Rule one with getting important data....don''t ''move'' it....''copy'' it. When you KNOW you have it copied safely you can delete if from the original location.

If your OS has ''seen'' this backup drive at one time or another...and assigned a letter or you have....then in theory things ''should'' work.....unless there is a formatting or boot sector/initialising error on the drive...or physical damage to the drive''s platter.

If the data is important....the best advice is NOT to trial-and-error with getting to it but to take your drive to a competent tech and have the data retrieved first.....then play with settings etc.

More often than not....a mis-interpreted suggestion will have you wiping the data rather than saving it...

yrag....it''s certainly not anything to do with your assistance in these things...as you are always on the button.....but it has always been my experience that the best advice is only as good as the competence of the recipient, not that of the advisor...

When retrieving important data it is more easily or reliably ''saved'' by copying, rather than moving...as if there is a data loss in ''transit'' you tend to find you lose the source and the destination.

Important data retrieval is safer in the hands of the competent, rather than assuming correct advice will be followed correctly....cos we all know what ''assuming'' makes us....