Hard drive installed, shows in Drive Mngmnt, in Bios, but not in Comp.

(Thanks for the help, by the way. I appreciate it. I would like to keep the data on this disk as I believe my wife put some family photos on there that are not backed up elsewhere)

If it is partitioned under "Windows" as NTFS, i wonder why Windows is not recognizing the file system. Let's find what file system is currently on the disk.

1. Download "Partition Wizard" home edition from Best Free Partition Manager Freeware and free partition magic for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista and Windows XP 32 bit & 64 bit. MiniTool Free Partition Manager Software Home Edition.

2. Run the tool while the disk is connected and use "Windows Snipping Tool" to capture a screenshot. Please post the screenshot with next reply.

I have a backup drive that we had used for for a while (WD 6000aak), previously in an external drive enclosure

Which enclosure and what happened to it ?.

K, I filled out my specs. Also attached is a more complete screeny of the diskpart.

Slartybart said:

Dumhed, please give us some history on the machine and disks.
What exactly do you mean by I have also cleared the mounted drives via registry and reset

What I meant here was that I did as instructed in option 2 from Drive Letter - Add, Change, or Remove in Windows.

I don't know how the drive would have an EFI System partition if it never had an OS installed on it. That is the partition that boots Windows on a GPT-initialized disk.

If you can access the drive with Partition Wizard then rightclick on both partitions to Explore to see if you can see your files, post back screenshot of each's content. If you see them then they can likely be saved from a boot disk.

If PW cannot see them in Windows then try its boot disk which is normally definitive.

Attached is the screenshot from the partition tool wizard.

Anshad Edavana said:

Which enclosure and what happened to it ?.

I had mentioned earlier that the external drive came in an enclosure. I had removed it once to put it into my desktop to see if there was a problem with the USB. But the result was the same. So, I removed it from the desktop, put it back in its enclosure and have it once again connected via USB to my laptop.

Anyway, I gotta run for a bit. I'll check back later today.

There is a GPT attribute to make a partition "Super Hidden" - this is to protect the partition from modifying. Usually partition Wizard will be able to remove the hidden attribute and make the partition visible.

Video help on how to Hide/Unhide Partition with Partition Wizard partition manager.


Edit:

Saw the screenshot you posted - it doesn't seems to be hidden. Try the recovery wizard and check whether it can detect a valid NTFS file system.

Anshad Edavana said:

If it is partitioned under "Windows" as NTFS, i wonder why Windows is not recognizing the file system. Let's find what file system is currently on the disk.

1. Download "Partition Wizard" home edition from Best Free Partition Manager Freeware and free partition magic for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista and Windows XP 32 bit & 64 bit. MiniTool Free Partition Manager Software Home Edition.

2. Run the tool while the disk is connected and use "Windows Snipping Tool" to capture a screenshot. Please post the screenshot with next reply.

Nowhere has the OP said he formatted the drive with Windows.

Most probably he purchased a Western Digital Drive formatted for a Mac, and used it to back up from his Media device ( Even now he has failed to tell what media device it is. make/model/manufacturer) Most probably that media device recommends a mac formatted drive for additional storage/backup)

(I searched for WD6000aak but drew a blank. So even the description of the external drive seems inadequate or misleading))

I also searched for that model without success.

@Dumhed

What is the exact model number of this disk ? ( WD My book, Passport etc ). Do you remember the old partitioning setup ?.

Are you sure nobody messed with the disk while you are not using it ?.

I would recommend this excellent partition recovery guide written by "Jumanji" as a reference - Recover a flash drive turned RAW – Partition Wizard and TestDisk.

Where is the question of recovery? I think he is going back to use it with his Media Device and keep the data already in it.