Data Recovery Suggestions, Please Help!!!

[Frost17]

Hey guys, long story short:

Have a WD external HDD WD3200ML that I was using to back up some information on various computers and then was going to reformat the computers. This is what I did in order:

Plugged in to computer 1 (Window XP) - backed up data
Plugged in to computer 2 (Windows XP) - backed up data
Plugged in to computer 3 (Windows XP 64 bit) - backed up data)
Plugged back in to computer 2 to download a file to take to computer 1
Plugged in to computer 1 to remove that file and place onto computer 1 hdd - NOT WORKING!!!!!!?!?!?!

When I say not working, specifically the drive is recognized under my computer however when I click to open it, it says "The disk in drive I is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?"

What happened to all my data, any idea what went wrong here, and how can I fix it! Please guys, any info is appreciated!

 

[root]

If the formatting is lost it's just that the computer doesn't know how to retrieve the information from the disk.

I recommend a program called R-studio (which I've used before).
it does cost money, but there is a free version available so that you can 'try-before-you-buy' to at least know that it's going to work.

basically, plug the disk in, run the scanning software and it'll tell you what files/folders it can recover. (then you'll need somewhere to put the files/folders that you've recovered.

 

[Frost17]

thanks root, i'll give it a shot and let you know how it goes!

root if ur still there, i'm actually headed to work so i won't be able to give it a try until tonight. anyway you can direct me through step by step directions as this program looks fairly complex and i'm not too familiar with the terminology.

i use to be very involved with computers years ago however my current knowledge is unfortunately very poor...

any assistance is always appreciated!