My Passport HD shows as NO FILES, EMPTY!

WD External Drives WD Portable Drives
1

Someone please help!!! A have had my passport for a while without any problem, carry it with protection during trips and never dropped it.  As I tried to copy some files from a desk top computer all of  a sudden it said something like… Path not found…, tried to copy another file from the same computer and kept showing that same message.  I turned off the computer and retreived the HD.  I then tried to work and plugged it into my laptop and surprise!! says the HD is empty!!

When I plugged it the light goes on and feels and sounds like it is trying to read the information, it does show in my computer, as an external device, although used to show as My Passport, but now it does not say so.  What can I do? or where can I send it to recover my files???

2

Does the drive show in Disk Management and if it does it say anything like Raw or Unallocated? What OS are you using?

Joe

3

hi joe same thing happen to me… when I tried to use the passport there is no file. and i check the disk management It has raw files. what will I do to recover it I’m using window 7.

4

It sounds like something got corrupt. Try TestDisk http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk and see if it will restore partition data. Read the tutorials there.

Joe

5

Hello,

I am having what sounds like the same problem.  Here are my details (sorry for the excess of info but

I don’t know enough to know what’s important) :

I am running Windows XP Pro Service Pack 3 on a 2-3 year old Dell laptop.

I have a 1 TB WD “My Passport”

I have about 500 GB of data on the Passport.

Here’s what happened.  Everything was working fine.  I unplugged my Passport, removed my laptop from

my docking station and placed both the ;aptop and Passport in my computer bag. Just like I do every

day.

Then a few minutes later I opened my laptop and connected the Passport.  Only now it shows up as

“Local Disk” and appears totally empty. (Before it always showed up as “my Passport”.

I have done the following:

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I tried restarting my laptop but it did not help.

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I read the other replies in this thread and tried going to the Disk Management tool.  The Passport

does show up but I have no idea what the information means.  Here’s what it says under each heading:

Volume: (E:)

Layout: Partition

File System:  Blank (nothing shown)

Status: Healthy

Capacity: 931.48 GB

Free Space: 931.48 GB

% Free: 100%

Fault Tolerance: No

Overhead: 0%

Again, I have no idea what this means.  I am not as technical as Ineed to be to diagnose my problem

(obviously).

****************************

OK, so when I right click on the drive and select “Properties” it shows the following info:

Type: Local Disk

File Sysyem: RAW

Used Space: 0 bytes

Free space: 0 bytes

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I also went to the TestDisk site Joe recommended but I am not sure what to do once I get there.

**********************************

So… can anyone help me?  I have a lot of unreplaceable stuff on this Passport and I reeeeally need

to getthis fixed. I will be happy to return the favor in the way of plumbing advice :wink:

Thanks,

Bryan Stevens

6

It looks like the partition data is corrupt. Here are some programs that might help.  Partition Find and Mount  http://findandmount.com/  TestDisk http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk  This is a try and buy http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/free-data-recovery-software.htm . For a last ditch MS has a utility to convert FAT32 to NTFS I have read in several places that this may fix a RAW partition  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/214579 Good luck.

Joe

7

Joe’s right.  when you pulled the cable you still had data in the buffer on the passport, and that caused the corruption.  you need to start using the safely remove tool in you task tray on the bottom right.  that will prevent corruption.

8

Good day to all,

i Have the same problem. like them when i open my  passport it’s blank, it says local disk when it was always named as passport and and it says in the properties that it is raw and its capacity is 0 bytes. but the only difference is that  i cant see it on the disk management. i tried some of software that you have recommended like test disk but they can’t seem to find my drive. what other advice should you recommend to help me with my problem?

                                                                                                                                                                        THANKS,

                                                                                                                                                                         jeff