Sounds like a bad disc (test it) or data was deleted via DELETE or FORMATTING.

 

What is the Make and Model # or your external HDD?
Have you tried it on another computer?
Download Crystal Disk Info and or DiskGenius, select that disk and view the SMART Info. If it is any less then Good, the drive has failed and needs to be replaced.
If the drive is healthy You can use Data Recovery software to try and recover the data to another drive.

 

I was advised to take the drive out of the box and connect it directly to a PC via a SATA interface.
I have the following picture.

 

I would suggest you do as @spunk.funk suggested and test it.
To me it looks like all content has been deleted, perhaps deliberately, perhaps accidently.
If it tests good after using test software, it might be possible to recover files.
If the erasure was from within a command prompt and diskpart, using the clean command, it is highly unlikely that you will recover any files.
Something may have corrupted your mbr table, if the 2nd table is still functional, some recovery might be possible.

 

There are several Data Recovery Apps, most of them are free to download, scan and view your files, but you need to pay to restore your files to another drive. You can try this app.

Disk Drill Data Recovery Software | Free Download | CleverFiles

Disk Drill is the best data recovery software for Windows. Recover deleted files on any storage device, multiple data recovery methods available. Free download and start recovery now!

www.cleverfiles.com

You need to restore your files to another drive.
Chances are great that this drive has failed, and it may need to be replaced after you recover your files.

 

Data recovery software used by professionals:

The HDD Oracle. • View topic - Software used by data recovery professionals

 

I was able to solve this problem.

First I managed to make a copy of my RAW disc using Clonezilla.

I came across this video tutorial.

True, it cost me $97.95, but that's nothing compared to taking the disc to a specialist. I risked losing my files forever. But I can't afford to pay a lot of money.
Let me tell you a little bit about how I did it.
I downloaded Hetman Partition Recovery , the software mapped my RAW drive, which used to be FAT, and started a full scan. It found most of my files and successfully recovered them. Yes, it couldn't recover all the files, but I was lucky: I recovered the most important ones.

And yes, make copies of important files (discs) for the future.

Also thanks to everyone who tried to help me)

 

Glad that you managed to regain your files, even if not all of them.

 

I don't trust external drives connected via USB. Too much plugging and unplugging, power on, power off, surges, drops in power during writes, etc.

A thumbdrive for external storage and transport, with an internal data drive for long-term storage seems safest to me. I just bought a 4 Tb HD for $60.00 last week. 5400 rpm, so not a performance HD, but massive and cheap. At some point I will mirror it on my new system that is currently being built, to protect the data if one of the HDs fails.

Surprised to learn cloning software repaired what appears to be a HD that lost its format.

GetDataBack has been my go to for years for this purpose.

 

I

A thumbdrive for external storage and transport, with an internal data drive for long-term storage seems safest to me. I just bought a 4 Tb HD for $60.00 last week. 5400 rpm, so not a performance HD, but massive and cheap. At some point I will mirror it on my new system that is currently being built, to protect the data if one of the HDs fails.

I'd still add cloud storage to that.

 

"Ryan Morgan" is a Hetman shill. His Disk Management screenshot is the same as the one in Hetman's video:

The same screenshot appears in the following blog:

How to Format SSD in Windows 11 Easily for Free
https://www.diskpart.com/screenshot/en/others/windows-10/raw-format.png

For more insight into Hetman's marketing practices ...

View topic - How to Read a XFS disk in Windows?

 

"Ryan Morgan" is a Hetman shill. His Disk Management screenshot is the same as the one in Hetman's video:

He admitted he found it when searching.

 

The same rubbish was posted to AnandTech a few days ago. That thread has since been deleted by the mods.

In fact, I privately warned @spunk.funk several days ago to expect Hetman's spam, and sure enough, here it is.

 

Rather than warning one staff member in advance, just put it in REPORT when it appears.