Hard disk

Hello,
Mycomputer external hard drive. I have a lot of pictures on it of my family. I went to use it today and nothing. It showed up in my computer but everytime i tried to click on it nothing sometimes i would get format message and i clicked no.. i did the management disk thing and it looks like there is nothing on my external hard drive :( is there anything that i can do to get this pics back it is the only copy i have of them. These pics are priceless.. please help