I’m a common man, above average in technological capabilities, but not a programmer, not a computer engineer, just savvy enough to build my own computer and to not “upgrade” past Windows 7. I’ve had my metal portable drive connected to my network for some time now via the usb port on my router. This Christmas I got a new Samsung Smart TV, being the experimental type, I unplugged the WD Portable Drive from my network, an into the TV, hoping I could use the drive to expand my TV’s memory.
Well long story short, it didn’t work, so I won’t be recommending that to other peoples, and to make things worse, when I unplugged the drive from the TV and back into the network, I found I was longer able to access my files. I then took it to my computer, and found the same thing, using the WD software, I was able to see that the drive was connected, and there was a fuzzy notion of data being on it.
This brings me to the boards, where everything I read claimed a complete loss of data, i.e., corrupted data, and required a reformatting of the drive. I was just about to do this when logic struck me - it takes a bit of time to delete all of the data on a terrabyte. It doesn’t happen instantaneously, and it would take significantly longer to corrupt it, like more time than it took to unplug the drive from the T.V. Maybe it’s because I hate losing a fight, but my mind insisted that the data is there. The WD Software indicated that my drive was there, but was only showing me that my drive is no longer named, or rather doesn’t have a drive letter, so of course it can’t be read. Well using my sub-phenomenal technological intuition and know-how, I went into the Computer Management console, found the drive, and I simply changed the letter. Presto Chango, my data is back.
Thanks for all the overly complicated theories guys, but most of us just want our data back. I’d advise changing the drive letter before reformatting the drive.
