Files are there, but they can't be opened

[random_id]

Please help!
I have a 250GB NTFS hardrive packed with mp3 and wav files. This stuff
is very important to me because it is MP3s that I purchased on Emusic,
and wav files of my own music.

Anyhow, the problem I am having is that I can see the files on
Explorer, but I cannot access half of the files. For example, a
particular MP3 file will have all the properties of a 4.5mb file, but
when I doubleclick it to play, the player opens and nothing happens (I
have tried multiple audio players, so I know this is not the problem).
I have also tried loading some wav files into a music program (Acid),
but the program gives me a generic error message about not being able
to load half of the wav files.

I have run CHDISK, I have tried some demo versions of file recovery
software, I have done surface scans, I have reset permissions, I just
can't figure it out.

Prior to this happening, I got a lot of $I30 errors on a CHDISK, but
all the files were fine. I was also in the process of converting my CD
collection to MP3s, so the harddrive was making a lot of files and
directories.

Thanks for any help you have.

 

[Joep]

but the program gives me a generic error message

Always quote an error message even if you feel it's too generic to be
meaningfull.

particular MP3 file will have all the properties of a 4.5mb file, but
when I doubleclick it to play, the player opens and nothing happens (I
have tried multiple audio players, so I know this is not the problem).

I never purchased music online and i am not familiar with technology
involved, but this can't be a 'license thing'?

Prior to this happening, I got a lot of $I30 errors on a CHDISK, but
all the files were fine.

So files could be accessed after that initially?

I have run CHDISK

With what result? What did it say?

, I have tried some demo versions of file recovery
software,

With what result? Did they successfully copy files or not.

You can mention what you have tried but unless you specify specific results
for all attempts people can only take guesses.

I am not convinced this is a file system thing, maybe a license 'thing' as
well. You purchased a license to play mp3 files. Somehow this license info
may be lost?

--

Kind regards,
Joep - DIY DataRecovery.nl

http://www.diydatarecovery.nl

Important: When replying to this mail, please include previous
correspondence!

 

[random_id]

Thanks for your reply.
The MP3 files are not protected in anyway (like itunes m4p files).
Most of the MP3s are files I created myself. The same goes for many of
the wav files. The MP3 files are organized in folders by artist and
album. I was just checking last night and in one folder, 9 of the 10
songs were inaccessible. As far as I can tell, there was nothing
special about that one file (in terms of filename length, creation
date, size, etc.)

As for the error codes...
* CHDISK reports that there are no errors on the drive.
* "Recover My Files" lists a lot of deleted files, but doesn't find
any errors with MFT or anything. I have tried to recover a damaged
file to another harddrive, but the file has the same problem insomuchas
it is unable to be opened.
* When I open MP3 in Foobar, the player will not even load the
file...there are not error messages.
* When I open MP3 in Winamp, the player will display the file name,
but when I hit play, nothing happens.
* I will have to check what the error message is for WMP and my music
software (Acid).
* I have looked at the properties of two files (one working, and one
not) and they look pretty much identical as fas as security, ownership,
etc.

This is why this is driving me nuts. If I got a bunch of error codes,
I feel like I would have a better direction to track down the problem.
As for now, I don't know what to try.

Thanks again.

 

[Joep]

As for the error codes...
* CHDISK reports that there are no errors on the drive.
* "Recover My Files" lists a lot of deleted files, but doesn't find
any errors with MFT or anything. I have tried to recover a damaged
file to another harddrive, but the file has the same problem insomuchas
it is unable to be opened.

Yes because I was wondering if you already treid that the 'normal way'; copy
the file rather than opening it and then try to play from the alternative
location, or even on a different PC.

Did you select file that were listed including their filename when using
Recover My Files? If so, then Recover My Files used the MFT as reference
when copying the file. If it is unable to copy files then this suggests
either 'some' file system 'damage', or the files themselves are corrupt.

I think Recover My Files can also scan for files based on signature. It may
take some time to scan the disk as it will prolly scan each sector. If files
recovered using the signature method are also unplayable, then it appears
the files themselves are corrupt. If you however now can play files then the
file system is corrupt in the sense that pointers to files are off.

Note: Some file recovery tools also take 'indexes' (structures NTFS uses to
store directories) into consideration when recovering files. It is possible
that the indexes are the culprit. Other software may irnore indexes and
solely depend on MFT entries. So it may be worth a try to try an alternative
file recovery tool as well. iUnformat from www.diydatarecovery.nl is known
to ignore indexes.

CHKDSK finding no errors means the file system is consistent, it does not
nescecarily mean you have access to your data or that individual files are
intact. CHKDSK will always sacrifice data in favor of a consistent file
system. If CHKDSK 'fixed' the file system then it means pointers to the
files data clusters may have been permanently damaged.

 

[random_id]

Thanks for your help.
Unfortunately, you were right about CHKDSK. My disc was fine from
CHKDSK's perspective, but the files were just slightly off. I played
around with some of the mp3 files and found that part of the file would
be a totally different song, then the song would just stop, or give me
an error. I guess some indexing went haywire and lost track of the
physical locations of each file.

Well, I recovered 99% of the files through various other sources. I
know now to be a little more diligent about backups.

Thanks