I can't access an old external hdd that I've installed in a new pc

[Jordanpitt269]

I just built a new PC and put my 4TB hdd in it. The bios and disk management both identify the drive but I can't access it in explorer. The only options disk management gives me are to create a volume up to 2TB or format the entire drive. Some solutions I found online include taking ownership of the drive but I can't do that without creating a label and formatting it.

At this point I've converted to a dynamic drive but didn't format it to see if that would solve anything. Now I'm worried I lost all my data. My next step will be converting it back to a basic drive via easeUs software. Any suggestions on what i should try next?

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Jordanpitt269.

I'd recommend that you don't do anything else with that drive. Don't convert it back to basic, don't write anything at all on it and don't reformat it. Would you please post a screenshot of what you see about the HDD in Disk Management?

You could try accessing the drive via Ubuntu Live USB/DVD, to see if it is able to recognize the partition/s and let you recover your files. Another option would be to give it a try with data recovery software: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1644496/lost-data-recovery.html & http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm.

Please let me know how it goes.
Boogieman_WD

 

[Jordanpitt269]

I did end up using seagates recovery software. After a quick scan of the drive I was able to retrieve all my data (almost 2tb) by recovering it to other drives. That took a really long time but I managed to back everything up and then formatted the original drive. It's now accessible and I'm able to copy my data back. Thanks for responding your solution is exactly what I ended up doing although I used seagate instead of Ubuntu.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Either way, you did a pretty good job on figuring out the solution and recovering the files. No matter which method or software you've used, the important thing is the end result.
I also have a friendly advice for you. Please keep a backup of your most important information, so that you can avoid similar or other issue in the future. Storing important files on a separate drive is not a backup. You should have a copy of the files important to you so that you can always restore them in case of a drive failure, virus attack, etc.

Cheers!