External drive suddenly void of ALL files, no access

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markns Posts 1 Registration date Wednesday 23 September 2015 Status Member Last seen 23 September 2015 - 23 Sep 2015 à 13:22
Boogieman_WD Posts 275 Registration date Friday 10 October 2014 Status Member Last seen 19 October 2016   - 24 Sep 2015 à 02:37
My Seagate external F: drive through a USB that is full of important backed up files is now suddenly showing up as "CD Drive (F:) Ativa U3 System" No files show at all. And when I unplug the USM, the computer does not even see the drive plugged back in.
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Boogieman_WD Posts 275 Registration date Friday 10 October 2014 Status Member Last seen 19 October 2016   37
24 Sep 2015 à 02:37
Hey there, markns.

Have you had any issues with the drive prior to this problem? Any unusual sounds/noises coming from the HDD, hangs/freezes, slow or unusual transfer speed? Have you used any specific software to backup your data or you've just copy-pasted your files to the HDD?
I'd recommend that you try the drive with a different USB cable (preferably shorter than 12") and a different computer, to see if the same thing happens. If that doesn't help, I'd suggest that you try to access it via Ubuntu Live USB/DVD, to see if it's properly recognized and if you can get to your files. You could try data recovery software as well. And last, but not least, the most reliable data recovery option - a data recovery company.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD

WD Representative