Help Please, files disappeared from hard drive

[bachrocks]

Can anyone help me? I lost some music files I ripped and I'm not sure if it was a HD beginning-to-fail issue or come kind of virus.

 

Here's the story. Western Digital external HD. Files cataloged in folders alphabetically. Suddenly, the folders Q - Z are gone. And interestingly, I can access all of my other files except those in the folder labeled "H." When I try to open that folder, the computer tells me the disc is not formatted.

 

I ran recovery software, which interestingly, showed the files I had previously deleted as recoverable, but there was no sight of any of the current files from the disappearing Q - Z folders.

 

I'm running Windows XP on a Sony FZ series Viao laptop.

 

thanks,

ron

 

[mwheelerk]

I could be totally off base here but I have seen where the iTunes preferences path for iTunes Media folder gets 'corrupted' or magically changes to the music folder on your computer internal hard drive. Look there and see if the missing files are there.

 

[bachrocks]

Unfortunately, I don't use iTunes. I attach the drive to my WD HD Media Player directly and use its player. But I don't think the media player is the cause although I could surely be wrong. What is so strange is that one folder, the H folder, reports the disk is unformatted. The rest of the A-P folders are fine. Only the Q-Z folders disappeared.

 

Anyhow, I am so happy you replied to my plea as I felt a little abandoned.

 

I've only used the drive to copy some of the files onto another HD. When I get time, I"m gonna' investigate more closely.

 

thanks again,

ron

 

[esldude]

Photorec and testdisk could do what you want. Even if you or some software has deleted them it is likely all or nearly all files can be recovered. Particularly if you will stop using the drive and not do anymore reading from or writing to it.

 

These links will tell you a bit about it.

 

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhotoRec

 

I have used it on hard drives that were deleted and recovered everything. Everything being several thousand songs, and 2000 pictures. Haven't used it recently. One issue is even if recovered the file names are usually garbled and just given arbitrary names as they are obtained by this software. Maybe recent versions have been able to do better than this.

 

I prefer to use them with one of the linux live CD's. These are linux systems you burn onto a CD, boot off the CD and it leaves your intact OS (Windows in this case) unaltered. One fairly simple to use one is Parted Magic. It is primarily for partitioning hard drives, but has these rescue programs as part of the tools available.

http://partedmagic.com/doku.php

 

Someone may know of better software for the task. There also is I think software that can do the job and recover the file names though it will cost some money. I haven't used it though.

 

At least an option, you can read about and see if you want to attempt it.

 

[bachrocks]

esldude,

 

Thanks a bundle for your advice. I've been busy with work and haven't been reading too much on CA so didn't see your comment until tonight.

 

Luckily, I thought to give the windows' Error Checking utility. It took 12 hours or so to scan the drive, but after it finished, I was totally floored to see that all the file were back and intact.

 

I think the master file(s) that index the drive somehow became corrupted. In any case, I am so happy to have resolved this favorably.

 

thank you again

ron

 

[crisnee]

Hey Bachrocks

 

I just happened to be reading something about the WD media players the other day, on their forum I think. It was noted there that the hdds attached to the player can lose files if they are not shut down properly. Apparently it happens fairly regularly if you're not careful.

 

-Chris

 

 

[bachrocks]

Thanks Chris!

 

Usually, I eject teh disc before disconnecting, but I must admit, before I learned about turning off the media library indexing feature, I'd sometimes get impatient and disconnect drive improperly in mild disgust

 

Now, more than ever, I'll follow the rules to avoid losing files.

 

Happy New Year,

ron

 

[Jeff at Value Audio]

Interesting thread.

 

What is the 'media library indexing feature'? What software, firmware, or OS is it a part of?