Hard drive reads as "empty"

[Bill Moore]

I have a desktop, windows xp that I use daily. It has a 500 GB hard drive that is used only for storage, photos, music etc, the OS is on another drive. Yesterday it seemed to stop working, in "properties" it says it's empty. Checking with the device manager, it says it is working properly. Any idea what might be going on here? And how to fix it?

[Mitch Drumm]

I would go to the drive manufacturer's web site and download and run their diagnostic tool.

Does it even appear to be running or spinning? Can you hear anything with your ear next to it?

I assume you cannot see any files on it in Windows Explorer? If you can, I'd try to copy them somewhere immediately.


They can drop dead at any moment with no warning, so it's a normal situation you have to expect sooner or later.

If you do NOT have a backup and CAN'T see any files on the drive in Explorer, you may have to take your chances with a recovery application.

It's possible that you have just lost the partition and that the files are actually still there. In that case, I'd try Partition Wizard to restore the partition, which would then reveal the files to you.

Or you could have lost the files, not just the partition. Hope that isn't so.

Device Manager saying it's running most likely indicates it's spinning and superficially OK, but I doubt if Device Manager would have a clue about whether or not the partition was intact and OK. So--I'd suspect it's a partition issue.

But I'd run the manufacturer's diagnostic tool as confirmation.

If you are not sure, try to recover the partition BEFORE you try to use a "file recovery" application. If you can't recover the partition, then as a last resort try a file recovery application.

[Bill Moore]

Thanks Mitch, I got lucky and after a couple hours of googling, I found a cure. This is copied from the helpful webpage:

"Even before doing any of the things that Leo suggests, I urge you to perform a “CHKDSK /X /F” on that drive, immediately, and see if that doesn’t clear up the problem right away (possibly accompanied by a lot of gobbledygook about corrupted file attributes, or missing pointers, or what-have-you).

For example, assuming that the drive in question is “J:”, you would click Start, then click on Run…, and then type cmd in the “Run” dialog box that opens, and click OK.

In the resulting Command Line box, you would type:

CHKDSK /X /F J:

Hope this helps. Good luck!!!"

It worked! One problem I have is a super slow dial up connection, so it's almost impossible to download programs at all.

[Jim Kennedy]

Perfect example of why backups are improtant. It's not a matter of "if" your hard drive will fail, but "when."
Back up solutions are cheap. I just got a two disc usb raid cabinet for $47. If you shop around 5TB drives are available in the $50 t0 $70 range. There are several free backup programs that will more than meet the needs of most home users (I use Aomei backup). Cheap insurance for your data. I have been directly or indirectly involved with computer maintenace and IT for almost 40 years. Regular backups are the single most imortant thing you can do to protect against data loss.

[Wiz Feinberg]

One problem I have is a super slow dial up connection, so it's almost impossible to download programs at all.

I may be able to help you get a better connection and higher throughput. A long time ago I was on dial-up Internet and learned to tweak modem strings. I would need to know a few specifics about your modem and your phone line quality.

I will be home from work around 5:30.