Many files suddenly gone

[josh1765]

i have an external hard drive, and suddenly for no apparent reason, it lost about 140 gb worth of data,there doesnt seem to be any pattern to which files were deleted except that entire file folders were deleted or all the files inside a folder were, i know i didnt delete these files, so is there anyway to get my data back?

 

[Prydonian]

First off, if at all possible, remove the drive from the external enclosure and connect it directly to an internal disk controller (IDE or SATA) and see if the files/folders are back. Some enclosures are notorious for not working properly.

If you are still missing files,download a copy of GetDataBack (you can get it at

http://www.download.com/GetDataBack-Data-Recovery/3000-2094_4-10061631.html

) and run it against your drive. I've had good luck with this package as it doesn't write anything to the drive. It's free to download and run and it will tell you if there is anything recoverable on the disk. You just can't recover any files unless you buy a license. It costs $69 for both windows file formats or $49.00 for FAT and $49 for NTFS. But the important thing is that it won't cost you a dime to find out if it will be effective.

Mike, The IT Guy.

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank a veteran!

 

[vacunita]

Did Windows Run a Chkdsk procedure on the drive?

Are there any folders named found.000 found.001 etc...
(you may need to enable "Show Hidden Files and Folders ) to see these.

Usually Windows will put lost or orphaned files (or what it thinks are lost or orphaned files) in folders such as those you may be able to find your data there.

If not I would second Prydonian and recommend Get Data Back.


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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[kjv1611]

I'd recommend looking into one or more of the apps from this company:

http://www.active-undelete.com/

I have used it to recover successfully data from a RAID formation gone bad! I mean it blew me away how easy it was. I think the free version will put the data into an Image file, whereas the paid version will actually restore the data in place! In other words, it fixes it where you can see it, but doesn't actually change the location - unless you just want to.

This is the one, specifically, that I used (same company)

http://www.partition-recovery.com/

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[wahnula]

...lost about 140 gb worth of data,there doesnt seem to be any pattern to which files were deleted except that entire file folders were deleted or all the files inside a folder were, i know i didnt delete these files, so is there anyway to get my data back?

Does this not sound strange to anyone but me? Normally HDDs and enclosures fail but do not delete files. Look in your recycle bin, anything? In Windows Explorer, on the root of the drive, go to View==>Arrange Icons By==>Modified to see when the folders were last accessed. Do you have roomates, a spouse, or children? Are they mad at you?

140GB of data is a LOT of data, I'd investigate anyone with access to the PC first.

The only other thing I can think of would be a dead platter or head on the HDD.

Maybe the files got dragged/dropped somewhere else. Load WinDirStat and take a look at the drive:

http://windirstat.info/

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[vacunita]

Does this not sound strange to anyone but me?

Strange maybe a little.

But I had something similar happen to me. Which is why I suggested what I did.

I had 2 120GB drives that where mirrored from each other, and windows did the same thing to both.

It thought for some unknown reason that some folders and files had become lost or orphaned and put them in found.00x folders where x was a number.

I had 40GB worth of files in a directory and about 60GB worth of MP3's in another folder. Both mysteriously disappeared from both drives. However the space they occupied was still used.

Turns out they where in found.004 and found.006 respectively.
These found.00x directories happened to be hidden folders.
So unless Show hidden Files and folders was checked you could not see them.

All files where there intact and functional. And the folder tree inside the original folders where also there and in working order.

It was just the outer folders that got lost.

So while its not exactly normal, its also not unheard of.

Of course the "someone with a personal vendetta, deleting your files" scenario is just as plausible.





----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.