160 gig Philips SPD5100CC/05 problem!

[tcwh1971]

I hope someone can help here. I have a Philips external hard drive (SPD5100CC/05)and during copying from my PC HD to my Philips external HD I accidentally pulled the mains plug on the my Philips external HD. Unfortunately I didn't have my external HD plugged into a surge protector After switching it back on my computer recognised my external HD but indicates it as being empty (ie:0 gig). It's a 160 gig HD and I know for a fact there's atleast a 100 gig being used. When I view it through 'My Computer' it doesn't indicate the HD capacity (ie:160 gig). What has happended and is there any way of retrieving my files? Thanks in advance. 

[patio]

Right click My Computer and select Manage...then Disk Management...
Find the drive and right click it and select Properties...if it says RAW which would be my guess your data is probably gone.
There are some data recovery tools that may help but no promises...

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Argh, you beat me to it, Patio.

As for Recovery Programs, I have used Pandora Recovery. Not bad.
(http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,61553.0.html)

Not sure what you can do with a RAW hard drive...

[patio]

Not much...

[BC_Programmer]

Not sure what you can do with a RAW hard drive...

about as much as you can with a raw stump for an arm. try it! All you need is a hacksaw....


How would a surge protector have protected it if it got unplugged?

[tcwh1971]

How can data disappear. I've done similair things to my other external hards and they been fine. So the data can be wiped because of a power surge? I find it hard to believe that it's just gone. There was over 130 gig of data on that drive and because it was unplugged it's gone? Sure external drives are more reliable and robust than that, these days?

[patio]

Sure external drives are more reliable and robust than that, these days? Angry

Apparently not.
Data is wiped out every day some intentionally...some not.
I know it's not what you want to hear right now but this is why a solid backup strategy is a must.
The amount of data has little bearing on how fast it can be wiped.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

If the drive was being used and the power cut, whatever it was doing is left unfinished and once you start it up again, it won't be able to make heads or tails of what it had done.