Windows 7: Regain a lost drive using Test Disk - An Illustrated Guide

the bios do recognize my external hdd but the disk management dont recognize it. it says unable to initialize drive.

the BIOS do recognize the drive but the disk management dont recognizes it. It says unable to initialize disk.

Post a screenshot of Disk Management (maximize the window and adjust columns and such to display max info).

And if you're trying to recover data from it, don't do anything to it using Disk Management. Just wanna see what it shows...

i have had success with Testdisk and a few other programs [found on Ultimate Boot Disc] but running from bootable media instead of via windows - in same situation where the OS could not deal with the external drive though it is "there" on the bus. corrupted file systems unrecognizable can make it thus appear

as you can see my external hdd is mark as unknown and no volume that refers to my external hdd can be found



P.S. i really need help here..all my files are stored in here.. i dont use my external hdd as a bootable drive instead i only use it for storage.. this happened when i accidentally unplugged the drive while it is still copying..hope you can help me

What brand/model number is it?

Do you feel the drive platters start spinning when you power it up? Any slight vibration?

You might try running testdisk from a bootable CD: Ultimate Boot CD - Overview

this.
+1

as sibbil says - if its spinning up.

having used it a good bit, a couple of suggestions: one is to google up the tutorials and follow them. second one is my opinion: scan for a limited filetype first and see what you get: takes less time and will reveal a little about the state of your files.
for instance, you might search first for documents instead of images, or vice-versa.
on a sick drive it can take a lot of time.

also, I realize this is going to sound very scary but if the above is unproductive, you have less and less to lose: you may have to format the drive. "quick" ntfs format will not destroy data. it will make the drive discoverable, then you can look for and restore lost partitions, etc if the drive is healthy enough to keep spinning.

finally, there is a small possibility that you have an issue with your usb interface. if other measures fail, you will need to crack open the box and remove the drive, put it on the bus in your pc
z

My external hdd is western digital my passport. Its model is wd 0740. Whenever I plugged it in the usb interface it gives a clicking sound and after a minute or two the sound went away and i can feel a weak spinning from inside. by the way my external hdd is 3-week old.

Download WD diagnostics utility from here: WD Support / Downloads / SATA & SAS / WD VelociRaptor

Don't worry if it's not for your specific model; it's the same for most of their hard drives.

Run the quick (short) test to see if the drive is healthy and post back with results. If it doesn't fare well on the quick test don't do anything else.

The clicking is typically not good; is it a single click?

The weak spinning you feel sounds good, as long as it's quiet and constant.

Just want to subscribe to this thread.