Rummy Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 So, I backed up everything to my 3TB drive(connected via front loading bay), and decided to re-install win 7(used an official disc image). Less than expected, it didn't actually wipe my C drive, however it did wipe all the standard stuff like my documents etc(which i really kind of want). I have installation files and stuff and pretty much everything else that currently remains on my internal 500GB drive backed up on the 3TB, but those bits missing are the bits I really want! The installs and all my documents! So what's the problem? Windows isn't showing my 3TB drive. I went into disk management and it said it needed to be intialised(as it did when I first got it), and I selected to do so as GPT(as I did before). I chose not to format it though, because I didn't want to lose stuff and I assumed this would make it work! However this is certainly not the case, windows now sees it, but tells me I need to format it! :( I don't want to format it, I want to get at the data! Why is this happening? Is this something to do with the GPT thing, is there ANYTHING I can do to get at the data?! Please help, I'd like it quite soon
Sheikah Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 2 things. First, I often got this issue when powering on an external drive. But turning it off and leaving it for a little bit then turning it back on could often fix it (can try it a few times). Second thing, you can try use this to recover a partition and assign it to a new drive letter. When you can access it, often after upgrading your old stuff has been backed up automatically to a folder called Windows.old (often in the C:/ folder).
Cube Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 I did a bit of searching and came across this: http://blog.atola.com/restoring-factory-hard-drive-capacity/ Scroll down to HDD Capacity Restore Tool.
Rummy Posted July 31, 2012 Author Posted July 31, 2012 2 things. First, I often got this issue when powering on an external drive. But turning it off and leaving it for a little bit then turning it back on could often fix it (can try it a few times). Second thing, you can try use this to recover a partition and assign it to a new drive letter. When you can access it, often after upgrading your old stuff has been backed up automatically to a folder called Windows.old (often in the C:/ folder). This turned out to be true! Still, there's a few other bits on the 3TB drive from where I didn't save it on C, but then started moving it over to free space for Steam. Bloody steam! I KNEW I shouldn't have relied so much on that bloody big drive! Of all the things, I did NOT see this outcome coming. Also, thanks to you both. For now I'm going to turn off, remove the drive overnight and replace it tomorrow, then try both your approaches and see. Will keep you posted.
Rummy Posted August 2, 2012 Author Posted August 2, 2012 Just an update - I'm not entirely sure how, but nothing seems to be able to find anything on this drive, which makes me wonder if the windows install(shoulda taken it out) wiped it completely somehow, or if re-initializing caused some sort of problem with it. I definitely didn't format it, but man, I'm pissed off. Little I can do now though, I guess. Thank you both for your suggestions/help(though I have yet to try Cube's suggestion).
Rummy Posted August 7, 2012 Author Posted August 7, 2012 A second update; I managed to get what off I wanted off it due to a friend having an NTFS recovery tool that worked a treat. However, I should have listened to you guys and got a 2TB :p I have a feeling my computer doesn't quite support the 3TB/GPT format, as if I partition it to GPT in linux(did it off a ubuntu livecd), it isn't then seen in windows. Admittedly I didn't try rebooting the live ubuntu to see if it worked. If I partition it to GPT in windows, it isn't seen in a live ubuntu. I'm gonna try partitioning as MBR instead(apparently limiting me to 2.2TB), and hoping it will stay visible between systems. It's intriguing though, and I'm hoping to learn a bit more about it to try and understand how it works/why it happens like this. I'd assume there must need to be something stored somewhere else within the system to reference the drive, maybe.
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