Missing files on my external hard disk. PLEASE HELP!
October 12th, 2011, 0:41
I have a Seagate FreeAgent Go 500 GB external hard disk. Yesterday i copied about 10 files into the hard disk, totaling to about 7 GB from a Windows XP desktop but when i plugged it into my laptop running windows 7, the files were missing! I connected it back to the Windows XP desktop and the files were still missing. I selected "show hidden files/folders", "show protected operating system files" on both the computers but to no avail. The free space on the hard disk indicates the files are still present on the hard drive. I scanned for viruses and malware and the disk and the systems are clean. I ran HDTune and the hard disk is OK(no bad sectors). I then decided to use data recovery tools, and scanned the hard disk using R-Studio and GetDataBack. Both tools showed the missing files in the drive and I recovered them and backed them up. However I am unable to delete these files from the hard disk since both the recovery tools don't give me an option to remove the files from within the software. I tried using TreeSize to check if i could access the files and delete them, but even TreeSize does not show me the missing files. I am in a dilemma and running out of disk space. Please help me!
Re: Missing files on my external hard disk. PLEASE HELP!
October 12th, 2011, 6:20
@endofworld:
Your description fits with filesystem corruption - one typical cause (although it's impossible to say whether this definitely applies in your case or not) is by not using the Windows "safe removal" procedure, before unplugging a USB storage device.
Good! Before declaring this a success, I suggest that you double-check the contents of those recovered files. Even of you have recovered files of the correct length & name, it does not necessarily mean that the contents are correct.
Correct. No recovery software should make changes to the disk / filesystem from which the recovery is being made, because if that filesystem has any kind of problem (as is likely in your case), then using the filesystem metadata to then delete files (as you are suggesting), could result in causing further problems. (e.g. it could cause more corruption of the filesystem!).
This is one of the problems of DIY data recovery - you are not fully prepared, like a DR company would be. There are different approaches that you could take at this point - here are some comments, but other people may have different views.
A typical approach from this point, is to recover (and check) all of the files that you need from that existing disk onto a new disk, either by copying them directly (if they are visible in the filesystem), or using recovery software; then reformatting that existing disk; then copying back the files to the existing disk that you want. You are therefore likely to need more disk space for that procedure, and so you may need to buy or borrow another disk.
Whilst it might be possible to repair the existing filesystem on that existing disk, you cannot know whether any such attempts (e.g. with chkdsk etc.) would be successful, and using such utilities can result in losing access to even more files during the repair of a filesystem. Therefore, again, I suggest that you recover (and check) all the files which are needed from that disk first onto another disk - then, when you are confident that you have good copies of all the files, you can reformat the original disk, and then restore.
Even better IMHO would be not to reformat that existing disk (at least not in the near future), recover all the files onto a new disk, and just use the new disk and store this existing disk somewhere safe. Then if you find missing (or corrupt) files on your new disk after the recovery (meaning that the recovery was not completely successful), you (or a DR company) can have further attempts at recovery from the original (corrupt) disk which you stored.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do
Your description fits with filesystem corruption - one typical cause (although it's impossible to say whether this definitely applies in your case or not) is by not using the Windows "safe removal" procedure, before unplugging a USB storage device.
endofworld wrote:I then decided to use data recovery tools, and scanned the hard disk using R-Studio and GetDataBack. Both tools showed the missing files in the drive and I recovered them and backed them up.
Good! Before declaring this a success, I suggest that you double-check the contents of those recovered files. Even of you have recovered files of the correct length & name, it does not necessarily mean that the contents are correct.
endofworld wrote:However I am unable to delete these files from the hard disk since both the recovery tools don't give me an option to remove the files from within the software.
Correct. No recovery software should make changes to the disk / filesystem from which the recovery is being made, because if that filesystem has any kind of problem (as is likely in your case), then using the filesystem metadata to then delete files (as you are suggesting), could result in causing further problems. (e.g. it could cause more corruption of the filesystem!).
endofworld wrote:I am in a dilemma and running out of disk space. Please help me!
This is one of the problems of DIY data recovery - you are not fully prepared, like a DR company would be. There are different approaches that you could take at this point - here are some comments, but other people may have different views.
A typical approach from this point, is to recover (and check) all of the files that you need from that existing disk onto a new disk, either by copying them directly (if they are visible in the filesystem), or using recovery software; then reformatting that existing disk; then copying back the files to the existing disk that you want. You are therefore likely to need more disk space for that procedure, and so you may need to buy or borrow another disk.
Whilst it might be possible to repair the existing filesystem on that existing disk, you cannot know whether any such attempts (e.g. with chkdsk etc.) would be successful, and using such utilities can result in losing access to even more files during the repair of a filesystem. Therefore, again, I suggest that you recover (and check) all the files which are needed from that disk first onto another disk - then, when you are confident that you have good copies of all the files, you can reformat the original disk, and then restore.
Even better IMHO would be not to reformat that existing disk (at least not in the near future), recover all the files onto a new disk, and just use the new disk and store this existing disk somewhere safe. Then if you find missing (or corrupt) files on your new disk after the recovery (meaning that the recovery was not completely successful), you (or a DR company) can have further attempts at recovery from the original (corrupt) disk which you stored.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do
Re: Missing files on my external hard disk. PLEASE HELP!
October 13th, 2011, 0:24
Vulcan wrote:Your description fits with filesystem corruption - one typical cause (although it's impossible to say whether this definitely applies in your case or not) is by not using the Windows "safe removal" procedure, before unplugging a USB storage device.
I doubt it, because I always ensure that I use the "safe removal" procedure before unplugging any USB storage device. There are many posts online which say it is not necessary to follow this if your disk is idle(i.e no read/write happening at the moment), but I decide not to take chances.
Vulcan wrote:Good! Before declaring this a success, I suggest that you double-check the contents of those recovered files. Even of you have recovered files of the correct length & name, it does not necessarily mean that the contents are correct.
The files are good. I ran them and they work fine, and don't seem to have any problems. The funny thing is it is only these particular files that are showing up missing, and all the other files on the disk seem to work fine. I have not seen any corrupted images, or video files for eg. And when opening files or folders I have not experienced any lag or heard any untoward noises from the hard disk.
Anyway, thank you. I am up for a new external hard disk since I am running out of space. I'll clean up this existing one and use it as a spare or something.
Re: Missing files on my external hard disk. PLEASE HELP!
October 13th, 2011, 11:26
endofworld wrote:Vulcan wrote:Your description fits with filesystem corruption - one typical cause (although it's impossible to say whether this definitely applies in your case or not) is by not using the Windows "safe removal" procedure, before unplugging a USB storage device.
I doubt it, because I always ensure that I use the "safe removal" procedure before unplugging any USB storage device.
I'm glad you do that, but it remains my experience that the above is a typical cause, as I wrote. I also see people who think that are using the "safe removal" procedure, who actually do not follow it correctly.
endofworld wrote:There are many posts online which say it is not necessary to follow this if your disk is idle(i.e no read/write happening at the moment)
That's a common generalisation - it's actually more complex than that, but that would be a whole new topic
endofworld wrote:only these particular files that are showing up missing, and all the other files on the disk seem to work fine.
That's typical for filesystem corruption, based on the sequence of events that you wrote initially.
endofworld wrote:And when opening files or folders I have not experienced any lag or heard any untoward noises from the hard disk.
Good, that's also typical for filesystem corruption.
endofworld wrote:Anyway, thank you. I am up for a new external hard disk since I am running out of space. I'll clean up this existing one and use it as a spare or something.
You're welcome. Once you've got your data off that existing disk and onto a new one (for safety), before reformatting the existing disk, you could check for filesystem corruption to confirm the diagnosis (e.g. using chkdsk in read-only mode), if you wanted to. Depending on how much you wanted to do, you could then do more testing of the disk itself, to help build confidence in it, before you use it again. It's up to you
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