cannot access data on my maxtor one touch 4

[steffo]

hello all.
this is my first post.
I have a maxtor one touch 4 500gb and suddenly as I was downloading some files on it, it stopped working.
The only thing I can do is to see the files and folders/subfolders but all files cannot be used.
e.g. I cannot see the photos which are stored, I cannot watch the stored movies, cannot listen to music etc.
I also cannot copy/move anything from/to this hard drive.
Check disk does not work.

is it possible to fix the disk along with all data? I have around 270gb used and I don't want to lose them.
I know I can recover those files to another drive using a software.
I wonder if it's possible to fix the problem without having to move the data.
OS is windows XP

thanks

[harddrivespecialist]

You can try to fix it, but you will risk losing everything.
So, back up first and then try to fix your drive.

[steffo]

thanks for the reply.

how can I do this?
which software tools do I have to use?

[harddrivespecialist]

There is too many of different ones.
I personally use PC3000.

[steffo]

can I fix the drive with this tool? or is it just to recover the data?
if not, which tool should I use to fix it

[harddrivespecialist]

If your drive is fixable, you can fix it.
Not everybody can afford it though...

[poehere]

Copy your data to another drive. You can use Rstudio or even Winhex to do this one with. It will make an exact copy of this drive to another drive. Get one same size or bigger to do this one. Then you can try to fix your problem inside windows. You can also try a system restore if you locked or blocked something inside of your drive. Just a possibility this might work for you but do not really think so. Copy data first to another drive.