What the hell happened to my data?

Y

young wing

2[H]4U
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
2,552
I have a WD MyBook 2. 500gb. I got a few syntax errors in XP lately. Ran a diagnostic test and it passed. Now, I only have 139gb free, 326 used, but can only see a few folders. Only 19gb of My Music is showing, and I have 30gb. wtf?
 
I did WD HD Diagnostics, came up fine. I did XP check disc and it was stuck on Section 2.
 
It can take a very long time for check disk to run. Did you kill it before it finished?
 
I ran WD Diagnostics overnight for about 9 hours. It passed, however the computer can't see the drive, and everything in drive management is fine. It is under RMA warranty, so I will contact WD today. Could be the enclosure?
 
I think what I would do first is if you have any important files on there you need to back them up, if important files are part of the missing data, use file recovery software to retrieve them. The file recovery software should see what you are not seeing without any indepth sector scanning, assuming the hard drive hasn't lost the data.

As for fixing the problem, it sounds like something is corrupt like the partition itself or possibly the MBR or MFT. I say this because the WD Diagnostics passed but XP chkdsk did not and the fact that it did not pass Section 2 makes me think that a corrupt MFT is the likely suspect and that its severe enough that chkdsk can't repair it. I would grab TestDisk to see if it can fix your hd.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
 
http://www.runtime.org/

This is very good data recovery software IMO. I have used it NUMEROUS times and has recovered stuff every single time. It has really gotten me out of a few jams. Just be sure NOT to format the drive before trying to recover data. Good luck!

jim
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top