USB External Drive Problem

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  1. Nelly
    Posts : 40
    Windows 7 Home Premium
       New #1

    USB External Drive Problem


    Good morning All, I have an external USB Drive that has been working well until now. I am unable to see it in "My Computer" and Disk Management shows it as having no drive letter and 298 gb free.It has only about 25 gb free as it contains all my photos and docs. I believe if I assign a drive letter I will need to format the drive to use it. I'm desperate to recover it without formatting if possible.
    Can anyone help please ?
      My Computer
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  3. Golden
    Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       New #2

    Hi,

    Before you do anything, please post a screen capture image of your Disk Management screen using these steps:

    1. Click
    2. Right-click Computer, and then click Manage
    3. In the panel that opens, click Disk Management

    Regards,
    Golden
      My Computer
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  4. Nelly
    Posts : 40
    Windows 7 Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    Hi Golden,
    Thanks for the quick reply.
    Never posted a screen capture before, assuming this is right ?
    Nelly
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails USB External Drive Problem-screen-capture-disk-management.gif  
      My Computer
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  6. Golden
    Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       New #4

    Hi,

    Yes that's fine, but the results are'nt good. The disk is shown as RAW - meaning it requires a format/initialisation.....but....that means losing the data.

    There are a few things we could try. Lets start with the easiest first. Please follow this tutorial, and see if you can use the File Manager as shown in STEP C to access the external USB drive:

    https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...cy-backup.html

    NOTE: if at any stage you are prompted to format the drive, do NOT do so.

    Regards,
    Golden
      My Computer
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  7. Nelly
    Posts : 40
    Windows 7 Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       New #5

    Hello Golden,
    I've followed the tutorial and the USB drive does not show in File Manager.
    Unless there is something I'm not selecting in Peppermint ?
    Nelly
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails USB External Drive Problem-screenshot.png  
      My Computer
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  8. Golden
    Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       New #6

    Mmm. OK, I was afraid of that. On to the next thing.

    Please try the free Partition Wizard Recovery Tool to see if it can recover any partitions on the USB. This video shows the process in action.
      My Computer
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  10. beret21
    Posts : 211
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       New #7

    I lost about 50GB data the same way. . . .
    Is it IDE drive , try connecting it in a PC as slave that might detect it ! ! ! !
      My Computer
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  11. Golden
    Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       New #8

    beret21 said:
    Is it IDE drive
    Its an external USB drive - see Post #1
      My Computer
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  12. beret21
    Posts : 211
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       New #9

    Golden said:
    beret21 said:
    Is it IDE drive
    Its an external USB drive - see Post #1
    MY bad i assumed it to be like this
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails USB External Drive Problem-brando-usb2ide-cable-v2-4.jpg  
      My Computer
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  13. Nelly
    Posts : 40
    Windows 7 Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       New #10

    Hi, the recovery tool detects partitions but the free version only allows 1 gb of recovery. Not a complaint but an observation, will pay if it can get my files back. Although free is best :)

    Golden, great advice thanks. Some serious rep coming your way, and Beret not a problem thanks for getting in on it.
    All help appreciated.
    Nelly
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

 
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