External HDD Shows "Unknown Partition"

Calibretto · 09-28-2009, 08:42 PM

Hey Guys. I got a 500GB Seagate FreeAgent Go external HDD and when I plugged it in one day, it did not show up in My Computer. I went to Disk Management and it showed there as "Healthy (Unknown Partition)". What does this mean? It's never happened to me before. Any ideas on how to fix this and can my files be recovered?

kimsland · 09-29-2009, 12:21 AM

Usually the Hard drive will be ok, but the external box may have faulted
Try removing the Hard drive (if you can get into the external box) and mounting the hard drive inside a working PC

superldg · 09-29-2009, 07:23 PM

Download this and scan for lost files. If still nothing, try on a different PC.

Motoxrdude · 09-29-2009, 07:56 PM

Well, it depends. Have you used the drive before? If not, it could simply be formatted using a different format that's unfamiliar to windows, ie one native for linux of macs. If you dont have anything important on the drive, I would try formatting it to NTFS and go from there.

Calibretto · 09-29-2009, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Motoxrdude

Well, it depends. Have you used the drive before? If not, it could simply be formatted using a different format that's unfamiliar to windows, ie one native for linux of macs. If you dont have anything important on the drive, I would try formatting it to NTFS and go from there.

I ended up just reformatting the drive to NTFS. It was being used on a Mac for a few months and it all of a sudden just did this.

Motoxrdude · 09-30-2009, 02:04 AM

Yeah, windows pretty much can't recognize any file formats except for NTFS and FAT, so that was probably your issue.

09-28-2009, 08:42 PM	#1 (permalink)
Calibretto VIP Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Indiana, USA Age: 20 Posts: 3,571	External HDD Shows "Unknown Partition" Hey Guys. I got a 500GB Seagate FreeAgent Go external HDD and when I plugged it in one day, it did not show up in My Computer. I went to Disk Management and it showed there as "Healthy (Unknown Partition)". What does this mean? It's never happened to me before. Any ideas on how to fix this and can my files be recovered? __________________ - Q6600 @ 2.40GHz \| Cooler Master GeminII - Gigabyte P35-S3G - 4GB OCZ Platinum @ 800MHz - XFX 9800GT \| Zalman VF1000 Cooler - Antec Three Hundred Case \| Antec NeoPower 380W PSU - Acer 22" Widescreen LCD (1680x1050 @ 60Hz) - Stock 3DMark06 Score: 12120 - Best 3DMark06 Score: 15109 (CPU: 3.02GHz, GPU: 750/1050MHz) Tech Olive \| Tech & Gaming Blog My deviantART \|Winner of Photo Tourney - Computer Peripherals, Slow Shutter

09-29-2009, 07:56 PM	#4 (permalink)
Motoxrdude Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Nor Cal Age: 19 Posts: 7,928	Well, it depends. Have you used the drive before? If not, it could simply be formatted using a different format that's unfamiliar to windows, ie one native for linux of macs. If you dont have anything important on the drive, I would try formatting it to NTFS and go from there. __________________ Estne volumen in toga, an solum tibi libet me videre?

09-30-2009, 02:04 AM	#6 (permalink)
Motoxrdude Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Nor Cal Age: 19 Posts: 7,928	Yeah, windows pretty much can't recognize any file formats except for NTFS and FAT, so that was probably your issue. __________________ Estne volumen in toga, an solum tibi libet me videre?

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09-29-2009, 12:21 AM	#2 (permalink)
kimsland Platinum Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 882	Usually the Hard drive will be ok, but the external box may have faulted Try removing the Hard drive (if you can get into the external box) and mounting the hard drive inside a working PC

09-29-2009, 07:23 PM	#3 (permalink)
superldg Bronze Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Ca Posts: 28	Download this and scan for lost files. If still nothing, try on a different PC.