Cannot find hard drives in File Browser.

Why not just use your backups. You do have backups right?

OK so I went on the IRC and it turns out that I still have the Hard drive.

H/W path Device Class Description
======================================================
/0/1/0.0.0 /dev/sda disk 500GB HGST HTS545050A7
/0/2/0.0.0 /dev/cdrom disk DVD A DS8A9SH
/0/2/0.0.0/0 /dev/cdrom disk

Then I typed "parted -l" on the terminal and this happened:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ parted -1
parted: invalid option -- '1'
Usage: parted [-hlmsv] [-a<align>] [DEVICE [COMMAND [PARAMETERS]]...]
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ parted -l
Warning: Unable to open /dev/sr0 read-write (Read-only file system). /dev/sr0
has been opened read-only.
Error: Can't have a partition outside the disk!

Now what should I do?

You need to use:

sudo parted -l

Why do you not have backups? What if the drive motor or IDE fails...where is your data then?

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo parted -l
Error: /dev/sda: unrecognised disk label

Warning: Unable to open /dev/sr0 read-write (Read-only file system). /dev/sr0
has been opened read-only.
Error: Can't have a partition outside the disk!

Also I didn't have any back ups because I was planning to have one when I buy an external hard drive. Or are you telling me to make one now?

What file system was the disk using initially?

It was Windows 7, so I guess NTFS.

If you can make a new partition on the drive (possibly with testdisk) then set it to be NTFS, you may be able to use foremost to recover files. You will need a writeable drive of equal or greater size to spit the files to. You will lose file name and location data but you may get whole or partial files out of it.

OK I will share this information

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Hitachi/HGST Travelstar Z5K500
Device Model: HGST HTS545050A7E380
Serial Number: TM8512ZJ2KMT5P
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000cca 71fe43391
Firmware Version: GG2OACA0
User Capacity: 500,107,862,016 bytes [500 GB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate: 5400 rpm
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 6
SATA Version is: SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s
Local Time is: Tue Aug 18 11:27:45 2015 UTC
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
See vendor-specific Attribute list for marginal Attributes.

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
     was never started.
     Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
     without error or no self-test has ever
     been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 45) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
     Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
     Suspend Offline collection upon new
     command.
     Offline surface scan supported.
     Self-test supported.
     No Conveyance Self-test supported.
     Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
     power-saving mode.
     Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
     General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 111) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x003d) SCT Status supported.
     SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
     SCT Feature Control supported.
     SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 082 074 062 Pre-fail Always - 38338573
  2 Throughput_Performance 0x0025 100 100 040 Pre-fail Offline - 0
  3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0023 241 100 033 Pre-fail Always - 1
  4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1429
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 067 067 005 Pre-fail Always - 7248 (0 846)
  7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002f 100 100 067 Pre-fail Always - 0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance 0x0025 100 100 040 Pre-fail Offline - 0
  9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 091 091 000 Old_age Always - 4040
 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0033 100 100 060 Pre-fail Always - 0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1423
183 Runtime_Bad_Block 0x0032 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 1
184 End-to-End_Error 0x0033 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always - 0
187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 233830904500562
188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 099 000 Old_age Always - 7293254828087
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 054 040 045 Old_age Always In_the_past 46 (Min/Max 43/46)
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 076 076 000 Old_age Always - 6361
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 2097184
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 097 097 000 Old_age Always - 36893
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 037 037 000 Old_age Always - 1631
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 176
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0036 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1
223 Load_Retry_Count 0x002a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 4435 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
 CR = Command Register [HEX]
 FR = Features Register [HEX]
 SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
 SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
 CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
 CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
 DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
 DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
 ER = Error register [HEX]
 ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 4435 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 4039 hours (168 days + 7 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 41 08 00 00 00 00 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
  60 08 d0 00 00 00 40 00 00:02:37.101 READ FPDMA QUEUED
  ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:37.100 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:37.099 IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ef 03 45 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:37.098 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
  ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:37.098 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]

Error 4434 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 4039 hours (168 days + 7 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 41 08 00 00 00 00 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
  60 08 c8 00 00 00 40 00 00:02:37.025 READ FPDMA QUEUED
  ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:37.024 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:37.023 IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ef 03 45 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:37.022 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
  ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:37.022 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]

Error 4433 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 4039 hours (168 days + 7 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 41 08 00 00 00 00 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
  60 08 c0 00 00 00 40 00 00:02:36.944 READ FPDMA QUEUED
  ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:36.944 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:36.942 IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ef 03 45 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:36.942 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
  ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:36.942 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]

Error 4432 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 4039 hours (168 days + 7 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 41 08 00 00 00 00 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
  60 08 b8 00 00 00 40 00 00:02:36.869 READ FPDMA QUEUED
  ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:36.868 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:36.867 IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ef 03 45 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:36.866 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
  ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:36.866 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]

Error 4431 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 4039 hours (168 days + 7 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 41 08 00 00 00 00 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
  60 08 b0 00 00 00 40 00 00:02:36.789 READ FPDMA QUEUED
  ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:36.788 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:36.787 IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ef 03 45 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:36.786 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
  ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 00:02:36.786 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Extended offline Completed: read failure 90% 4035 0
# 2 Short offline Completed: read failure 90% 4035 0
# 3 Extended offline Completed: read failure 90% 4034 0
# 4 Short offline Completed: read failure 90% 4034 0

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1 0 0 Not_testing
    2 0 0 Not_testing
    3 0 0 Not_testing
    4 0 0 Not_testing
    5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

Look into testdisk and make a new NTFS partition but don't format it.