External hard disk files and folders disappeared

[Sam]

I'm currently using a Western Digital external hard drive which is
1TB. I have been running it for some weeks now and it has been fine up
until now. When I plug the drive in at the moment it is recognized by
windows, but not like it was before: it has lost the WD logo. Most
importantly windows recognizes a certain amount of space is being used
on the drive. However when the drive is opened no folders or files can
be seen and cannot be accessed by the computer. Help please.

 

[Rod Speed]

I'm currently using a Western Digital external hard drive which is
1TB. I have been running it for some weeks now and it has been fine up
until now. When I plug the drive in at the moment it is recognized by
windows, but not like it was before: it has lost the WD logo. Most
importantly windows recognizes a certain amount of space is being used
on the drive. However when the drive is opened no folders or files can
be seen and cannot be accessed by the computer. Help please.

How was the drive formatted, FAT32 or NTFS ?

If it was formatted NTFS, try a Ubuntu Live CD and see if it can see the files and folders.

You can get a situation where the drive gets corrupted enough so that Win
NTFS doesnt like it, but any Linux distro like Ubuntu is quite happy with it.

 

[Arno Wagner]

I'm currently using a Western Digital external hard drive which is
1TB. I have been running it for some weeks now and it has been fine up
until now. When I plug the drive in at the moment it is recognized by
windows, but not like it was before: it has lost the WD logo. Most
importantly windows recognizes a certain amount of space is being used
on the drive. However when the drive is opened no folders or files can
be seen and cannot be accessed by the computer. Help please.

The WD logo is just an autostart and an icon. This sounds
like filesystem corruption. Did you unplug the drive without
"save removal"?

Arno

 

[Sam]

The WD logo is just an autostart and an icon. This sounds
like filesystem corruption. Did you unplug the drive without
"save removal"?

Arno

Hi Arno,

I am not sure about the "safe removal". But almost half a million
files are gone (occupy space on the disk but not visible.) You mean
that could be for an unsafe removal?

Sam

 

[Rod Speed]

Not clear if you replied by email by accident or intentionally. I prefer to
keep it in the group so others who are interested can read the followups.

The drive is FAT32, and it is less than a month I am using it. How cant be corrupted?

Some drives do develop a problem in that time and the fault can be outside the drive too.

 

[Sam]

How was the drive formatted, FAT32 or NTFS ?
If it was formatted NTFS, try a Ubuntu Live CD and see if it can see the files and folders.
You can get a situation where the drive gets corrupted enough so that Win
NTFS doesnt like it, but any Linux distro like Ubuntu is quite happy with it.

It is FAT32 and I bought it less than a month ago.

 

[mscotgrove]

It is FAT32 and I bought it less than a month ago.

It sounds as if the root directory has been 'lost' On FAT32, the root
directory is a file that can be placed anywhere, but is pointed to by
the BPB - often in sector 63. The fact that drive says so much space
has been used, indicates that the FAT is probably OK.

You need a data recovery program that will recover from directory
stubs, or fix the BPB. However, never use a recovery program that
tries to write to the existing disk, any recovery must recover files,
and then write them to a new disk. The problem disk must be Read Only
until all files have been recovered

Michael

 

[Sam]

It sounds as if the root directory has been 'lost'  On FAT32, the root

directory is a file that can be placed anywhere, but is pointed to by
the BPB - often in sector 63.  The fact that drive says so much space
has been used, indicates that the FAT is probably OK.

You need a data recovery program that will recover from directory
stubs, or fix the BPB.  However, never use a recovery program that
tries to write to the existing disk, any recovery must recover files,
and then write them to a new disk. The problem disk must be Read Only
until all files have been recovered

Michael

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your help, but I don't know such a recovery program (to
recover from directory stub or fix the BPB.) Will you please name
one?

Regards,
Sam.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Hi Arno,

I am not sure about the "safe removal". But almost half a million
files are gone (occupy space on the disk but not visible.) You mean
that could be for an unsafe removal?

Yes. If the drive was till writing while being unplugged or had
data buffered on the computer, that can kill part of the filesystem
metadata, especially with FAT32.

The way to proceed is to first make a complete copy with an
imaging software, and then only work on the image to try to
recover. Otherwise you are very likely to do more damage.

As to how to do the recovery, I do not know. I have nothing
important on FAT32. I am sure others here will make usable
suggestions.

Arno

 

[Arno Wagner]

It sounds as if the root directory has been 'lost' On FAT32, the root
directory is a file that can be placed anywhere, but is pointed to by
the BPB - often in sector 63. The fact that drive says so much space
has been used, indicates that the FAT is probably OK.

You need a data recovery program that will recover from directory
stubs, or fix the BPB. However, never use a recovery program that
tries to write to the existing disk, any recovery must recover files,
and then write them to a new disk. The problem disk must be Read Only
until all files have been recovered

Actually you shopuld get a second disk, make an image copy
with a sector imager (i.e the second disk needs to bne the
exact same size or larger) and then work only on
the image.

Arno

 

[Rod Speed]

Thank you for your help, but I don't know such a recovery program (to
recover from directory stub or fix the BPB.) Will you please name one?

Easy Recovery Pro.

Not cheap if you have to pay for it tho.

 

[Ed Light]

Before unplugging, normally you use the Safely Remove Hardware icon in
the tray. This is necessary if the drive is using a write cache; data
that hasn't been written yet will be.

Left click on the icon and left click on the drive. If it doesn't
release it, close any program that may be using the drive. Worst case,
restart Windows or shut down.

To turn off write caching, right click on the drive in Windows Explorer
(or equivalent) and choose properties. Choose hardware, properties,
policies. Then choose Opitimez for quick removal. Even then, I would use
the safe removal icon just to be sure.
--
Ed Light

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Thanks, robots.

 

[Franc Zabkar]

It sounds as if the root directory has been 'lost' On FAT32, the root
directory is a file that can be placed anywhere, but is pointed to by
the BPB - often in sector 63.

AFAIK, the root directory comes after the second copy of the FAT. My
5GB logical drive has approximately 10,000 sectors per FAT. Therefore
sector 63 would be very early into the first copy of the FAT.

The fact that drive says so much space
has been used, indicates that the FAT is probably OK.

AFAIK, a free space count is periodically updated and stored in the
BPB. Could it be that the OS is looking there rather than the FATs?

You need a data recovery program that will recover from directory
stubs, or fix the BPB. However, never use a recovery program that
tries to write to the existing disk, any recovery must recover files,
and then write them to a new disk. The problem disk must be Read Only
until all files have been recovered

Michael

I would connect the drive to a Win98 box and run Scandisk, but do not
allow it to "automatically fix errors". Win98 is smart enough to use
the backup boot sector when the primary one is damaged or missing, and
Scandisk can tell you if there is a difference in the two copies of
the FATs. I caution the OP to NOT run FIXBOOT from XP's recovery
console (assuming it can see USB HDs), otherwise he risks turning his
HD into a 10MB FAT12 floppy drive. That's what happened to me.

- Franc Zabkar

 

[Squeeze]

Franc Zabkar wrote in news:[email protected]
Also known as the boot record (BS). What entry of the BS do you propose
is that pointer. Closest I can find that may apply is the "First cluster of Root".
It says 2.

AFAIK, the root directory comes after the second copy of the FAT. My
5GB logical drive has approximately 10,000 sectors per FAT.

Therefore sector 63 would be very early into the first copy of the FAT.

No, really. What makes you think that.

AFAIK, a free space count is periodically updated and stored in the
BPB. Could it be that the OS is looking there rather than the FATs?

What else did you think it was for then.