Solved: Portable Hdd Error/Problem

[xzblaze]

The other day whilst backing up my computer to my portable hard drive, my flatmate disconnected my hard drive accidentally, without 'safely removing' the portable hdd - not sure if it was still processing files or nt doing much - without really worried about whether or nt theres a problem.

Now when I connect my poratble hard drive to my computer, it loads up normally with the window poping up asking wat action i want to do i.e. open with this or open with window, but when i open it, only approx half of the original files appear - 5 folders of about 11 appears.
And when i check the size of these 5 files, which is approx 200gb, while the usage is about 450gb out of the 500gb total, theres around 200gb of stuff i cannot access for some reason.

when i load it on another computer, similar stuff appear, with the addition of some random name and code folders and some 'system files' which cannot do anything about, all with random codec or language which cannot be read.

Does anyone know what the problem could be and what could i do to fix it?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Elvandil]

The file system was damaged by the disconnection. There was still data in the computer's cache that had not been written to the drive, so that data was lost, leaving broken files on the drive and an incorrectly unmounted file system.

You could try running chkdsk /f (or /r) on the drive, but chances are good that many files are damaged beyond recovery, especially those that were in the process of being transferred.

Better make a fresh backup.

 

[xzblaze]

The files that disappear were in fact files that are not being transfer - can be sure with that.
While files tat appears are the one being transfer, in which i can be 90% sure the transfer was complete prior to the accidental removal.
Will this help my chance recovering them?
And also, could u explain what this mean: You could try running chkdsk /f (or /r) on the drive. - sry not quite sure what do u mean there. Thanks

 

[Elvandil]

Yes, but the files that were already transferred could have been damaged when the file system was damaged. So it is hard to say whether any of them will be intact.

To be on the safe side, it would be better not to trust any of them and just make a fresh backup.

"Chkdsk" is the drive checker and repair tool. If you don't know how to use it by the command line, look at the drive's property sheet, pick Tools, Error-Checking, Check Now button. Check one or both (for a more thorough recovery) boxes and run the repair. Running chkdsk on drives should be part of routine maintenance of a computer.

 

[xzblaze]

Thanks.

Just that the files disappear were the files that were already in the drive b4 the backup process, ie tats the only copy i have, so i would really want to recover the files if possible.

 

[Elvandil]

That's why you should always have backups. It is a good lesson, learned the hard way.

Chkdsk may be able to recover some of the files. Or it may make all of them even worse and unrecoverable. You might want to try recovering files before, and then after, running chkdsk.

But no files on the drive can be trusted to be intact now. Every one will have to be checked after it is recovered because it could be missing bytes or otherwise damaged. Files that were on the drive before as just as likley to have been damaged as the new ones.

Free recovery applications:

Dr. Freeware Boot CD (also has partition tool, drive cloner and imager)
DiskDigger & NTFSWalker
Pandora Recovery (Free for personal use)
Smart Data Recovery
Recover Files
Roadkil's Undelete
Recuva
Restoration
Free Undelete (NTFS only)
Softperfect File Recovery
ADRC Data Recovery Tools
Undelete Plus
Data Recovery
PCI File Recovery
DriveRescue
Ultimate Data Recovery
Disk Investigator

Commercial:

O&O Disk Recovery
Paragon Mount Everything (Mounts any file system, CD/DVD burning, File Manager, Partitioner)
GetDataBack (For FAT or NTFS)
Ontrack EasyRecovery Pro
File Scavenger
Recover My Files
RecoverPlus Pro
Zero Assumption Recovery
[email protected] File Recovery
Final Recovery
Recover4All Professional
Easeus Data Recovery Wizard
NTFS Recovery