i had a problem with my hdd (500gb freecom xxs) - all the data seemed lost but there where lots of other files with filenames with one letter (n, s, o, etc) and no known file extension! each time i pluged my hdd in there where more files appearing....
and then i tried the chkdsk scan (i know, i shouldnt have done this!!!) and when it asked me if i want to convert the lost chains into files i selected no....(another bad idea because it said - 379gb of free disk space added, but thats kind of the amount of data i had on the hdd before....)
now it is stuck for 5 hours at 85% and it makes a strange noise like it is always scratching over something...and its getting quiet hot!
i read that i should not cancel this process....
but what should i do? just wait? will it pick up again?
or is it maybe stuck at a bad sector?

and is my data (photos and most of my working stuff of the last year) permanently gone?

thanks a lot for every help.......

chkdsk.exe uses constantly 292kb mem usage and 0%cpu
if that does help....

Chkdsk was a poor choice as the drive may be failing. Use a free tool such as MHDD to read the SMART tables or scan the drive for bad sectors. Always verify the entire data surface before running chkdsk. I suggest you contact a professional if the data is important.

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Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

i know - not a very smart choice!
so should i just shutdown the chkdsk? is then the chance the recover some data higher?
or should i wait until it is finished (and maybe has deleted all the data)?!

first way tomorrow - visit someone who actually knows what he is doing....

thanks, btw...

chkdsk came up again - 90percent!
should i shut it down before it is finished? would the chances to recover the data then higher?
or should i wait for it to finish?!

i turned it off due to some other recommendations...
lets hope for the specialits tomorrow!!!

ahhhhhhhhhh.....
i think i learnt something out of this!!!

You should really verify the data surface with a drive scanning tool before running chkdsk. If your drive is failing, chkdsk will only make it worse or even unrecoverable.

_________________
Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

Try to clone the disk using HDClone or DMDE

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data recovery Poland