Tom's Hardware > Forum > Storage > Hard Disks > HDD External Hard Drive Corrupted and Unreadable, What should I do?

HDD External Hard Drive Corrupted and Unreadable, What should I do?

Forum Storage : Hard Disks - HDD External Hard Drive Corrupted and Unreadable, What should I do?

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Could anyone give me some advice on repairing or recovering data from a HDD external hard drive. I pulled out the USB while transferring some files into it and now when i plug the usb of the external hard drive into the computer it says its corrupted or unreadable, and i get an option to format it, but i dont wanna lose the data in the hard drive. Also, i cant seem to safely remove the hard drive, it says the drive is in use. what should I do? is there any data recovery or repair program i can get?


Message edited by venom190 on 07-05-2008 at 06:02:24 AM
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Reply to CompTIA_Rep

try inserting directly to pc... might be drive still safe... most of the time its the enclosures that are damage first


Message edited by goonting on 09-05-2008 at 01:25:18 AM
------------------------------ Intel Pentium 4 630 3.0Ghz Shuttle XPC SB81P(intel 915G)
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Reply to goonting

easy fix.

get testdisk 6.9 win

use testdisk exec file to analyze and replace bad boot file with good back up

hard drive instantly transferred back to normal - no "raw" state or reformatting required

saved 180 gigs of stuff

Reply to deanmartin

I have a similar problem. All of the applications went "Not responding" after i clicked a file from my WD portable HD. My computer hung for a long time about 25mins. So I pulled out the USB cable then restarted. When I plugged in the USB cable again, the drive doesn't show up anymore. How do I "force" my computer to read, let alone find, the portable HD?

Reply to soloflight

I have had exactly the same problem as soloflight- WD passport, not responding when trying to open files, computer jams, now doesnt recognise drive. I really hope someone has the answer as this is my final year at university and everything is on there- sore lesson to learn for not backing things up- I really hope theres a way to fix it.

Reply to ross87

deanmartin wrote :

easy fix.

get testdisk 6.9 win

use testdisk exec file to analyze and replace bad boot file with good back up

hard drive instantly transferred back to normal - no "raw" state or reformatting required

saved 180 gigs of stuff



--->

I am having the same issue as the above user, but i downloaded this program and several others and my drive doesnt even appear, and if it does it appears as unreadble...please help i have over 200 GB of stuff mainly music since ima dj

Reply to DJHEAVYHITTA
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Storage > Hard Disks > HDD External Hard Drive Corrupted and Unreadable, What should I do?
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