LBA – Logical Block Addressing is something that make users to worry about the hard drive and the data present on it. LBA technically refers to bad sectors, which is more or less the error that blocks read / write operation on a hard drive sector. So, this page describes you on how to handle a hard drive that fails to work normally because of a LBA error and also details about the smart way to save data from such drives.
Before we start, it is good to know what leads to the formation of logical block addressing sector –
Both logical and physical errors caused during disk operations can result in LBA; more frequently in old hard drives. Major disadvantage of hard drives with LBA is data loss (inaccessibility). When a sector is marked as bad, only available option would be to format the drive that helps to rebuild the file system and avoid further damage to other healthy sectors on board. But the risk of data loss should be overcome before formatting the drive. So, first thing to do when the hard drive is affected with bad sector is to copy all your data from the affected drive to a safe location (if the drive is still actively working). If not, simply follow the steps below.
Procedure to Recover Data from Hard Drive with LBA Error:
When you cannot copy files from the drive, it is suggested to make use of third party data recovery tool like Yodot Hard Drive Recovery. This software safely retrieves each and every file type from hard drive that has critical errors. Here are the steps –
Yodot at the rescue for LBA errors
- Download Yodot Recovery tool and install it on Windows system by connecting the affected hard drive externally to it
- Launch the software. On the main screen, you will find 2 options – Partition Recovery and Formatted / Reformatted Recovery
- Select Partition Recovery option; further mark for the drive that contains bad sectors or LBA
- Next in the menu bar, right click on Tools tab and select the option - Save Image File
- Define a safe location on host computer to save the file and close the application
- Re-launch the tool, right-click again on Tools tab and choose Open Image file
- Software will show files and folders that can be retrieved from the image file now
- Restore the data that you wish and save it to a new location
Now, moving on to know how to fix LBA on hard drive?
Running a SMART test on hard drive will render the count and status of sectors that are affected with LBA. Knowing this is important to decide whether the drive is worthy to rely on for further data usage. If SMART test results with multiple numbers of sectors that are under risk, it is suggested to discard the drive. Otherwise, you can always fix hard drive LBA errors by reinforcing (remapping) fresh file system on the drive. In simple terms, formatting the drive can do this. But for more results, you should actually erase the drive completely with the help of significant disk erase tool that writes zeros to the sectors.
More about Yodot Recovery tool:
Yodot Hard Drive Recovery thoroughly scans hard drive to find and recover data. It is capable of recovering data erased after formatting the drive only if the process won’t replace the sectors with 0’s or 1’s. This tool sorts the recovered files based on the file name, size, file signature, and date of creation. For drives having bad sectors, the software creates disk image of the drive to bypass the bad sector and retrieve data from these disk images. Thus, Yodot assists easy recovery of Samsung HDD, Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi, Toshiba, Maxtor, and other internal as well external hard drive that disclose LBA error. The program even gets back data from hard drive after OS reinstallation, repartition, disk boot failure, etc.
Note!!
- Never use aged drive as backup device
- Avoid using old hard drives for saving your important data
