External hard drive visible in Partition Magic but not explorer

A few days ago my Seagate 3TB external hard drive failed without warning and I've been trying to recover it. I ran Test Disk but it didn't appear to locate any partitions. I tried Minitool Partition Wizard and while the Partition Recovery Wizard did locate the partition, identify it as NTFS and even shows me all the files it never adds 'recover partition' as an operation so I can't run it. What do I need to do?

Here's the disk in Partition Magic (drive N)


Here's it in Disk Management


Here's it in Explorer


I feel like I'm close because Partition Wizard can show me the files but I just can't browse the drive.

You can try with PartitionGuru free Free partition manager, file recovery tool and Windows backup software - PartitionGuru Free

or wait until Jumanji responds to your case :) he is the guru for this kind of problems around here

Hi nexus 87,

How many partitions did you have on that HDD?

What is the nature of the data in it? If you specify the file formats like .jpg, .mov etc., it is ok.

You said in Partition Recovery Wizard you could see the files.

Launch PW and post a screenshot.

Then on the left pane click on Partition Recovery Wizard > Next > Choose your Seagate 3TB external to recover > Next > Full Disk > Next > Quick scan >Next.

After QuicK Scan completes you will get a Window showing the found partitions. Post the screenshot of it.

Double click on that partition/s also and show me the files.

You may then close the explorer,click on the Cancel tab to close the Window and then close PW. ( You may run Quick Scan again if needed.)

Wait for further instructions after I see the screenshot.

If I am awake I shall see it before retiring for the day. Or else I shall return after another 12 hours.

There is no need to hurry up things.

Thanks for your reply

jumanji said:

How many partitions did you have on that HDD?

Just one

jumanji said:

What is the nature of the data in it? If you specify the file formats like .jpg, .mov etc., it is ok.

Video and audio files: .avi, .mp4, .mkv, .mp3

jumanji said:

You said in Partition Recovery Wizard you could see the files.

Launch PW and post a screenshot.

jumanji said:

Then on the left pane click on Partition Recovery Wizard > Next > Choose your Seagate 3TB external to recover > Next > Full Disk > Next > Quick scan >Next.

After QuicK Scan completes you will get a Window showing the found partitions. Post the screenshot of it.

jumanji said:

Double click on that partition/s also and show me the files.

All the files look like they are there, it's just I can't open the drive in windows explorer.

Will it be possible to restore the drive? Previously when hard drives have failed I have used recovery software to restore the files to another location, reformat the drive then copy the files back. The problem this time is this is my largest disk so I don't have enough space anywhere else to back up the files.

I have tried that but I can't click Apply because it is disabled and no pending operation is added. The drive was not full previously.

OK, that confirms it is not a partition lost problem.

Please ensure that you have removed all other external drives/pen drives from your PC.

Run Partition Wizard, Right click on the drive icon of the 3TB external drive in the disk map and click on Rebuild MBR. Click on Apply. If the rebuild goes through, safely remove the external drive and plug it in again. Check whether you are able to access the drive.

If this operation also cannot be performed or it was performed but the drive cannot be accessed still, we may need to run TestDisk and try to repair the File System.

But before that try Partition Find and Mount and check whether it can mount the Partition and show the files. Partition Find and Mount — free partition recovery software Read the How to use page and scan your drive accordingly. If it mounts the Partition and shows your files you can copy the files to some other location. Make sure you Unmount after copying.

If it does not work then go to TestDisk. Follow the process in this post External HDD - K:/ is not accessible Post a screenshot of the fifth Screen you get. In your case this screen may look quite different depending upon the nature of file system corruption. I need to check it and advise the next step.

After posting the screenshot, quit Test Disk. You may run it later if we cannot maintain an online dialog because of the timezone difference.. I shall be awake for another five hours.

( At this point I need to tell you this. If it is the Master File Table corruption, and TestDisk is unable to repair the MFT you may have to buy a licensed version of GetDataback Simple. Even now you can download the trial version of it, run it and check if it shows all your files. You can also preview and check your files are OK. But you may not be able to copy. You have to buy a licence to do it.The author of TestDisk himself recommends this program if TestDisk is unable to repair MFT.We have found that it has worked in many cases. https://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm)

OK, if Find and Mount is not successful, straightaway download GetdataBack Simple , run and check whether you can see all files and preview to confirm those are OK. If results are positive, then run TestDisk as advised in post#7.

OK, Find and Mount didn't find anything but GetDataBack did and showed all my files. Here's the screenshot from TestDisk



Thanks for your patience.