decode: the two layers, and what the check's stopping point reveals
What the partition table is and where it sits: a small record at the drive's start. It says where each partition begins and ends, and nothing more.
What being able to letter the partitions establishes: that record was read. The system found the table, understood it, and allocated a letter to each partition it described.
Why that is genuinely useful: it is often the part that is lost. A drive with a damaged table appears as a single unformatted region, and this one did not.
What sits inside each partition and is a separate structure entirely: the filesystem. Its own descriptor states the volume's size, its arrangement and where its directory lives.
Why the missing sizes point there: that descriptor could not be read. A system that knows where a partition begins and cannot read what is inside it reports the partition and no parameters.
Why that layer separation is the whole diagnosis: the damage is confined. Something affected the descriptors inside both partitions while leaving the record describing them intact.
Why both being affected is informative: it suggests a common cause. Two independent filesystems failing together points at the drive returning bad data rather than at either volume being individually corrupted.
Now the consistency check, which reports something precise: it got partway. A check that runs and then errors reached a structure it could not interpret, and where it stopped indicates where the unreadable region begins.
Why it must not be run again: it writes when it can. A check that completes rebuilds structures by writing new ones, and one that fails partway may already have written some of them.
Why the outlook is reasonable: descriptors have duplicates. Filesystems keep backup copies of their key structures elsewhere in the partition, and those frequently survive whatever affected the primaries.
On the bench
Partition-layer readability was distinguished from filesystem-layer readability — the partition table being a small record at the drive's start describing only where each partition begins and ends, so lettering establishes it was read intact, while each partition's own filesystem descriptor states volume size and arrangement. Absent sizes therefore place the damage inside the partitions. Both failing together suggests the drive returning bad data. Structures were recovered from duplicate copies within each partition.
The outcome
The two layers distinguished, further checking stopped, and structures recovered from duplicate copies within each partition. 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: letters without sizes is a layer separation. The record saying where your partitions are was read perfectly — what could not be read is what sits inside them.
Partitions that appear without sizes
Stop running consistency checks — one that completes rebuilds structures by writing new ones, and one that fails partway may already have written some. Read the state as a layer separation: drive letters being assigned means the partition table at the start of the drive was read intact, which is often the part that's lost. Missing sizes place the damage inside the partitions instead. Both volumes failing together points at the drive returning bad data rather than at either being individually corrupt.
Stop checking it — call Cambridge Data Recovery on 01223 655015; the two layers distinguished, imaged write-blocked, structures recovered from duplicate copies within each partition.
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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.