This is the recoverable situation — a drive the computer can still see, missing files it should have. Some of what you can do next is safe. Some of it permanently removes the option of doing anything else.
Copying off, imaging and read-only scanning cannot make things worse. Formatting, chkdsk, initialising and installing software onto the drive all can, and usually do.
Copy off whatever still reads, starting with what you would most hate to lose. Partial success is still success. Check the Recycle Bin — files deleted from an external do not always go there, but sometimes they do. Look for a hidden or unmounted volume in Disk Management or Disk Utility; a drive showing as RAW or unallocated still has its data underneath. Run read-only recovery software, installed on a different drive and recovering to a different drive.
That last condition is not optional. Installing to or recovering onto the affected drive writes over exactly the space you are trying to read.
Formatting, even a quick format, when prompted. Initialising the disk when Windows offers — that writes a new partition table over the old one. chkdsk /f or /r, which rewrites the file system to be consistent by discarding what it cannot reconcile. Reformatting to “start again” before the data is off. Continuing to use the drive for anything, including as a destination for the recovery itself.
Each is a write. On a drive whose data is intact but unindexed, writes are the only thing that turns recoverable into gone.
It is tempting to shuck a problem drive and connect the bare disk. Don’t — particularly with WD. On most modern My Passport and My Book units the encryption key lives on the USB bridge board, so a bare disk reads as unformatted even when perfectly healthy, and initialising it at that point does real damage. Other makes are less strict but many use the bridge for sector translation, which produces the same confusing result.
Send external drives whole, with the original enclosure and cable if you have it.
If the drive begins clicking or grinding during a scan, stop immediately. If it disappears partway through and reappears on replug, it is unstable and further scanning will make it worse. If a scan finds your files but they preview as corrupt, more scanning will not improve that — it points at read errors that need imaging rather than software.
A single external drive is from £300 +VAT after a free 48-hour diagnostic and a written quote, with most jobs no fix, no fee.
Often, if it still connects and the fault is logical. Copying off what reads, checking for an unmounted volume, and running read-only recovery software are all safe — provided the software is installed on a different drive and recovers to a different drive.
No. That prompt means the partition or file system cannot be read, not that the data has gone. Formatting writes a new structure over the one a recovery would use. Decline it and copy off anything that still reads.
No, especially with WD. On most modern My Passport and My Book units the encryption key sits on the USB bridge, so a bare disk reads as unformatted even when healthy — and initialising it then causes real damage. Send external drives complete.
Yes if the drive is stable and the software runs read-only, installed elsewhere and recovering elsewhere. Stop immediately if the drive starts clicking, disappears mid-scan, or returns files that preview as corrupt — all three mean imaging is needed rather than more scanning.
From £300 plus VAT for a single external drive, fixed in a written quote after a free 48-hour diagnostic. Most jobs are no fix, no fee. Send the unit complete with its enclosure.