Corrupted External HDD

[jakoska]

I tried to expand my C: drive (which I had previously set at 20 GB thinking it would be enough for win7, but I did not realize that Avast would not install on drive D: which was not a physical drive but an addt'l partition in drive 0).
I tried to Delete drive D:. Since option was not activated via DiskMgr & I could not see options via DiskPart either, I decided to re-install Win7; I made 3 partitions, where the last one is unallocated.
I LEFT my Seagate External Drive CONNECTED to my NoteBook (I had ALL my data & Lenovo drivers in that drive).
This installation might have corrupted the volume (or partition) info of my Extrnl HDD, where now, I cannot access data.
Volume won't populate (via Device Mgr-Properties).
DskMgr shows my drive (I changed the name to N: ), but with "No Media".
Diskpart --ListDisk 2 shows Status=No Media, & ListVolume 4 shows Type=Removable Size=0 Stat=No Media

NEED Help

 

[Saga Lout]

I recommend working this one in a Linux OS which can run form a CD without needing to be installed. Linux handles partitions differently - and much better - than Windows and will give you access to your personal files.

Use it only to regain control over your data and transfer them to a an external. Then go back into a Windows installation DVD and start again, giving Windows at least 80Gb because the folder WinSXS alone grows exponentially.

EDIT: A good one for starters is PCLinuxOS from www.pclinuxos.com

2nd EDIT Sorry - I just remembered how convoluted their download processs is. Try Mint instead:- http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php