Please help me

[Makedonija]

Hi,
Please help !!! Here what I have done:
1.Download Windows 7 iso file,which I put it in isoBuster and extracted.
2.Coz I have listen it is better to make clean instalation,I bought new WD external HDD-Passport Studio 500 Gb and put it all information from my PC to HDD (around 90Gb very important data + windows 7 of course)!
3.I run "cmd" and get in DOS
- "diskpart"
- "list disk”
- select disk 1
- clean...
After i wrote "clean",I discconect usb cable,coz I afraid-what does "clean" means!!??
For god sake-i have all informations from last 6 years on my external hard disk...

Now,my WD doesn`t work,everything is ok in "drive manager",when i conecct usb cable there is the external usb hard drive showed up on the Safely Remove Hardware list right down,but I can not enter into the disk-inside and I am so affraid and desperate and don`t know what to do...
How you can see,I am bigginer,but please tell me what is the best solution for me to do now and to don`t lose my data on WD (if i already didn`t lost
Please,please help-with days I don`t know what to do....

What I have tried:
coneccting my WD with 3 dieferent cables-usb and firewire in dieferent ports.
installing drivers from wd site

When I check Device Manager it shows that the device is installed and working properly but it will not show in "my computer" and I can't access it.
before the problem,my HDD appeard as drive H:
I wouldn't be half as frustrated if it hadn't been working properly before this.Plus-ALL data is on my HDD,and I don`t even know if it is still there

I do it this:
2 Step Solution for XP users:
Part 1:
Go to
Control panel -> Performance and Maintenance (cannot be in classic view to see this link) -> Administrator Tools -> Services -> Universal Plug and Play
If Universal Plug and Play is set to manual switch to automatic.
Part 2
Double Click Safely Remove icon on the bottom right-> Select device->click Properties -> click Volumes -> click Populate -> hit OK -> if nothing shows it may need to be formatted

Also i was in DISK MANAGEMENT,but except formating disk,I don`t see solution
And formating will erase all data on the disk,isn`t it?! (if i have it,of course).
again nothing

Thanks in advance !!!!!!

 

[gregrocker]

Do you still have your files on the internal HDD?

Were you attempting to clean the internal HDD and accidentally chose the External?

Call Western Digital Tech support to help you get your new external drive running. Their support is included in the price you paid. They can help you recover data if drive is not functional or erased, and will replace the drive since it has a one year warranty.

You said you were extracting the Win7 ISO to get a clean install. This is incorrect. You want to burn the ISO to a DVD using ImgBurn at 4x speed with Verify. Then boot from the DVD and choose Custom install with Advanced Drive tools to format the drive before install, which is the cleanest install.

 

[Makedonija]

Hi

Hi from me again.
Unfortunatly NO : I put it all information from my PC to HDD (around 90Gb very important data),because I want to do clean installation from XP to windows 7

Just like I said: I put all data from internal HDD to external HDD(from my PC to WD),because I want to make transition from XP to Windows 7,but not with Bootable DVD disk,but from External HDD.
There were some steps on the net,which I follow one by one,but...happend what happend
My problem start after I done this:
I run "cmd" and get in DOS
- "diskpart" - I wrote that word,without ""
- "list disk”- I wrote that 2 words,without "
- select disk 1 (I should select disk number,and because I didn`t see it any,I just choose number 1,just like in example in the forum)
- clean... - I wrote clean,but I change my mind,after 5 seconds,because I afraid for my data on the WD,does CLEAN was with meaning to erase all data on my WD,I still don`t know!
After i wrote "clean",I discconect usb cable,coz I afraid-what does "clean" means!!??


I DON`T CARE ABOUT PC-IT IS EMPTY NOW,AND I DON`T CARE ABOUT XP,OR WINDOWS 7,JUST DATA ON MY WD IS IMPORTANT NOW AND HOW TO OPEN THAT DATA AND IS DATA THERE ON IT?! It will be everything ok if I re-install Windows xp ?!(I have bootable XP disk) Or if I repair Windows XP through installation process?

Do I have problem with MBR ?

Should I format my WD ?

Common,I am sure that there must be way to solve the problem with my external disk to open my data or if the disk is empty to return/recover the data somehow! Thanks in advance again and also thanks for the advice you gave me !!!!!!

 

[harpua]

Assuming you actually installed windows 7 on your main hard drive:

Maybe you need to go into disk management and assign a new drive letter to the external drive. Until you give it a drive letter, it won't be visible/usable in windows outside of the disk management utility.

Right click Computer, select (left click) manage, give it a few seconds to load, then select disk management, when that loads, you should be able to see your WD external hard drive on the right side pane beneath your main C drive. Right click the external hard drive, click add/change drive letter, assign it any available drive letter, click OK or apply and you should be good to go and the drive should now appear (outside of disk management) in Windows as whatever letter you chose.

Otherwise, if you didn't install windows 7 on the internal C drive, then you need to do that before you can access anything. Here's tutorial on how to install W7: Clean Install Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums
Hope this was it. Whatever you do, DON'T FORMAT the external drive. Good luck.

 

[Brenz]

So is your computer actually working and have windows 7 on it ?

There wasnt really any need to wipe the HDD before installing Windows 7. You can just run the installer and it will move all your files to a windows.old folder which can then be removed once you have taken anything you need off it.

Have you tried connecting your WD External to another computer to see if its working ? If you were under CMD I would guess that it would only have effected your internal HDD unless you specified your external HDD instead.

 

[oblio98]

......I DON`T CARE ABOUT PC-IT IS EMPTY NOW,AND I DON`T CARE ABOUT XP,OR WINDOWS 7,JUST DATA ON MY WD IS IMPORTANT NOW AND HOW TO OPEN THAT DATA AND IS DATA THERE ON IT?! It will be everything ok if I re-install Windows xp ?!(I have bootable XP disk) Or if I repair Windows XP through installation process? .....

Well, if your internal HD is "clean", then there's no O/S, which would mean that you cannot access anything on your WD USB drive (unless you made it bootable, which I doubt), since there is no way to browse or open the files. So, I would go ahead and load Windows (whatever version you want to, XP or 7), then try and access your data on the WD. It's probably right there where you put it.

 

[veii]

......I DON`T CARE ABOUT PC-IT IS EMPTY NOW,AND I DON`T CARE ABOUT XP,OR WINDOWS 7,JUST DATA ON MY WD IS IMPORTANT NOW AND HOW TO OPEN THAT DATA AND IS DATA THERE ON IT?! It will be everything ok if I re-install Windows xp ?!(I have bootable XP disk) Or if I repair Windows XP through installation process? .....

Well, if your internal HD is "clean", then there's no O/S, which would mean that you cannot access anything on your WD USB drive (unless you made it bootable, which I doubt), since there is no way to browse or open the files. So, I would go ahead and load Windows (whatever version you want to, XP or 7), then try and access your data on the WD. It's probably right there where you put it.

+1

The only way to access that drive now is to:

1. Install an Operating System on your PC.

2. Plug it into another PC/Laptop.

3. Boot a Linux "Live CD".

 

[OpSysWiz]

1. Disconnect usb drive from system.
2. Install Win 7 on internal HDD.
3. Connect usb drive.
4. If usb drive not visible, then go into Disk Management and assign a drive letter to it.
5. You should now see the data on the usb drive provided you made a good copy.

 

[Makedonija]

Hi guys

Oblio98 & veii:
Guys,I am still runing windows XP-not windows 7 and when I said:"My PC is empty"-I mean from 120Gb internal HDD,partitions C: D: and E: -they are free! except my main C: partition,which is little full,because of windows xp.Understand me now?I have operating system on my PC!

Harpua,Brenz & OpSysWiz:
In DEVICE MANAGER:
When I checked Device Manager it shows that the device is installed and working properly but it will not show in "my computer" and I can't access it. before the problem,my HDD appeared as drive H:
In Device Manager say:"This device(WD PP III Studio II USB) is working properly"
disk: disk 1
type:unknown
location: 0
capacity: 476938
unallocated space: 0 Mb
IN DISK MANAGEMENT:
Disk 1-unknown 465,76Gb not initialized
There is black bar and unallocated 465,76Gb
Disk 0 basic C: primary partition and healty
D: and E: partitions also healty and they are with blue bar(not extended,but logical drive)
Also,I used Windows Data Lifeguard Diagnostics,but the software didn`t report any errors for the drive!
Everything is fine with USB ports, fire wire port,also with cables-long one,short one…
Led indicators on the WD are on-they lights and the sound is normal.
Drivers are fine too,Device Manager say-no conflict,everything is good...
But the HUGE problem is still present and my 3 main questions are:
1.Why I can not open my WD?
2.Is there my data on it?
3.If there is not my data,what is the % to recover/return back all informations?

If I add/change drive letter-is there chance to make position worst,I mean,if data is still there on WD,with changing drive letter to lose data or something like that?
I didn`t try connecting WD External to another computer to see if its working! Maybe first of all to do that step,and if it works on other PC,I will re-install windows XP and I guess,my WD will work on my PC again,isn`t it?

Thanks a lot guys for your advices,you are wonderfull,really thanks,because you are trying to help me!

 

[Capt.Jack Sparrow]

Try to plug in a different computer if you have one

 

[antt]

Just to get this straight, you wanted to install Windows 7 from an external hard drive (WD)?
So you copied everything from you internal drive to the external, so that it was safe.
But then you went and used the same external drive (WD) to try install Windows 7?

That seems like a problem. I think you may have answered you're own question from that readout in diskmanagement: Disk 1-unknown 465,76Gb not initialized.
It sounds like the external drive got wiped but didn't have a filesystem installed (hence the unallocated space). That would be why device manager shows it, but you can't access it because it is not formatted.

As their is nothing on the drive, it seems like all your data is gone. A data recovery business may be able to recover your data, and will cost alot.

 

[win7clutz]

Unless I'm missing something it appears that he "moved" rather than "copied" his data to the new external and then destroyed the externals partition... If that's the case, recovering data is not possible without some kind of recovery software that can rebuild the partition... Yeah I know, kinda late to the party.

 

[gregrocker]

I believe you wiped your WD drive when you typed DISK 1 and then clean. You always need to be absolutely sure of the disk you choose before your CLean or Format. I do not know why you would choose Disk 1 showing 500gb, or type Clean when you say you dont even know what it means?

In the future, please use an automated Partition Manager like free Partition Wizard, which has a graphical presentation of your Hard Drives and easy buttons and sliders to move the partitions to the size your want, delete them, format, etc. If you had asked here beforehand, we would have suggested your download free Partition Wizard and burn to a disk, then walked you through the steps.

You need to use your free tech support that came with the WD drive to call to see if they can help you recover your data.

For installation of your Windows 7, the cleanest install is to burn a DVD from the ISO, boot from it and format the drive where you want to install it using Custom>Advanced drive tools. Unplug the external before doing this. It will set up a dual boot menu with XP.

 

[Makedonija]

shyamsasinran:
I will try to plug in my friend notebook,so if data is there-super,if not...

antt:
"As their is nothing on the drive, it seems like all your data is gone. A data recovery business may be able to recover your data, and will cost a lot."
-The all data I have is around 90 Gb,so if someone will recover-by you-how much money it will cost me?and...
Is possible to recover all data and what if it is not possible with software?
Can someone do it if open the disk(hardware)?

win7clutz:
"Unless I'm missing something it appears that he "moved" rather than "copied" his data to the new external and then destroyed the externals partition... If that's the case, recovering data is not possible without some kind of recovery software that can rebuild the partition... Yeah I know, kinda late to the party."
- I have windows XP,but I wanted to upgrade/transit to Windows 7 using my WD external drive like bootable disk instead of bootable DVD disk,so here it is what kind of stupidness I have done:
1.Download Windows 7 iso file,which I put it in isoBuster and extracted.
2.Because I have listen it is better to make clean installation,I bought new WD external HDD- Passport Studio 500Gb and put it(cut-paste,not copy-paste) all information from my PC to HDD (around 90Gb very important data + windows 7 of course).
I didn`t format my External Western Digital disk !I didn`t convert from FAT to NTFS or things like that,just I have done this:
3.I run "cmd" and get in DOS
I wrote "diskpart"
I wrote "list disk” (Because there were nothing,not disk 1,2,3-i just select disk 1-don`t ask me why,because I don`t know for myself,because i am stupid!!!)
I wrote "select disk 1"
I wrote "clean"...but I change my mind,after 3-4 seconds,because I afraid for my data on the WD,does CLEAN was with meaning to erase all data on my WD,I still don`t know!
[FONT=&quot]After i wrote "clean",I disconnect usb cable directly from my WD,because I afraid-what does "clean" means!!??
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]For u and all other-is possible that step "clean",which was 3-4 seconds to delete so fast all data on the disk?[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
I blow up,when I disconnect usb cable directly,without "safety remove" and that`s why I have problem now,or because I wrote "clean"?
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Do I have problem with MBR?
[/FONT] It will help,if I or someone else back up my system somehow,before I done the mistake?


gregrocker
You need to use your free tech support that came with the WD drive to call to see if they can help you recover your data.
- I wrote them,but still no answer from WD support,also I wrote in forum there,but also without any answer
...and...I am in ****ing BALKAN,should I say that here you couldn`t find service for this kind of technique,probably I should send somewhere else by DHL...in Russia,Italy maybe(nearest services).
How about online support,I mean...is there that kind of recovering data by distance,for example you are expert,I will connect my WD to the PC and you will recover data from your PC-getting in mine?!

Thanks again to everybody trying to help me,I am so desperated and sad,I know that I made huge stupidness,but I don`t have power to turn the time back
Everything I have is hope and you guys,with your advices.
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]