Is there a way to uninitialize a just initialized drive without formatting?

Typhoon859 · Dec 20, 2008

I initialized the HDD I was using for my PS3 with Disc Management so that Windows can read it when I right away realized that it wasn't such a great idea. Is there any way whatsoever that I can undo that so the PS3 can read it again?

Typhoon859 · Dec 21, 2008

I didn't format the drive when I initialized if that's what you guys might be thinking. It would have told me if it was formatting it. I hit initialize and in half of a second, the disk was online, THEN, AFTERWARD, it was asking me to format it to be able to use it but I never did it.

~(o)-(0)~ · Dec 21, 2008

and what does your PS3 think of the whole situation? did you try putting it back in?

Nick

Typhoon859 · Dec 21, 2008

~(o)-(0)~ said:
and what does your PS3 think of the whole situation? did you try putting it back in?

Nick

The second you initialize a disk, the PS3 is unable to read it anymore and asks to format the disk. I tested it. I used another disc, formatted it, hooked it up to the computer, initialized it, put it back, and that's what happened. All the data is still there just.. I guess you can think of it as the bootmgr for windows, as if the MBR is screwed up.

conway · Dec 21, 2008

Try a "dod short" pass with Dban

Typhoon859 · Dec 21, 2008

conway said:
Try a "dod short" pass with Dban

Sorry, I'm not sure what that means. Think you can maybe explicate? It'd be greatly appreciated, thanks.

conway · Dec 22, 2008

Typhoon859 said:
Sorry, I'm not sure what that means. Think you can maybe explicate? It'd be greatly appreciated, thanks.

http://www.dban.org/

It's a bootable disk wiping utility. There are some other selectable wiping methods that may be a little quicker, but I usually use dod short. Once you run that, there will be no trace of the disk being initialized on your pc.

Typhoon859 · Dec 22, 2008

conway said:
http://www.dban.org/

It's a bootable disk wiping utility. There are some other selectable wiping methods that may be a little quicker, but I usually use dod short. Once you run that, there will be no trace of the disk being initialized on your pc.

Wow. Thanks. I see there's still hope. I'm just scared to do something wrong and lose all my data for good. That won't happen right? Is it simple? cause, I've never really done anything like this before.

Automata · Dec 22, 2008

Typhoon859 said:
Wow. Thanks. I see there's still hope. I'm just scared to do something wrong and lose all my data for good. That won't happen right? Is it simple? cause, I've never really done anything like this before.

DBAN will *wipe the drive*. If you need data off it, formatting will delete it.

Can you clarify what you are trying to do?

Typhoon859 · Dec 22, 2008

thideras said:
DBAN will *wipe the drive*. If you need data off it, formatting will delete it.

Can you clarify what you are trying to do?

That's what I thought. Then I didn't get the point of mentioning it. I could freakin' format the drive without that and have it working.....................

I'm trying to recover the data in any means possible, that's what I'm trying to do. At this point, Windows can't access it without formatting it and the PS3 can't read it any more because I initialized it in Windows. I want to at least maybe somehow get the game save data, copy it to a flash drive, and save it onto the new drive, AT LEAST. But at this point, I can't even get to any of the files...

Automata · Dec 22, 2008

I'm not sure how the PS3 formats, but you could use the freeware program "PC Inspector File Recovery". I have used this to recover files off a flash drive successfully. The program is a little complicated and it took me awhile to figure it out.

Typhoon859 · Dec 22, 2008

thideras said:
I'm not sure how the PS3 formats, but you could use the freeware program "PC Inspector File Recovery". I have used this to recover files off a flash drive successfully. The program is a little complicated and it took me awhile to figure it out.

I've used it before. I've recovered my entire 500GB External Hard Drive using it once. And yeah, it was too complicated in a retarded way but it got the job done. I should try it but I doubt it will work. Thanks for the suggestion. I forgot about it.

mbentley · Dec 22, 2008

Typhoon859 said:
I've used it before. I've recovered my entire 500GB External Hard Drive using it once. And yeah, it was too complicated in a retarded way but it got the job done. I should try it but I doubt it will work. Thanks for the suggestion. I forgot about it.

i wonder if you can mount the a ps3 formatted drive in linux (an ubuntu or knoppix livecd) without causing the problem you described with windows. i am not sure what sort of file system a ps3 uses though...

Typhoon859 · Dec 22, 2008

mbentley said:
i wonder if you can mount the a ps3 formatted drive in linux (an ubuntu or knoppix livecd) without causing the problem you described with windows. i am not sure what sort of file system a ps3 uses though...

Nope. Tried it. The partition is Fat16 but I figured that out in Windows. Ubuntu didn't even see the disc. I might need to install some drivers in Linux for it to work but I just don't think it'll work. In a bit, I'm going to try this program called GetDataBack for FAT. Maybe that'll work. It basically physically reads all the sectors on the drive and recovers the files. Might work...

conway · Dec 23, 2008

Typhoon859 said:
That's what I thought. Then I didn't get the point of mentioning it. I could freakin' format the drive without that and have it working.....................

The point was you requested a method to "uninitialize" a drive, which simply formatting will not do.

P1ke1980mofo · Aug 28, 2014

Use Disk Part in Windows to un-initialize a disk...

Open a command prompt whilst the HDD is connected to your PC.

Then run 'diskpart'

find out the disk number buy first typing 'list' and hitting enter.

then make the disk you want to un-initialize active by typing 'select disk x' (where x represents the disk number)

after this type 'clean'

Job done...

mimart7 · Aug 28, 2014

Wow, 6 year old thread necro.

P1ke1980mofo · Aug 28, 2014

Now with a solution ;-)

firesoul453 · Aug 28, 2014

2008 was 6 years ago?!

Man time flies by.

Is there a way to uninitialize a just initialized drive without formatting?

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