Backup hard drive problems

Hello folks. I use a USB SATA hard drive to make backups on.

So..Got a laptop in that was having issues, maybe virus?. Customer OKed us to make a backup of their data and format and reinstall windows. Copied their files onto the above hard drive. No problems. Formatted, reinstalled Windows. Plug in the above drive to copy data back on, and the drive is bugging out. Give this message drive "is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable."

I really need the data off this drive. What steps should I take?

Thank you.

checkdisk is 1 place to start
Hope you havent nuked the other drive as you may have just copied corrupted
data

Did you check the data on another machine prior to wiping out the drive? Please say that you did...:knife:

I agree with CeeBee's first thought: check it on another machine before panic sets in. I have had certain chipsets that don't play well with certain USB - hard drive interfaces. Second, there are a number of free data recovery programs out there that are useful, but to really get important data back with confidence I would shell out a few bucks and get something that has high ratings on websites other than the manufacturers' website. I can't remember what I used to use but it worked fine, as long as you had time. I'll look in my bag of tricks and try to get back to you. Good luck!