2 folders that were full are now empty on external HDD

[sbtscom]

Hi everyone,
I hope you can help. I have an external hard drive that has a number of folders on it.
All of a sudden 2 of the folders are now that are saying empty (and are).
I've checked the properties of the remaining folders and it matches what the properties of the drive says when you right click it.
Does anyone now where the files they contained have gone and whether I can them back.
It's a real problem as I always double back up my work (I'm a photographer) I just hadn't had a chance to do it before this happened.
Best wishes,

[fzabkar]

Use DMDE (freeware) to navigate through the file/folder structure. Hopefully you will find the deleted files. Also check whether the hidden attribute has been set.

[pcn]

This problem can also be caused by bad sectors in MFT or weak heads. So first check status of the drive (with crystal disk info), if there are bad sectors you can try to image the drive with ddrecsue to a working drive and then scan the copy with r-studio or other DR software. If drive has many bad sectors or is slow and data is important contact a pro nearby, should not be that expensive if there is no physical damage.

[lcoughey]

I agree with @pcn. It seems possible that the root cause is a physical issue with the drive and it would be very wise to make a full sector-by-sector image of the drive while you can. Then run your data recovery programs, like DMDE, as suggested by @fzabkar, against the image.

As they files sound to be quite critical, you may want to just play it safe and contact Sean at http://pcimage.co.uk

[sbtscom]

Hi everyone,
thank you for your replies.
@fzabkar - I ran DMDE but could not see anything untoward. I also deleted 20 files from a different folder and it did not mark the folder as a directory containing deleted files
So I don't know what's going on there

@pcn - I ran crystal disk info (see attached screen grab)

I called one data recovery place and they said £300 to £1200 to get back the data (completely out of my league)

I have now found low res copies of the photos that I uploaded to the sales bit of my website which I can resample in photoshop . Not an ideal solution but I haven't got the money to pay out for someone else to do it. So either I can fix it or its game over.

Best wishes Keith

[drHDD]

Use R-studio to scan drive. It should find your data. If not let me look by TV and I will tell if you can get your data back or not.

[pcimage]

Hi everyone,
thank you for your replies.
@fzabkar - I ran DMDE but could not see anything untoward. I also deleted 20 files from a different folder and it did not mark the folder as a directory containing deleted files
So I don't know what's going on there

@pcn - I ran crystal disk info (see attached screen grab)

disk scan 1.JPG

I called one data recovery place and they said £300 to £1200 to get back the data (completely out of my league)

I have now found low res copies of the photos that I uploaded to the sales bit of my website which I can resample in photoshop . Not an ideal solution but I haven't got the money to pay out for someone else to do it. So either I can fix it or its game over.

Best wishes Keith

It wasn't us that quoted that!!! Nowhere near it

It wasn't me that took the call, but I believe it was something like half of the lower figure!

[lcoughey]

It wasn't us that quoted that!!! Nowhere near it

Apparently they weren't interested in following my advice/referral to you. It doesn't help that people call one lab and assume that is the same price for everyone.

[sbtscom]

Hi,
@pcimage I did not say it was pcimage that quoted that price (you had not got back to me at that point).
Yes your quote was about £150 + VAT (and I am considering using you guys) and much more reasonable than the other 2 quotes.
@lcoughey please take note that I got a few quotes before you make presumptuous statements about "people" . "It doesn't help that people" do that either.

@drHDD thank you for your kind advice and offer of assistance - I will do as you suggest.

Anyway - back to the issue. Any suggestions on the actual problem ???

Peace and love forever,

Keith
x

[sbtscom]

here is another screen grab from DMDE

[fzabkar]

Which two folders are the problematic ones?

[sbtscom]

Hi @fzabkar the 2 that are empty are "other selection" and "studio selection". They are slightly shaded out meaning "folder contains no files"
Here is a screen grab of Recuva scan

Attachments

[labtech]

As previously suggested: the drive likely has bad sectors in the MFT, preventing those two folders being populated with the files that should be there. Common with failed/failing drives.

Send it to a specialist with hardware imaging tools. In this condition, it should be a recovery on the low end cost.
You received great offer.

[maximus]

I also deleted 20 files from a different folder and it did not mark the folder as a directory containing deleted files

You should not be performing ANY sort of write actions on this drive as it could further reduce the recovery chances.

Use R-studio to scan drive. It should find your data.

Agree. The smart data in the earlier post shows no reallocated or pending sectors, indicating a logical issue. Most free software such as testdisk will only list files as it finds them in the directories. If a directory entry gets corrupted then the contents will not show. However, as long as the actual file entries are still intact in the MFT (assuming you have not ran checkdisk and caused further damage) they can be found by better software, and even know what folder they were in. I am not sure how DMDE does it as I do not have experience with it. Also, those MFT errors in the screenshot from DMDE are of inodes 16-24, which are reserved and do not have data in them.

With that being said, it is still safer to make a clone/image of the drive and work with that. If you work with the original any changes made are permanent and irreversible.

[sbtscom]

Hi @maximus thanks for the tip of not "performing ANY sort of write actions on this drive as it could further reduce the recovery chances" but having stupidly done it why didn't they show up on any of the scans ?

Thanks for your info on the MFT errors.

How do I make an image (or clone if this would do) of the drive. Would the free version of Paragon do ?

Cheers,
Keith

[maximus]

First, I am basing my answers on the fact that both the reallocated sector count and pending sector count raw values are both zero, indicating that it does not appear that the drive has physical media damage. If either of those was anything other than 0 or changes to something other than 0 then I would tell you to seek professional recovery immediately. Just understand that there is always the slight possibility that the smart data is not telling the whole story, but based on the current data it would appear that the drive is still healthy.

Second, you received a reasonable offer and sounded like you may take it, but then are still asking questions about doing it yourself. While myself and others on here will do our best to help you in ways that will least likely cause any further data loss or damage, just understand that the longer you go the do-it-yourself route, the more likely that reasonable offer could change, or you could make it impossible to recover the data that may still be recoverable now.

Third, have you taken the advice and tried R-Studio yet? It is free to try but you can't recover any data with the trial. If it finds your files right away then you would have the option to buy it and recover the files. If it does not find them right away then I would suggest taking up someones offer.

Hi @maximus thanks for the tip of not "performing ANY sort of write actions on this drive as it could further reduce the recovery chances" but having stupidly done it why didn't they show up on any of the scans ?

Not sure, and I am not familiar with DMDE.

How do I make an image (or clone if this would do) of the drive. Would the free version of Paragon do ?

You need to use something that makes an exact sector by sector copy. You would need another drive at least the same size or bigger for a clone, and one that is bigger than the original to make an image. I would suggest a clone as it is easier for a novice to work with. Ddrescue and HDDSuperClone are good choices for cloning as they are designed to best handle failing drives, but they are not for Windows. If the drive is not failing then I think DMDE can clone a drive (need someone else to confirm this). But before cloning you could try R-Studio as suggested.

Good luck.

[drHDD]

Let me look your drive by teamviewer. We will find your folders if they still there. I will need r-studio installed on computer.

[sbtscom]

Hi @drHDD . I have installed r-studio (don't know how to use it yet) . Would be great if you can take a look. I look forward to hearing from you.
Keith

[sbtscom]

Hi @ drHDD i replied to your PM - did you get it ?

[sbtscom]

Hi All,
I figured out how to use R-studio
Both folders "OTHER SELECTION and STUDIO SELECTION" still appear empty.
Screen shots attached .
Is there anything else R-Studio can do to locate the files as nothing appears missing ?
Best wishes,
Keith

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