My External HHD won't recognize my data!

Have you tried running Check Disk (Error checking)?

• Right click on your HDD icon.
• Select "Properties"
• Click on the "Tools" tab

DaYiM said:

thanks, but sense i plug it in again to the computer; it's whole another problem;
the HHD doesn't show up in my computer, & in Disk Management:-
it doesn't show in the list, but only down ( with the blue lines ),
here when ever i right click & choose Properties Or Change Drive Letter.....:
gives me this error:

i have tried everything in this error note to solve this problem,
but it keeps coming up! also the HHD is back to 1TB capacity!
Please HELP!

The "Disk Management" picture says the the filesystem is "RAW" (instead of NTFS or FAT32).
This indicates that the filesystem is damaged (there maybe bad sectors on the HDD).

It also shows that drive is "Active".
Only your boot drive should have an "Active" partition.

I don't think that Windows "Disk Management" can remove "Active" from it.
I don't see any option when I check my "Active" partition (I guess that reformatting it would do it).

If the HDD reappears in "Disk Management":

• Right click on your external HDD partition.
• Select "Properties"
• Click on the "Tools" tab
• Click on "Error checking".

It probably won't work though.

If it does work and the HDD starts functioning again, copy your files off it to somewhere else.
I wouldn't trust the external HDD with any important data, since it appears to have become twitchy.


Unless someone else has an idea, my suggestion would be use a Linux Live CD.

Can you get access to a Live Linux CD (e.g. Ubuntu)?
If so, see if you can view your HDD contents.
If you can, copy the files to a new location.

Once you have done that you can try using "Gparted" (a Linux Disk Manager):

• To check the disk.
• To remove the "Active" flag (from the external HDD. Don't remove it from your Windows partition).
• To reformat the disk (worst case).

Note: these screenshots are from a Ubuntu 10.04 VM with one drive, so not all of the options are available.

I wouldn't trust the external HDD with any important data, since it appears to have become twitchy.

DaYiM said:

Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks a lot,
i used your idea ( but with mac ), & it worked.
Question: sense my very lack of knowledge in Mac, i well use
Windows to format the HHD ( after i transfer my date ),
Do you think it's safe to keep using it after the format?
Or do i buy new one to make sure anything else doesn't happen again?

Can I ask which idea you used?

I wouldn't keep anything important on it.
I would only use it to transfer files (unimportant ones) between computers.

It may work properly (for a long time) but I would seriously consider buying a new drive to use for important files.


If you think that your problem is fixed, you should click the "Mark as Solved" button (see pictures below). :)
The first option requires you to leave a message.
The second option is the preferred method.

lehnerus2000 said:

Maybe these pictures will help.

Any post in this thread (when you are logged in, you should choose one of your own though).




Your original post should show the buttons in the red boxes (when you are logged in).

seavixen32 said:

Scroll through to the end of the thread where you should see a green 'Thread Resolved' button.

Thanks seavixen32. :)

I'm glad it worked out alright in the end. :)