External hard drive drops from 1TB to 32GB?!

Question

Hello,

I wanted to back up my new system (new ASUS computer) to have the backup handy on my Western Digital External Hard Drive.

The backup was completed. But it transformed my 1TB external hard drive into a 32GB local drive!!

I have therefore lost all my data!! Can I recover it? And more importantly, how do I revert my hard drive back to 1TB of storage capacity?!

Thank you in advance!
Configuration: Windows 7 / Chrome 26.0.1410.64

antipolis a · Accepted Answer

To go further, I need to see the "snapshot" of this disk.

Go to "Start > Run".
In the "Open:" field, enter this: diskmgmt.msc (you can copy and paste it).
Then confirm by clicking "OK".

You will have a window that looks like this: https://www.cjoint.com/?CDskWABQ5Qj (this is my main hard drive)

Take a screenshot, upload the file here: https://www.cjoint.com/, and send me the generated link in your next message.

antipolis a · Answer

Hello.

This is not the first time I've seen a topic about this kind of malfunction.

Another striking blow from Windows' integrated backup program.

The urgency is to recover the lost data.

Above all, do not write anything more to this disk.

Try this:
https://www.commentcamarche.net/telecharger/utilitaires/19127-recuva/
It works quite well.

Important.
"Recuva" can only recover files that have not been "overwritten" by new writes to the disk.

But since a backup has been saved on the disk, I fear the worst.

However, we must still give it a try.

So you need to:
- connect this disk to another PC (if it's an external disk, skip this line);
- install "Recuva" on the PC;
- launch "Recuva";
- set "Recuva" to save the recovery on the main disk of the PC and not on the disk being explored;
- start the recovery.

Waking · Answer

Hi!  Thank you for your quick, precise, and detailed response. I recovered almost nothing, but oh well!! How can I regain my ability? It scares me a little, I must admit ^^  Thanks in advance!

Waking · Answer

Hello again!! And here it is as requested! https://www.cjoint.com/c/CDsld5p9YEJ I hope this helps you! It's the H reader, my DDE. Thank you!

antipolis a · Answer

No, no.
The drive "H" is a partition on disk "2", which is your external hard drive.

Great.
At least now it's a bit clearer.
Your drive is still present.
And its capacity is still 1 TB.

So, the Windows backup has "murdered" the existing partition and created a 32 GB partition (in FAT32) to store the backup.
This leaves 900 GB that are unallocated.

You can either keep or remove the "H" partition.
And create a partition in the unallocated space using the disk manager.

Before doing that, I wonder if it wouldn't be interesting to try recovering the "murdered" partition with this: https://www.commentcamarche.net/telecharger/utilitaires/16933-partition-find-mount/
A user guide from CCM here: https://www.commentcamarche.net/faq/28827-partition-find-and-mount-sauver-les-donnees-d-un-disque-dur#top

naida77 · Answer

Hello,

I encountered exactly the same problem with a new 1TB Samsung M3 Portable external hard drive and a nearly new ASUS K56C.

I can't quite understand how I can recover the 1TB from my external hard drive.

I'm struggling with the recovery mode of Windows 8; I prefer to do a copy-paste of my disks. But I only have 32GB left on my external hard drive! And that's what's showing in the properties of the external drive after disconnecting and reconnecting it several times....

Windows formatted it (to make it a recovery drive, at least that's what I understood), and I think it must have deleted important drivers? I'm not good with computers. Thank you for your crucial help because I'm abroad, so I can't use the warranty...

Naïda

External hard drive drops from 1TB to 32GB?!

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