External HD not initialized, need data from it


  1. 3Davideo
    Posts : 5
    Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 64-bit
       New #1

    External HD not initialized, need data from it


    I have an external hard drive from home (160 GB iOmega) formatted in I believe FAT32 with all my data on it from my iMac. I'm trying to connect it to my new ThinkPad to get my data. It doesn't show up in My Computer, but in Disk Management there is a Disk 1 that has a black bar at top instead of blue, says not initialized on the side, and says unallocated under the bar. Also, when I open Disk Management it offers to initialize my disk, but I fear that would erase my data.

    How would I get my computer to read the disk but not erase my data?
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  3. thefabe
    Posts : 4,280
    Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit / XP Home sp3
       New #2

    Welcome to Seven Forums.
    Here is a pretty good trouble shooting guide Troubleshoot: Windows won't recognize USB hard drive / fix unassigned drive letter - TechSpot OpenBoards You might want to try some of the suggestions posted.
    Fabe
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  4. 3Davideo
    Posts : 5
    Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    Hmmm.... seems to be a single partition, so according to that FAQ it's corrupted. Perhaps the airport X-ray. It said to use file recovery, so i got PC Inspector/Recovery. It can't find any logical drives, any help?
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  6. GEWB
    Posts : 1,030
    Linux Mint / XP / Win7 Home, Pro, Ultimate / Win8.1 / Win10
       New #4

    Can you view the files if you plug it into the iMac?

    Regards,
    GEWB
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  7. 3Davideo
    Posts : 5
    Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       New #5

    Back before I traveled across country with this drive, yes.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  8. GEWB
    Posts : 1,030
    Linux Mint / XP / Win7 Home, Pro, Ultimate / Win8.1 / Win10
       New #6

    3Davideo said:
    Back before I traveled across country with this drive, yes.
    That was then, this is now. Can you see the files today using the iMac?

    Regards,
    GEWB
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  10. 3Davideo
    Posts : 5
    Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       New #7

    Well the point is now I'm across the country from that iMac.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  11. GEWB
    Posts : 1,030
    Linux Mint / XP / Win7 Home, Pro, Ultimate / Win8.1 / Win10
       New #8

    3Davideo said:
    Well the point is now I'm across the country from that iMac.
    Umm, a REALLY long USB cable? <j/k>

    Just an idea - if you boot to a live Linux disk, can you mount the external drive and see the files?

    Regards,
    GEWB
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  12. 3Davideo
    Posts : 5
    Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       New #9

    I went to my school's computer help place and they also said try it from Linux. Worked like a charm, copied over my files, reformatted my drive to GUID partition table (instead of Apple, which was probably the problem) and NTFS, put the files back, booted up in Windows, files were there. Happy days!
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  13. GEWB
    Posts : 1,030
    Linux Mint / XP / Win7 Home, Pro, Ultimate / Win8.1 / Win10
       New #10

    3Davideo said:
    I went to my school's computer help place and they also said try it from Linux. Worked like a charm, copied over my files, reformatted my drive to GUID partition table (instead of Apple, which was probably the problem) and NTFS, put the files back, booted up in Windows, files were there. Happy days!
    Glad to see your school validated my Linux suggestion, even happier that it worked for you!

    Regards,
    GEWB
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

 

  Related Discussions
Hi, I have WD My Passport 0820 and it was working without any problem, and it it has been stopped few days ago. I hardly succeeded to remove the security password from it, but I can't open it. After removing the security password, I found the disk appears in the disk management like this... ...
Hello there. This is my first post at this forum. I have a probably 6-7 years old WD Elements 1TB external HDD. When I connect it to PC via USB I can hear ordinary HDD detected sound and after that it sounds some short beeps at 7-3-3 order. Here are some screenshots of my situation. Is there...
If anyone can help me figure this out i am stumped. Pictures to help explain my situation. I have 3 hard drives that are not showing up in my computer but is showing up in Device Manager. They show up as "Disk 1 Unknown Not initialized". I cannot loose the data on the drives. in Diskpart it shows...
I recently got a new HDD and took it to a friend's house to copy over some of the data he had (approx. 800GB). The disk had never been used prior, so he had to initialize it when I brought it over; he's running either Win8 or Win8.1, and it was initialized as GPT with all the other settings at...
I am trying to recover data from laptop internal HDD use as an external hard drive to recover data from that HDD. I can't see my HDD in my computer but in DISK Managemnet, there is a message, "Disk 1 Unknown Not Initizalized" Please Help!! Thanks,
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

 © Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 15:32.
Find Us