USB Hard disk
 

I seem to have a little problem with a usb hard disk.

There were some files I transfered from a mac into the hard disk and when i plugged the drive into my laptop at home, my laptop detected it and installed the drivers. However, it didnt show up in My Computer.

So i format the free space and now I'm able to see it, but it's empty! Where were the files I needed? Did I delete them when I formatted it? I need those files for editing.

Uh, if you formatted the disk, yes, you deleted them. Never format a disk that contains files you need unless you are absolutely certain the file system is corrupted beyond recovery.

That said, you might be able to recover your files using Active@ UNERASER. The company claims it can recover files from formatted hard drives.

Recovering lost data, thats half of my bread!
Here's the workflow:

1. disconnect this drive as fast as possible from anything what may write there.
2. install necessary software to Your computer(best IMO is R-studio, Easy Recovery isn't bad as well- but the best is have both installed because they recover bit different).
3. find free space(2x of recoverable data is ok). If it's necessarry buy another HDD.
4. test that installed software really works.
5. If Your HDD's hardware is ok then unmount it from usbbox and connect directly to Your pc. If there's a problem what could be solve with freezing HDD then let it be in box for sake of fast plug and unplug.
6. Boot it toghether(if usbbox then connect it when os is completely up). Avoid any automatic attempts to scandisk.
7. recover
8. start thinking of regular backup