300GB External hard drive shows used space but files gone!

ford fiesta

Hi, I have a 300gb Maxtor external hard drive and have used 264gb containing music and movies.

It worked fine until last night, firstly although my laptop since recognises the external hard drive, it doesn't have its normal name i.e.: 'Maxtor One Touch'...just 'Local Disk ('H')'.
Secondly and more importantly, I cannot see or access any of my folders or files at all. All I can see is a strange file named "ä2à2q"

However I did the following (as was suggested on another forum to view any 'hidden' folders):
1. In the My Computer, Local Disk..
2. Go to organize > folder and search options
3. Under Folder Options go to: View
4. Under Hidden Files and Folders, tick Show hidden files, folders…
5. Also Un-tick: Hide protected operating system files
6. Click OK.

...after doing this it now shows the above strange file and also a folder named FOUND.000 which contains 10,000 .CHK files (129 gb). I believe these are file chunks and it looks like possible file corruption.

So can my 264gb (as per external hard drive properties) of data be saved???

Overheal

did you move your files there as part of an encrypted backup or something?

TheBoffin

Launch the command prompt as administrator

Run the following command

chkdsk x: /f /r (substitute x for the drive letter for the hard drive)

Let it run fully

ford fiesta

Overheal wrote: »

did you move your files there as part of an encrypted backup or something?

No.... though I had trouble with the laptop identifying the USB though all was fine then...

ford fiesta

TheBoffin wrote: »

Launch the command prompt as administrator

Run the following command

chkdsk x: /f /r (substitute x for the drive letter for the hard drive)

Let it run fully

Running this at the moment, it's taking its time which could be a hopeful sign...

PlanIT Computing

Don't add any additional data to it

ford fiesta

I have ran the command chkdsk h: /f /r

It is telling me that the File and folder verification is complete.

It is now asking me to "Convert lost chains to files Yes or No??"
What do I select???

If I select Yes, will they appear as .CHK files in a FOUND.xxx folder?? Or will I get my original files back???

Quandary

ford fiesta wrote: »

I have ran the command chkdsk h: /f /r

It is telling me that the File and folder verification is complete.

It is now asking me to "Convert lost chains to files Yes or No??"
What do I select???

"Choose Y to recover the data as files. Choose N to release the data to free space."

That's from the Microsoft website by the way

TheBoffin

Choose Y

The Royal Scam

I have used scandisk /f to vorrect this problem before

ford fiesta

I chose Y, and it has completed conversion saying Windows has made correction to the file system. It gives details of the KB size of the various folders. And the command is open now with c:\users\ford fiesta as if it's looking for me to type something...is it looking for me to Exit????

Though no difference has been made to the External hard drive. That one strange file is still there. Do I need to do a reboot?

ford fiesta

???

riclad

if you don,t see your files maybe try this,
http://www.piriform.com/recuva

Many of the folder names on my external drive got change to random letters like gfjjdkkyllllt55yyry ,but all the files are still there inside the folders .
due to not ejecting the drive ,before taking out usb cable.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15120/

this is useful too.
http://diskdigger.org/

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

PhotoRec ignores the file system and goes after the underlying data, so it will still work even if your media's file system has been severely damaged or reformatted.

try a photorec scan first,

Your file system may be damaged on the drive.

type exit or enter .
then reboot pc.
Leave external drive on,
then plug it in via usb cable after windows boots up.