External HDD shows as Unknown, Not initialized, Unallocated. Restore?

[fayk]

Hello
I got my 1tB WD external disk and it's not working as it used to. The problem came from nowhere, suddenly, totally unexpected. There is/was my precious data on it which I collected for 10+ years and I'd like not to lose it.

Origin:
It was working fine a day ago, no problems occured. Hasn't been unplugged since then. Has never fallen. Has never had any kind of error. But: I've seen some kind of ".COM not responding" problem on my PC (don't remember, closed it immediately). I believe my laptop is in a good and healthy condition.

So, what my WD HDD does is:
- it can be seen as a device by my computer. I can plug it out safely.
- diode shows that it's working (not showing the data transfer activity)
- nothing else

What I see in Device Management/Storage is (as in the title):
Screenshot by Lightshot

What programs I used to try to restore partition:
- Mini tool Partition Recovery Home Edition (quick and deep scan, no results. Shows disk as a Bad Disk)
http://prntscr.com/2wpy8s
- Mini tool Power Data Recovery (pro, non-free tool, however after scan there was no results)
- Find and Mount (no results)
- TestDisk (quick and deep scan, no results)

What I haven't tried doing is connecting the HDD directly to the laptop.

Any suggestions?

 

[Computer0304]

You should try directly conmcting it. If that does not work, try this: http://www.sevenforums.com/software/266879-recover-flash-drive-turned-raw-partition-wizard-testdisk.html Do recovery with partition wizard. (Don't mind the name) But if that does not work, your drive is dead. Like a wise man said, backup, backup, backup!

 

[jumanji]

Hi fayk,

Welcome to SevenForums.

If Partition Wizard shows the disk as Bad Disk, the disk is as good as lost and beyond home recovery.

But sometimes miracles do happen. In one case we were almost giving up when the OP tried Partition Recovery with EaseUS Partition Master Home Edition and was able to recover all data.

So try it.

If it does not help, take the HDD out of the enclosure, hook it up as an internal drive, repeat all the procedures you have tried and check whether ladyluck smiles on you. Good luck.

 

[whs]

Try to recover the data with a live Linux CD. Linux is more forgiving. And if you have no live Linux CD, use this.

And next time make backups of your precious data. If you don't back it up, it must not be worth a lot.

 

[mjf]

Did you try the Partition Wizard's "Partition Recovery Wizard"?
For a damaged file system you can try RAW file recovery
PhotoRec - CGSecurity