External hard disk shows up as local disk then all files cannot be found except for a few but disk space used shows previous

zeliglui · Apr 2, 2016

Need some help and hopefully this forum can help.

My Imation 1TB hard disk all of a sudden shows up as "Local Disk (H

instead of previous name and all the files and folders except for a few files remained shown currenlty. But the hard drive shows usage as previously.

Need to retrieve the data.

Appreciate your advise in advance. Many thanks

SuperSoph_WD · Apr 4, 2016

Welcome to Tom's Hardware, zeliglui!

I'd recommend you to go to Device manager and try to resolve the issue by uninstalling and reinstalling the external as a device. That should help you recognize the external as a removable drive again. As for the files on it, I'd suggest you try to UNhide any folders and files that seem to be there but are invisible.
Can you also check Disk Management and see how the external HDD shows up there?

Keep me posted & Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD

zeliglui · Apr 4, 2016

SuperSoph_WD :

*****************************************************
Hi SuperSoph_WD,

- I have done the uninstalled and PC rebooted then it reinstalled itself after it booted up. It is still showing up as "Local Disk".
- Already have unhide all folders and files, none of the original files are there except for one folder.
- Disk Management shows Disk 1 which is this external 1TB hard disk as basic and online along with Healthy.

WIth the 1TB hard disk still showing used space as 738 GB and free space 192 GB which is more or less the amount of material I have on it.

Appreciate other suggestion and methd as I am not very good with PC. Many many thanks ahead of time.

SuperSoph_WD · Apr 5, 2016

Hey there again, zeliglui!

I'd recommend you to try to access the data from another computer and see how it will get recognized there. You could also attempt to use some third-party data recovery tools at your own risk. Yet again, nobody can determine how successful that would be.
In the future, make sure you keep, at least, two copies of your files stored in different locations. This is the best way to prevent similar potential data-loss headaches.

Keep me posted with the troubleshooting, though.
SuperSoph_WD

zeliglui · Apr 7, 2016

SuperSoph_WD :

******************************************************************
Hi SuperSoph_WD,

Thanks for getting back to me again.

Tried accessing the 1TB hard disk on other laptops and still shows only a few files and folders and shown as "Local Disk" still. Hard disk is still full of data as it shown.

Tried EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard trial version two nights ago, scanned and showed loads of files. But only allows me to retrieve 1GB data so I retrieved some important word and excel documents. But not all recovery was successful as some are not showing proper format. Flip side to downloading these programs as they brought me tones of virus which I am trying hard to get rid of now which is a nightmare.

Will keep trying so any further suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

SuperSoph_WD · Apr 7, 2016

Hello again, zeliglui!

Unfortunately, since the third-party utilities made things worse rather than better, you should definitely consider contacting a professional data recovery company for assistance. They are your best bet on getting those files back.
Since the HDD is behaving the same way in multiple systems, it means that the issue is within the drive itself. I'm afraid your solutions are limited and the best thing you can do for your HDD files is get the drive to a professional data recovery service.

Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

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