external hard drive files not visible

[G.]

On Wed, Jun 13, 2012 at 9:24 AM, Basil Chupin <blchupin at iinet.net.au> wrote:
> On 13/06/12 16:16, G. wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 13, 2012 at 7:58 AM, Basil Chupin <blchupin at iinet.net.au>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> On 13/06/12 05:46, G. wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Not sure what happened but I can no longer see the files on my
>>>> external hard drive. � What is the best method for trying to recover
>>>> them? �Gparted shows the disc is empty. �I have not reformatted the
>>>> drive.
>>>>
>>>> I found TextDisk from an ubuntu help page. �Is there a better option?
>>>>
>>>> thanks
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> garyk
>>>
>>>
>>> Can you be provide more information, please?
>>>
>>> Which system are you running? Did this happen after you did an
>>> upgrade/update? What are you using to view the files on the external HD
>>> (I
>>> know you said that you used gparted but what did you use BEFORE)? Did you
>>> cleanly exit the external HD when you last looked at the files on it?
>>> What
>>> shows up when you - as root - do 'fdisk -l' on a command line with the
>>> external HD switched on? When you switch on the external HD do you hear
>>> the
>>> read/write head trying to read the disc?
>
> [........]
>
> Unfortunately you are using a browser to post using gmail which makes it
> hard to follow what is being said in thread because of "you" are unable to
> prune unnecessary text. But, let's press on...
>
>> Testdisk did not find anything
>
>
> You mentioned gparted but now you are talking Teskdisk. Confusion reigns....
>
> One of the most essential conditions required in resolving a problem is to
> ensure that one eliminates any variables and creates a "level playing field"
> :-) .
>
> And then you add.....
>
>> but Photorec is finding lots
>
>
> ....to the confusion. What does Photorec has anything to do with this
> considering that Photorec is used to recover photo-formats?
>
>
>
>> though you have
>
>
> "you have..." - no, I don't but I think that you do :-)
>
>> quite a mess to deal with afterwards or so it seems. The disc appears to
>> be working just fine.
>
>
> Please explain. If it is "working just fine" then what is the problem?
>
> (If you are getting the idea that it is important to be unambiguous when
> providing answers to people who are trying to help then - you are correct
> :-) . None of us are psychics or mind readers so all we ask for is for the
> correct information :-) .)
>
>> I was using it on Unbuntu 11.04. My wife says she just shut down the
>> computer and opened Windows afterwards. That should not cause a problem!
>
>
> Depends on what she means by "shut down the computer". If she simply
> switched off the power instead of closing down the Linux OS then there would
> be a problem. Let me explain.
>
> When you are using an external USB device you need to close it correctly
> because closing it down correctly writes to the external any data which has
> not yet been written to the device; and after it has been written, a flag is
> set on the external device that all is OK (so to speak).
>
> If you shutdown the system suddenly - as in, say, a power failure or not
> exiting the device properly - this flag is not set and the next time you try
> to access the device it will not be "seen" by a file manager.
>
> What I have found to work for *me* in the past (with one exception[**]) is
> to leave the device plugged into the USB port and switched ON if it is an HD
> and reboot the system. When the system is operating then close down the
> device as one would normally.
>
> [**] The one exception with me was an USB memory stick which, irrespective
> of what I tried to get its contents to be recognised, would not respond to
> what I mentioned above. I finally ended up reformatting it thus losing all
> the data I had on it. The moral is, exit a USB device correctly (barring any
> unexpected power failures of course).
>
>> Thanks garyk
>
>
> Happy to try and be of help.
>
> BC
>
> --
> Using openSUSE 12.1 x86_64 KDE 4.8.3 and kernel 3.4.2 on a system with-
> AMD FX 8-core 3.6/4.2GHz processor
> 16GB PC14900/1866MHz Quad Channel Corsair "Vengeance" RAM
> Gigabyte AMD3+ m/board; Gigabyte nVidia GTX550Ti 1GB DDR5 GPU
>
>
>
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Thanks for the reply.

Photorec can recover any kind of file.  See the documentation.  It is
part of the Testtext program.

Gparted allows you to look at partitions.  I do not see why you would
find that confusing.  Perhaps English is not your native language.

Photorec is still recovering files.  It is recovering a lot of files I
do not need.

At the moment I do not think I need any assistance.

Thanks

garyk