I have a portable hard drive that has lots of photo files on it, but they don't show up when I use file explorer (Windows). What's the best (safest) software to use to get them to appear so I can copy them?
Recovery Software
- Thread starter Barbara
- Start date
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Drives have FAT so tne control software knows where to look for files. Tne File Allocation Table.
when files are deleted, it’s their position in tne FAT that’s cleared…not the data itself…normally.
what you may have is a corruped FAT …. There are companies on line that specialise in repairing the FAT. But a repair may not guarantee recovery. If the drive is damaged or corrupted in some other way, you may have lost your images.
Sorry. That’s why backups use so important.
when files are deleted, it’s their position in tne FAT that’s cleared…not the data itself…normally.
what you may have is a corruped FAT …. There are companies on line that specialise in repairing the FAT. But a repair may not guarantee recovery. If the drive is damaged or corrupted in some other way, you may have lost your images.
Sorry. That’s why backups use so important.
Do the files show if you use an Apple Mac?
Can you provide a bit more information? For example, what format were the files in? NEF?, JPG? something else? Were you able to see them previously and now they've gone missing, or have you never been able to see them?
I tried Recuva....it found no files I was looking for. Both ProGrade and EaseUS have free downloads which simply let you see if the s/w can findthe files you are looking for. You have to pay to actually retrieve the files - which doesn't guarantee all the files will be readable. Thankfully, the 2 days of video clips I retrieved with EaseUS Recovery Pro were fine.
Nick B.
Member
At the moment, we need more information. If the drive isn't being recognized, then a reasonable possibility (as said by Patrick) is that the drive has a file system that can not be read by the computer. So, Windows computers can not read Mac file systems. Macs can not read NTFS windows file systems. I'd check that out before jumping to recovery software. Can you share the information with us?
I have had this drive for a number of years, always using it on a Windows 7 computer. Some time ago my laptop stopped recognizing it, but my desktop (also Windows 7) did see it. Not long after that I started using other portable drives to back up my files, so it has sat around unused. Now I have started trying to organize everything and save copies of the files onto a larger hard drive. Along the way I discovered that some files from 2016, 2017, and 2018 do not exist on those newer drives, so I went back to the older one to see what i could find. The situation now is that the laptop recognizes it, but doesn't find any files. Same with the desktop, which now has been upgraded to Windows 10.
So I looked around for recovery software, and settled on EaseUS even before seeing Butlerkid's posts. I ran that this morning, with some frustration. It took an enormous amount of time to scan the drive, and when it showed that it had found data in excess of the capacity of the drive, I stopped the scan. I started the recovery function, and then stopped that when after a couple of hours it said it had recovered about 1/4 of the files.
HOWEVER, all of the missing 2016, 17, and 18 files were recovered and are readable. I have no idea why the software was showing such unreasonable high numbers, and I also have no idea what else might be on that drive. I think I'll run the software again one day when I don't need my laptop for about 12 hours. But in the meantime, all is well.
And thanks to Butlerkid for reminding me that I'll need to cancel the software soon.
So I looked around for recovery software, and settled on EaseUS even before seeing Butlerkid's posts. I ran that this morning, with some frustration. It took an enormous amount of time to scan the drive, and when it showed that it had found data in excess of the capacity of the drive, I stopped the scan. I started the recovery function, and then stopped that when after a couple of hours it said it had recovered about 1/4 of the files.
HOWEVER, all of the missing 2016, 17, and 18 files were recovered and are readable. I have no idea why the software was showing such unreasonable high numbers, and I also have no idea what else might be on that drive. I think I'll run the software again one day when I don't need my laptop for about 12 hours. But in the meantime, all is well.
And thanks to Butlerkid for reminding me that I'll need to cancel the software soon.
Barbara,
I would not use that drive again. There is certainly something going on with it. It’s possible that the usb connection is bad or the drive is starting to fsil
I would not use that drive again. There is certainly something going on with it. It’s possible that the usb connection is bad or the drive is starting to fsil
If you choose to pay for EaseUS Pro Recovery ( which worked excellently for me!) just be sure to log in and cancel the monthly subscribtion fees!
Good Luck!
Karen
Good Luck!
Karen