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Updated on June 16, 2025
Genelia
Participant
June 16, 2025 at 9:32 am
Q:

How can I recover files from External Hard Drive

I really need some help. This hard drive has years of family photos and important files that I never backed up anywhere else.

I have an old 2 TB external drive. The USB port on the controller board got damaged—looked rusty—and eventually stopped working. So I took the drive out of the enclosure and connected the internal SATA hard drive directly to my PC using SATA cables.

When I checked in File Explorer, it showed the drive as completely free. I’m sure it had over 900GB of data before this happened. I immediately shut down my PC because I didn’t want to mess anything up or risk overwriting anything.

Now I don’t know what to do next. Should I:

Try fixing the original controller board and reconnect the drive as it was?
Connect it again directly and run recovery software?
Or just take it to a data recovery expert and not risk anything further?

What I really want to know is:
Is there still a chance my data is recoverable?
If I reconnect the drive without writing anything to it, is it safe?
What should be my first step?

If anyone’s dealt with something like this before, I’d really appreciate some advice.

Tagged: 
External hard drive

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Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

Nina Calder
Participant
January 20, 2026 at 5:37 am

<span class=”cf0″>High chance of recovery: you stopped in time, and the data is intact.</span>

 

<span class=”cf0″>DIY First: SATA direct connect + Stellar Data Recovery Free-fast scan 1GB free recover. Read only, safe.</span>

 

<span class=”cf0″>Skip controller fix. Pro only if undetectable.</span>

 

<span class=”cf0″>Family photos safe</span><span class=”cf1″>—scan now!</span>

  • This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Nina Calder.
  • This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Nina Calder.
Nina Calder
Participant
January 20, 2026 at 5:37 am

<div class=”highlights-border-container” style=”max-width: 100%; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: #000000; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ‘Segoe UI’, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, ‘Open Sans’, ‘Helvetica Neue’, sans-serif; font-size: 20.5px; font-weight: bold;” data-v-2c6f2ede=””><span class=”highlights” style=”max-width: 100%; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 29px; width: 100%; height: 100%; font-weight: 400; font-size: 16px; white-space-collapse: preserve;” data-v-2c6f2ede=””>High possibility of recovery: data is intact, you stopped in time. DIY First: SATA direct connect + Stellar Data Recovery Free-fast scan 1GB free recover. Read only, safe. Skip controller fix. Pro only if undetectable. Family photos safe—scan now!</span></div>
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Talia Rho
Participant
June 18, 2025 at 4:51 am

Yes, your data can still be recovered as long as nothing new is written to the drive. If the drive shows as empty but had over 900GB before, the file system is likely damaged, not the actual data.

The best next step is to reconnect the drive via SATA, but don’t write anything to it. If possible, use a write blocker. Run data recovery software that can do a deep scan and check if your files show up. Don’t try to fix the original USB board right now—it might damage the drive further. If recovery software doesn’t help, take it to a professional.

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