[Stevedino]

Hi i have a portable hard disk that have been bought and used for almost 1 year now
It is a Seagate 160gb hard disk.

The problem is right now I am not able to access it.
When i plug in, it detects the hard disk, but cannot access.
When i double click, it says

F:/ is not accessible.
The file or directory is corrupted or unreadable.

and when i right click properties, the file system shows RAW, Used and Free space all show 0 bytes.
I tried to error check but nothing happens.
I tried to also uninstall the driver then plug it in again to install again but the same thing still happens.
The drive letter use to be E but now is F.

anyone knows what to do with it as there is a lot of data in it. Everything that i have is in it.
I do not wish to reformat, afraid that if i do i cannot retrieve back all the data in it.

Thanks for reading and helping.

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did you disconnect the drive WITHOUT using the safely remove icon in the system tray...
if so you may have problems...
you can try puppy linux and see if it can see the data ...just have the drive plugged in and powered up when you boot up puppy..
this is my canned speech for puppy...substitute flash drive with your external drive

puppy will load and run totally in ram...

get puppy linux...Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd ...if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files go here and get burncdcc ..a small FAST no frills iso burning program...

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ......in this case its puppy linux
3. Select the ISO file
4. Suggestion ==> Check the option "Fix close"
5. Click on "Start"

make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....puppy will boot and run totally in ram...if your hardware is is good working order you will know...
after you get it running and your at the desktop...you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all yor data to cd/dvds
you can also use it to backup your data to a external usb harddrive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...
==========================
quick guide for saving data...music..files on a system that will not boot using puppy Linux..


after you get to puppy desktop..
click on the drives icon...looks like a flash drive...top row..it will list all the drives connected to

your computer...

click on the red icon for the drive you want to mount...in this case its a flash drive ...puppy will

mount the drive..the drive icon turns green when its mounted...
minimize the drives mounter window..you will need it again in a few minutes..
drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size...then drag the window to the
right edge of the screen...

now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive...it should
already be green..
you will see a list of all the folders on the main drive Usually your C: drive..shrink that window to

the narrowest you can..drag that window to the left side of the screen...
at this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop..the flash drive on the right side..
go back to the folders on the C: drive...click on the documents and settings folder...then your user
name or all users..find the folders that has your data..
drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window...

your options are to move ..copy ect...JUST COPY..if its to big you will have to open the folder and
drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full...(I have a 120 GB external USB drive for
big data recovery jobs and a 4 GB flash drive for the smaller jobs)..after you get the files copied to
the flash drive...
Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier
UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE by clicking on the green icon..you will once in awhile get error messages when
unmounting the drive..ignore them..when the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the
flash drive..trot on over (stroll if you want to look cool) to another computer and plug in the flash

drive and copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer..
make sure the other computer can read them...

now delete the data on the flash drive...take it back to the misbehaving computer and plug it in

again..click on the drives icon again and repeat until you have all your data transferred to the working
system..

[happyrock]

did you disconnect the drive WITHOUT using the safely remove icon in the system tray...
if so you may have problems...
you can try puppy linux and see if it can see the data ...just have the drive plugged in and powered up when you boot up puppy..
this is my canned speech for puppy...substitute flash drive with your external drive

puppy will load and run totally in ram...

get puppy linux...Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd ...if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files go here and get burncdcc ..a small FAST no frills iso burning program...

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ......in this case its puppy linux
3. Select the ISO file
4. Suggestion ==> Check the option "Fix close"
5. Click on "Start"

make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....puppy will boot and run totally in ram...if your hardware is is good working order you will know...
after you get it running and your at the desktop...you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all yor data to cd/dvds
you can also use it to backup your data to a external usb harddrive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...
==========================
quick guide for saving data...music..files on a system that will not boot using puppy Linux..


after you get to puppy desktop..
click on the drives icon...looks like a flash drive...top row..it will list all the drives connected to

your computer...

click on the red icon for the drive you want to mount...in this case its a flash drive ...puppy will

mount the drive..the drive icon turns green when its mounted...
minimize the drives mounter window..you will need it again in a few minutes..
drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size...then drag the window to the
right edge of the screen...

now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive...it should
already be green..
you will see a list of all the folders on the main drive Usually your C: drive..shrink that window to

the narrowest you can..drag that window to the left side of the screen...
at this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop..the flash drive on the right side..
go back to the folders on the C: drive...click on the documents and settings folder...then your user
name or all users..find the folders that has your data..
drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window...

your options are to move ..copy ect...JUST COPY..if its to big you will have to open the folder and
drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full...(I have a 120 GB external USB drive for
big data recovery jobs and a 4 GB flash drive for the smaller jobs)..after you get the files copied to
the flash drive...
Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier
UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE by clicking on the green icon..you will once in awhile get error messages when
unmounting the drive..ignore them..when the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the
flash drive..trot on over (stroll if you want to look cool) to another computer and plug in the flash

drive and copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer..
make sure the other computer can read them...

now delete the data on the flash drive...take it back to the misbehaving computer and plug it in

again..click on the drives icon again and repeat until you have all your data transferred to the working
system..

[John Hook]

Stevedino,

You say you've been using this drive for about 1 - year now. Were you successfully using it with Windows XP via your USB port? If so, when did it stop working and what did you change/install PRIOR to your inability to access this USB drive?

If this drive was working all along - then suddenly STOPPED working, then SOMETHING obviously changed. It is the details of what happened between these two points that might help us in figuring out what went wrong.

If Windows XP recognizes this drive when connected but cannot access the data on it - go to "Control Panel", "Computer Management", "Administrative Tools", "Disk Management". What do you see in this screen? Is this drive recognized? If so, what type of partition/filesystem is reported?

Just trying to get a picture of what's going on with this drive before I give more advice.

- John Hook

[Stevedino]

I have been using it with my laptop, and i just formatted it and reinstalled windows.
I used the hard disk to back up some data before formatting the laptop.
After that I was able to access its data, to install some programes needed.
I think i forgot to safety remove the hard disk after i used that time.

I went to Disk Management to checked
This is what it shows


The F drive is my portable hard disk.

Thanks for helping guys

Edited by Stevedino, 05 April 2008 - 12:07 AM.

[John Hook]

Stevedino,

Based on your most recent reply (with screen shots from XP's Disk Manager) - you're external/removeable hard drive (F) has a healthy Partition, but is NOT formatted with ANY filesystem. XP is recognizing this as a valid drive/partition, but doesn't consider it as formatted - which would make it capable of storing files.

If you HAD data on this drive previously - know it's there and don't wish to potentially erase it - then HOLD OFF and do NOTHING. If you simply want to make this drive available as a storage drive under your Windows XP installation, then you need to select it, then format it as NTFS - after which you'll be able to copy/move files to/from Drive F:.

I'm not sure which situation is the case. Let me know and I can assist you. You can send me a private message on this site to johnhook.

Hope this helps.

- John Hook

[Doug]

John Hook,

When offering help, please keep your posts and replies in the open forums and do not offer to assist privately via PM or email.

Rationale for my moderating instructions, follows...

When help is accomplished in the open Forum:

• It remains available to all Members and non-member-readers to learn from.
• It remains available for input from other skilled helpers who may have useful suggests to contribute.
• The helper suggestions and results become part of our searchable resource for future benefit.

Best Regards

[happyrock]

have you tried connecting the drive to another computer...
no joy...
if you have a lot of data on the drive that you don't have another copy of TRY linux...I use puppy linux because it will load and run in your ram...but any of the live cd's will work...Knoppix...Ubuntu..this technique has worked in the past many times..

Edited by happyrck, 05 April 2008 - 07:16 AM.

[Stevedino]

Hi happyrck, thanks for your recommendation, I would try that out when I have the time. Have been busy at the moment.

Hi, John Hook, yes i would want to retain all my data in the hard disk, so happy to hear that it is still there, so is there anyway to access the hard disk without formating it. There are some important school works in it and all my photos for my job.

Thanks for helping me in this matter, both happyrck and John Hook. Great to have posted here.

[happyrock]

you will have to adjust the instructions to mounting the external drive instead of the C: drive but it should still work

puppy will load and run totally in ram...

get puppy linux...Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd ...if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files go here and get burncdcc ..a small FAST no frills iso burning program...

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ......in this case its puppy linux
3. Select the ISO file
4. Suggestion ==> Check the option "Fix close"
5. Click on "Start"

make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....puppy will boot and run totally in ram...if your hardware is is good working order you will know...
after you get it running and your at the desktop...you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all yor data to cd/dvds
you can also use it to backup your data to a external usb harddrive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...
==========================
quick guide for saving data...music..files on a system that will not boot using puppy Linux..


after you get to puppy desktop..
click on the drives icon...looks like a flash drive...top row..it will list all the drives connected to

your computer...

click on the red icon for the drive you want to mount...in this case its a flash drive ...puppy will

mount the drive..the drive icon turns green when its mounted...
minimize the drives mounter window..you will need it again in a few minutes..
drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size...then drag the window to the
right edge of the screen...

now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive...it should
already be green..
you will see a list of all the folders on the main drive Usually your C: drive..shrink that window to

the narrowest you can..drag that window to the left side of the screen...
at this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop..the flash drive on the right side..
go back to the folders on the C: drive...click on the documents and settings folder...then your user
name or all users..find the folders that has your data..
drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window...

your options are to move ..copy ect...JUST COPY..if its to big you will have to open the folder and
drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full...(I have a 120 GB external USB drive for
big data recovery jobs and a 4 GB flash drive for the smaller jobs)..after you get the files copied to
the flash drive...
Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier
UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE by clicking on the green icon..you will once in awhile get error messages when
unmounting the drive..ignore them..when the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the
flash drive..trot on over (stroll if you want to look cool) to another computer and plug in the flash

drive and copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer..
make sure the other computer can read them...

now delete the data on the flash drive...take it back to the misbehaving computer and plug it in

again..click on the drives icon again and repeat until you have all your data transferred to the working
system..

[Stevedino]

Hi
I know that this post has been for quite a long time without reply.

I tried using the puppy linux, but it could detect all my other hhd but not the one that is having the problems, is there any other ways to recover my data?

Thanks for the help.

[lefei]

I am having some problems with my WD 500GB MyBook Ext HDD. In Windows XP environment, whenever I try to enter the drive, it will pop up this error message "The file or directory is corrupted or unreadable". I did the diagnostics test (both basic and extended) via the WD Utility, and passed both tests. I tried the Puppy Linux method as mentioned in this thread, but failed to read the HDD as well. The HDD gets detected, but I just cannot mount it. I dont remember the exact error message though.

Any help will be much appreciated.