Cannot recover files from an external HDD (Win 8)

[ItsTheWilly]

Hi, so here is the thing. I wanted to increase storage and I had this external HDD just laying around, so I decided to put it in my PC. When I connected it I had to assign a partition and then in order to use it I had to format it. I didn't want to cause I had files there, but I couldn't access it anyway so I formatted it and decided to use a recovery tool for some of the files I had there.

The problem is when I ran Recuva and then EaseUS Data Recovery in deep scan, it recovered only user manuals, WD logos etc. but not any actual photos, music or videos I had (still hope I have) on there.

It really is strange, because the disk was half full when I last checked it still as an external HDD. Are there any other things I could try to restore my data?

Thank you.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to Tom's Hardware, ItsTheWilly!

I'm truly sorry to hear about your WD external HDD and the files! I'd recommend you to go to Disk Management and tell me how the drive is recognized there. Unfortunately, you shouldn't have formatted it just yet, I just hope you haven't transferred anything onto it since the format, because overwriting the drive with new files would make your previous data impossible to retrieve. I'd recommend you to turn to a professional data recovery company if your files are that important. You can check WD's Data Recovery Partners worldwide here: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=fbyXCU

You can still try using other third-part recovery tools yourself but I believe it's rather risky since the other two you've already used didn't do much good.
I'd also recommend you to test the external HDD's health by running the QUICK and EXTENDED tests from the WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostic utility. Here's a link to it as well: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Wc52uv

Hope this helps. Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD