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I have a brand new Toshiba 3Tb external that I used once to store by back-ups while I gave my computer a clean state, (after a couple years she was starting to lag.) After backing up, I tested the drive and information on it before formatting my laptop and loosing my only other copy of my files.

When I went to put my files back on Windows said the drive is not initialized, when I go to do so, it will not allow any kind of initialization, even with under a terabyte of information on it. I've tried to initialize the drive on multiple systems and 3 different types of Windows (7 Professional, Vista, and XP) and nothing. Now I'm stuck with a clean laptop without any access to the files on the drive.

Is it possible for a drive to just become uninitialized on its own? If yes or no, is there any way to retrieve the files still on the drive?

Robotnik
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Clee
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1 Answers1

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From Karan's comments:

Why are you trying so hard to reinitialise the drive if it contains your important data? If Windows fails to read the drive for some reason, you can see if your data is accessible via Linux.

(Any Linux LiveCD/USB will do, In case your old laptop doesn't work).

If not, there might be a hardware issue with the drive, the cable or the enclosure/case.

Robotnik
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