I have been using a WD external drive for a couple of years with no problems but now I can not read it. The light is on when connected to the laptop, it does the useual  flashing light and you can feel feel the disc rotating but that is it.  In windows explorer it shows the drive (F:) but will not show what is on the drive. Clicking on the drive brings up a warning message - Windows explorer not responding.  This happens to all programs used to try and access the data on the drive, office programs etc. Including EaseUS and Data lifeguard for windows. WD drive utilities program does not even recognize it is connected. Using the Data lifeguard software, this carries out an analysis of drive and then disappears as it shut down. Checking with task manager it does not show it as running but remove the WD drive from the USB port the lifeguard program appears showing the details if the laptop internal drive.  Any one with any idea with what may have cased the issue and what can be done to rectify?
What steps can I take to try to recover lost or inaccessible data from any storage device?  Answers:   This applies to any computer storage device, e.g. internal/external hard drives, USB sticks, flash memory. The most important thing is to STOP using it, any type of I/O can ruin your chances of a recovery.     We have separate questions covering common problems with USB flash drives in greater detail:
Let $a$ and $b$ be non-zero integers, and $c$ be an integer. Let $d = \gcd(a, b)$. Prove that if $a|c$ and $b|c$ then $ab|cd$. Let $a$ and $b$ be non-zero integers, and $c$ be an integer. Let $d = hcf(a, b)$. Prove that if $a|c$ and $b|c$ then $ab|cd$.   We know that if $a|c$ and $b|c$ then $a\cdot b\cdot s=c$ (for some positive integer $s$). $(ab|c)$  Then doesn't $ab|dc$ since $ab|c$?  I feel like I'm misunderstanding my givens.    Can we say $\operatorname{lcm}(a,b)=c$,  $\operatorname{hcf}(a,b)=d$, and $\operatorname{lcd}(a,b) \operatorname{hcf}(a*b)=a*b$? Thus, $ab|dc$  as $dc = ab$. I'm a bit familarized with conditional sentences. But the following sentences with 'should' and 'happen to' are quite confusing too me. They are:   If it should rain, I will stay at home. 2.If it should happen to rain, I'll stay at home   If it happens to rain, I'll stay at home.    What are the meaings of those sentences ? Do they all mean the same ? Thank you a lot in Advance for your answer. Remove Meta Privilege for MSE (only) What I am asking here is to please remove the privilege to participate in Meta for MSE.  This privilege is literally useless. You can't really have a meta site for a meta site. There's no Meta.Meta.SE here or any other SE site out there: Meta.SE covers for every site in SE, including itself.     When users find out that you don't really get anything new, it's kinda sad for those people. There is no use for it except just to be there and fill up the space between the first and third privilege. Privileges should be shown only if you earn something new, and this privilege to participate in the meta isn't new because it's where you report problems in all of SE, including Meta.SE.    So please remove the privilege to participate in meta just for Meta.SE.    This is not a dupe as this is a feature-request to remove it, not support on why it is there. Show default image when no uploaded image How do I make Firefox start always maximized? I am setting up Ubuntu with gnome for my grandma. How can I make firefox start ALWAYS maximized. Automatically redirect anonymous user from unanswered duplicate question to corresponding answered version Php - regular expression to check if the string has chinese chars Sort order issue I'm having an issue sorting data in ascending order.   Right now the sort order is: 1.0.0  10.0.0 10.0.1 11.0.0 2.0.0 2.0.1 3.0.0 3.0.1 3.1.0  What I want is: 1.0.0 2.0.0 2.0.1 3.0.0 3.0.1 3.1.0 10.0.0 10.0.1 11.0.0  How can I achieve this? The datatype can't be number or currency because of the 2 decimals, so I used text-field. Show that $x^2+x+4$ is irreducible over $\mathbb Z_{11}$.    The problem can be solved by putting every element from $\mathbb{Z}_{11}$ and checking if there is any root.  $0^2 + 0 + 4 = 4 \\ 1^2 + 1 + 4 = 6 \\ 2^2 + 2 + 4 = 10 \\ 3^2 + 3 + 4 = 5 \\ 4^2 + 4 + 4 = 2 \\ 5^2 + 5 + 4 = 1 \\ 6^2 + 6 + 4 = 2 \\ 7^2 + 7 + 4 = 5 \\ 8^2 + 8 + 4 = 10 \\ 9^2 + 9 + 4 = 6 \\ 10^2 + 10 + 4 = 4 $   But this process is very long one. I am seeking a short method by which I can solve such problem.   Now suppose that it is reducible, then the factors should be linear. So how can we solve the problem based on this kind of observation? Any help will be great. Thanks. I want to play a game in an older update, but can't see a way to choose a specific version. Is this possible? Can't install Oracle Java 8 in Ubuntu 16.04 Is it possible to plot a graph of any shape? Permanent background ssh connection to create reverse tunnel: what is correct way? I've downloaded ubuntu-12.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso via Chrome. Once that was done, I wanted to burn it onto a CD but I can't find the .iso file.   When I opened the Downloads folder, the .iso extension is not there anymore, and it opens with WinRAR for unzipping. I tried unzipping and searching for any ISO files but no luck.   I'm trying to add Ubuntu onto VirtualBox on Windows 7 host OS. Please help. How to return value from an asynchronous callback function? Where do object file "Version References" come from? Which method performs better: .Any() vs .Count() > 0? in the System.Linq namespace, we can now extend our  to have the  and  extension methods.  I was told recently that if i want to check that a collection contains 1 or more items inside it, I should use the .Any() extension method instead of the .Count() &gt; 0 extension method because the .Count() extension method has to iterate through all the items.  Secondly, some collections have a property (not an extension method) that is Count or Length. Would it be better to use those, instead of .Any() or .Count() ?  yea / nae ? Prime factorization knowing n and Euler's function My task is to factorize $n$ knowing it has two factors and $\varphi(n)$. How can I do it?  Thanks for any advice. How can I pad a String in Java? Is there some easy way to pad Strings in Java?  Seems like something that should be in some StringUtil-like API, but I can't find anything that does this. Is $29$ the only prime of the form $p^p+2$?