Hard disk drive issues...

Ainat

I've got a 1TB external HDD that I use for backing up files. Stupidly, I copied some stuff on to the external drive, and then deleted it off my laptop, and now I have an issue with the hard drive.

Yes, I know that was a stupid thing to do. Lesson definitely learnt! But is there any way I can retrieve the information from the external?

Normally, I could simply connect it up, and the files would automatically come up and I'd be able to go in to the various folders to see all the documents. However, now I can't access anything.

It tries to load up. The little light flashes (on the external) the way it normally does when in use. It is detected by my laptop - shows up as (F:). Sometimes I can get it to show me the folders... For example, I have the drive split into things like 'pictures', 'documents', 'music', 'stuff from old laptop', etc. I can see those. But I can't actually access those folders, and therefore can't access the files. It does this on the 3 laptops I have tried it with.

If this works... This is a screenshot:



The green bar across the top stops when it's almost complete, but not quite. And to me, the folders look like they are empty (I know they're not).

For the most part, I couldn't care less about losing the majority of the files. But I would really like to try and get the photos and my uni documents off of it (thankfully I've finished the course, it's just they may come in handy).

If anyone can help I'd be very grateful. Apologies if I've not made myself clear, I'm not the most technical minded of people.

EDIT: It is a WD Elements 1TB external hard drive if that helps anyone? It's a few years old now. Last time I connected it up (a few weeks ago) I had no problems at all... As far as I know nothings happened to it, it's not been dropped or anything, but the plastic casing does look a little dented which I'm sure it wasn't before... Neither my husband or I have moved it since it was last used though, so we don't know how it could have happened.

Oblivion

Right click on Local Drive F: and from the drop down menu select Properties.


Now select the Tools tab and then select Error Checking. This should give you some idea whether the drive is toast or not.

SouthUKMan

Hi. Sorry to hear about your troubles. A couple of suggestions based on the hope that your original files are still on your laptop...

1) Did you know that when you delete files from your computer they don't actually get deleted but instead they go into your computer's Recycle Bin? It's like a holding area or a last chance saloon - and it was designed to help you restore files back to their original location when they were accidentally deleted but still needed! You can can restore the files from the Recycle Bin.

2) If the files aren't in your Recycle Bin for whatever reason, then you might want to try and use a great piece of free software called Recuva to try and get them back. I have used this myself a couple of times and on both occasions it was able to find and restore previously deleted documents and photographs. The results really depend on how much you've used your laptop since deleting the files, but it's got to be worth a shot. Google 'Recuva Piriform'.

Hope that's a help.

Ainat

Hubby tried the error checking thingy - apparently it didn't work properly, but I am now managing to salvage some stuff from it! Not sure if it's linked to trying the error checking thing or not. It is taking a very long time to salvage stuff... The HDD is running soooo slowly, and for some things it's not working at all. I'm having to do a few photos at a time. Considering I thought I lost them all, I'm thankful for recovering some of them. Though of course it would be the ones I really want that are not playing ball.

I clear out my recycle bin fairly regularly, so unfortunately nothings recoverable from there...

Most of the older photos and files were on my old laptop, I put them on the external, and never put them on to the newer laptop to have a second copy. I should have never deleted them off the old laptop, would have not been a problem then! I think I'll give that recuva thing a go on the old laptop (if it'll hold out long enough for me to do so).

Thank you for the advice.

Weird_Nev

It might be worth signing up for a free dropbox account and uploading your most cherished photos and files to it. That way you have cloud storage and can recover important files even in the event of fire, theft, flood or complete user !!!! up! Sometimes I even email vital files to myself so they're in my hotmail for ready access.