I have a 2TB external SSD that I used for keeping important files from my Windows desktop and laptop to free up space. My mom recently got a new iMac after hers stopped working, and she mistakenly used my external drive to transfer her photos and videos. After she finished, I tried plugging it into my laptop, but it doesn't show up in File Explorer. In Disk Management, it shows as healthy with 100% free space, which can't be right since it had many files on it. I suspect the filesystem might have been changed to something macOS uses, and I'm worried that my important files might have been wiped. Is there a way to format it back to NTFS without losing my data? Or is that data already gone? I'd really appreciate any help!
1 Answer
It sounds like they might have formatted your drive. First thing, stop using it to prevent overwriting anything. You could try using data recovery software to see if anything is still recoverable. Just a heads-up, this is a reminder that important data shouldn't be stored on just one device; it can fail at any time.
Thanks for the advice! I’ll definitely reach out to the recovery experts.