Files not visible on WD external HD

[nips27]

My external western digital hard drive has worked perfectly in the past. I used it to backup my computer when switching from xp to 7 and ever since then i can not see the files even though when i go to the properties it still says the space is used. (its 1T and amount used but invisible ~2gb) The rest is empty. How do i get these files visable again? I tried searching for hidden files and it didnt work either.

I have tons of important pictures, videos, and documents and need to get them back. Im hoping not to have to do an expensive data recovery service.

 

[JMMD]

So the drive shows up fine in Windows explorer or My Computer but you see no files at all? That's pretty strange. You could always try one of the free recovery programs like Recuva to see if anything shows up.

 

[nips27]

yes it shows up just fine in explorer and all that good stuff(however shows as regular drive, not removable) and no files. Ill attempt recuva see wat happens

 

[nips27]

yea recuva didnt help at all, just found files i deleted off of it looong ago... took 8 hours to do the complete check. :/ Anyone else got ideas?

 

[nips27]

I also just did western digitals full sector scan and the tests passed.... Any ideas?

 

[nips27]

still looking for help with this...