Drive disappeared, now GPT Protective Partition and can't access.

[SHquid]

Booted up this morning and tried accessing some project files and found that one of my drives was just gone, nowhere to be seenl. I checked the Disk Management tool and it shows up, but it no longer is assigned a drive name has (GPT Protective Partition) next to it. I've read up and most solutions involve wiping the drive, which is not an option. I have a ton of project files on this drive and need them in any way possible. I checked and replaced all sata cables with new ones and restarted many times. Any help at all would be a life saver.

Screenshot of Disk Manager
http://i.imgur.com/6EEQeMj.png

Here's the hardware details.
Drive in question: Western Digital Green 4TB

Rig
MB: EVGA x79 Dark
CPU: Intel i7-4930
RAM: 32GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series
GPU: GTX 770

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, SHquid!

I'd advise you to unplug the HDD and try to access your projects from another computer that works with a 64-bit Windows version. Make sure you do a backup of them somewhere else! Having, at least, two copies of your most precious data (in different locations) is the best way to avoid any potential data loss.

I'm afraid that there's no other way for you to access your data on this PC even if you swap the cables, if you don't re-initialize it and then re-partition & re-format it again. In case Disk Management doesn't give you that option, you should use DiskPart (Command prompt - Run as Administrator). It seems this system is running a 32-bit operating system, which might explain the GPT protective partition.

Give it a try in a another system and let me know how it goes. Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[SHquid]

Hey there, SHquid!

I'd advise you to unplug the HDD and try to access your projects from another computer that works with a 64-bit Windows version. Make sure you do a backup of them somewhere else! Having, at least, two copies of your most precious data (in different locations) is the best way to avoid any potential data loss.

I'm afraid that there's no other way for you to access your data on this PC even if you swap the cables, if you don't re-initialize it and then re-partition & re-format it again. In case Disk Management doesn't give you that option, you should use DiskPart (Command prompt - Run as Administrator). It seems this system is running a 32-bit operating system, which might explain the GPT protective partition.

Give it a try in a another system and let me know how it goes. Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD

Thanks for the help SuperSoph_WD!
I went to boot up one final time before switching that drive to another computer and now it's showing up and has been for a two days. Not sure if that means a bad connection of what . Is there a reason why it would do that?

Thanks!