I have WD My Passport 500GB, and I have a lot of files and important things inside it. I have used about ~460GB of it. I’m using Windows 8 x64 version of OS. Lastly, I plugged in my external hard drive in my friend’s computer, which was using Windows XP, and all the folders inside my hard drive were transformed to shortcuts, and when I tried to opened them they were opened but in a new windows. After I unplugged the hard drive from there and tried to plug in it again, I couldn’t find my files inside. I have tried plugging it to a few other computers and laptops but the same problem persists. In my computer it shows that my hard drive is about ~460GB full, but when I open it inside, I have just the following four files:
MediaID.bin
System Volume Information (it is as a shortcut)
WD Quick Formatter
WD SmartWare
I don’t want to format or lose my data inside the hard drive. If someone could help me retrieve my files and solve the problem, I would be glad. Now I will be scanning the hard drive with Windows Update, and it says that there might be potentially harmful things, but I have to wait until the scan finishes. I will inform you again after the scan is complete, whether the problem persists or not.