directory 2 file ...

[galiganu]

Hi,

I have a 160 Gb seagate harddrive with only one FAT32 partition on it. This drive was for storage only. It was about 140 Gb data on it.

Two days ago I decided to install a fresh copy of WinXp on this drive. So I made a directory called 'storage' where I put all the data. The scandisk from WinXP told me after 5 minutes o testing that the disk has fatal error and have to exit.

After that I put the harddisk on other computer and instead of directory 'storage' I found that I have the file 'storage' of 32kb. The system reports that free space is 21 Gb from 160 Gb. So the data is still there... But where?

The drive works well, without any problems. I didn't touch anything on the drive hoping that I can recover all the data.

So, I need a program that can make this file back into a directory... Anyone knows about something like this?

Thank You.

 

[willir]

galiganu

Two critical pieces of information you have not provided are a) are you working with NTFS or Win32 files systems; b) what type of computer were you using when the drive failed, and now??

Older BIOS's do not support over 32 GB. It is a "counting" thing. This would probably explain why you can only see 32 of the 160 GB.

When you prepare a drive for usage, it defines the physical addresses. Since you are apparently using the 160 GB as a 32 GB partition, you may hvae to use a professional service to recover your data.

As to why you had the original disk failure is anybody's guess.

You may wish to try the following...
- attach the drive on a newer workstation running XP as a slave drive
- use the PC to see what parts of the drive are visible and accessible

Good luck

 

[galiganu]

Hi

As I said the drive has only one partition: 160 Gb FAT32

The computer is a P4 at 2.8 Ghz

And I said that instead of folder 'storage', now I see the file 'storage' of 32 KILO Bytes.

Even that there is only this file of 32 KILO Bytes, windows reports a usage of 140 Gb, from 160 Gb...

Thnak You