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    *URGENT* need help with External Harddrive

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Rikimaru03, Feb 24, 2007.

  1. Rikimaru03

    Rikimaru03 Newbie

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    I have an external hard drive that I have had and kept for 2 years now. it has 2 years worth of work on this. got a new computer so hadnt had time to transfer over the infomation on it. something happend that when I was saving a file onto it the computer froze and then turned off. someone directed me to this site, that there are a lot of good people that know their stuff. the message right now is reading "the disk in drive F is not formatted, do you want to format now?" and if I format it, all my info is gone. but I cant even get to it now. can any PLEASE help me here.
     
    Rikimaru03, Feb 24, 2007
    #1
  2. coriolis

    coriolis Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Hmmmmm, try this:

    Go to desktop
    Right click My Computer
    Click on Manage
    Then go to Disk Management

    What do you see for that external HD?
     
    coriolis, Feb 24, 2007
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  3. Iter

    Iter Notebook Evangelist

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    I guess that the partition table of the hard drive is corrupt. Probably, you need a service of data recovery. For currently situation, don't touch the hard drive any more such as format or deletion of the partition until you make a final solution for your data recovery.

    Cheers
     
    Iter, Feb 24, 2007
    #3
  4. Rikimaru03

    Rikimaru03 Newbie

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    it says "status:healthy" "capacity: 111.78 GB" "Free Sace: 111.78"


    so does that mean that everything is gone?
    :confused:
     
    Rikimaru03, Feb 24, 2007
    #4
  5. coriolis

    coriolis Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Looks like it, hmmm...

    That 'freak' accident might of been the cause. Have you tried the HD on other computers?

    If all else fails and you desperately need it, there is two possible solutions, one of which is more of an urban legend but reports of having it work, which is to put it in the freezer(Google it) or pay a company to extract from the physical discs themselves.

    Best of luck!
     
    coriolis, Feb 24, 2007
    #5
  6. qohelet

    qohelet Senior Member

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    Put in a freezer???!!! :elvis: :elvis:
     
    qohelet, Feb 24, 2007
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  7. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    Don't try reformatting or writing anything to the drive until every effort has been made to recover the partition table. It may be possible to recover it using software such as this. There maybe fully functional free recovery software but paying a bit of money won't hurt too much as long as you are certain that it will do the job.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Feb 24, 2007
    #7