Hard Drive Woes--220GB Worth Of Data Vanished??? Help!!!

[lungnut2002]

This is unreal. I had one hard drive in my system that was failing. I
had four hard drives in my system. Two of them (including the one that
was failing) was on my motherboards Ultra100 TX2 IDE Controller.

I had had problems in the past with the driver of this controller, and
so when I started experiencing problems with the failing hard drive, my
first step was to uninstall/reinstall the driver for this device.

What this did was make chkdisk kick in upon my computer booting and it
proceeded to check both of these hard drives. The one that was failing
reported a lot of "File Record Segments" as being unreadable, and, as a
result, that drive is on its way to a data recovery service.

However, the result for the other drive, the "good" drive is that it
only shows a fraction of its original content on the drive, only about
2GB worth, and 230GB free.

This drive is a 250GB Western Digital drive that had about 220GB worth
of data (35,000 files painstakingly organized in folders). I cannot
lose 218GB worth of this data.

I can't emphasize how important this data is. I need it back badly.
There is a new hidden folder on the drive, "found.000", and it has a
small amount of the missing data inside it, but arranged in nonsensical
folders named "dir0000.chk" and "dir0001.chk".

I downloaded a file recovery program (PC Inspector), but it doesn't
show the old folders and files. It only sees the surviving folders and
what was once deleted on the hard drive (but not the missing "good"
folders/files).

This stuff cannot be lost--it has to be on the drive. How do I get it
back?

Thanks.

 

[Howard Kaikow]

You have already received responses to your posting of 12 sep 2005 on this
topic in this newsgroup.
Take a look at that thread.

 

[lungnut2002]

With all due respect, this is two different problems.

I asked about the initially failing drive in my first post. I received
good information. That drive is on its way to a data recovery service.
The new problem is about a GOOD drive that had data lost because of
chkdsk running automatically on startup.

Thanks.

 

[John Doe]

You have already received responses to your posting of 12 sep
2005 on this topic in this newsgroup.

But it's fun to hear, and know how valuable my copies are.

 

[John Doe]

I asked about the initially failing drive in my first post. I
received good information. That drive is on its way to a data
recovery service. The new problem is about a GOOD drive that had
data lost because of chkdsk running automatically on startup.

I'm not sure why people come here to cry about losing all of their
information because they don't have a copy, but I think you are
providing a service.

Don't be sloppy, make a copy.

 

[lungnut2002]

Oh, hey, don't get me wrong--I'm not crying.

I hold myself to blame. It's just that I currently have 17 hard drives
(ranging from 160GB to 300GB) and up to this point I haven't had the
resources to keep 17 duplicate drives. That will change. I don't know
how I'm going to do it, but I won't be going through this again.

What I'm looking for more than anything from this newsgroup--one that's
helped me greatly in the past, going all the way back to 1998 when I
built my first pc--is how this happened, why chkdsk did this, how I can
avoid it in the future, and (most importantly) tips on recovering the
lost data.

It seems what you hope to accomplish is rubbing my nose in the fact
that I didn't have a backup, and I have no defense. All I can say is,
you're right, sir.

Does that make you feel better?

Thanks.

 

[Mxsmanic]

This drive is a 250GB Western Digital drive that had about 220GB worth
of data (35,000 files painstakingly organized in folders). I cannot
lose 218GB worth of this data.

Restore from backup.

This stuff cannot be lost--it has to be on the drive. How do I get it
back?

Restore from backup.

 

[Mxsmanic]

With all due respect, this is two different problems.

Thes solution to both is the same: restore from backup. If the drive
is bad, replace the drive, then restore.

 

[Mxsmanic]

I hold myself to blame. It's just that I currently have 17 hard drives
(ranging from 160GB to 300GB) and up to this point I haven't had the
resources to keep 17 duplicate drives. That will change. I don't know
how I'm going to do it, but I won't be going through this again.

We live and learn. The data must not have been very important if it
didn't justify the cost of backups.

What I'm looking for more than anything from this newsgroup--one that's
helped me greatly in the past, going all the way back to 1998 when I
built my first pc--is how this happened, why chkdsk did this, how I can
avoid it in the future, and (most importantly) tips on recovering the
lost data.

There was probably something wrong with the drive, so chkdsk recovered
what structure it could, even at the cost of losing (questionable)
data.

To avoid it in the future, take backups.

It seems what you hope to accomplish is rubbing my nose in the fact
that I didn't have a backup, and I have no defense. All I can say is,
you're right, sir.

Does that make you feel better?

It doesn't have any effect on me. The question is, will it motivate
you to take backups in the future?

Data recovery services can sometimes salvage data from drives. It
costs a lot more than taking backups in most cases.

 

[John Doe]

Oh, hey, don't get me wrong--I'm not crying.

It's the same sad song.

I hold myself to blame. It's just that I currently have 17 hard
drives (ranging from 160GB to 300GB) and up to this point I
haven't had the resources to keep 17 duplicate drives. That will
change. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I won't be
going through this again.

Each drive is full and all the data on each drive is critical?

What I'm looking for more than anything from this newsgroup--one
that's helped me greatly in the past, going all the way back to
1998 when I built my first pc--is how this happened, why chkdsk
did this, how I can avoid it in the future, and (most
importantly) tips on recovering the lost data.

Firstly, I don't mean to impede, not at all.

If you have been around so long, how come you didn't go to the
storage group?

I am genuinely curious about why people come to this group asking
about data recovery. My best guess is that they know people here
are techies. I am open to correction from others on the subject.
Is this group somehow supposed to help out data recovery? And I
don't just mean because of the generous nature of folks here.

Once again, I am not really being critical even if it seems that
way, it tickles me. It seems odd that people come here, and at the
same time I find their visits help reinforce the real need for
backup copies of important information.

It seems what you hope to accomplish is rubbing my nose in the
fact that I didn't have a backup, and I have no defense. All I
can say is, you're right, sir.
Does that make you feel better?

If my hard disk drive fails and I've got a backup partly because
of hearing your story, it will help me feel better.

 

[Howard Kaikow]

The solution is the same.

 

[Howard Kaikow]

The solution is the same whether a drive went bad or chkdisk screwed up or
....

In the case of a bad chkdisk, the cost of data recovery may be less, but
your best bet is still a data recovery service.

 

[Conor]

I can't emphasize how important this data is. I need it back badly.

Can't have been that important could it otherwise you'd have backed it
up.

 

[Brad Houser]

This is unreal. I had one hard drive in my system that was failing. I
had four hard drives in my system. Two of them (including the one that
was failing) was on my motherboards Ultra100 TX2 IDE Controller.

I had had problems in the past with the driver of this controller, and
so when I started experiencing problems with the failing hard drive, my
first step was to uninstall/reinstall the driver for this device.

What this did was make chkdisk kick in upon my computer booting and it
proceeded to check both of these hard drives. The one that was failing
reported a lot of "File Record Segments" as being unreadable, and, as a
result, that drive is on its way to a data recovery service.

However, the result for the other drive, the "good" drive is that it
only shows a fraction of its original content on the drive, only about
2GB worth, and 230GB free.

This drive is a 250GB Western Digital drive that had about 220GB worth
of data (35,000 files painstakingly organized in folders). I cannot
lose 218GB worth of this data.

I can't emphasize how important this data is. I need it back badly.
There is a new hidden folder on the drive, "found.000", and it has a
small amount of the missing data inside it, but arranged in nonsensical
folders named "dir0000.chk" and "dir0001.chk".

I downloaded a file recovery program (PC Inspector), but it doesn't
show the old folders and files. It only sees the surviving folders and
what was once deleted on the hard drive (but not the missing "good"
folders/files).

This stuff cannot be lost--it has to be on the drive. How do I get it
back?

Thanks.

I won't lecture you on the importance of backups, that has been beaten to
death.

First get a new hard drive and do an image backup (exact sector by sector
copy). Then get some file recovery software and work on the copy, that way
you haven't made things worse in case you finally send the drive out for
the experts. THere are quite a few file recovery applications that you can
try before you buy, and they often only do a small number of files or only
tell you which ones they can recover. You may need a third drive for the
actual recovered files.

Brad Houser

 

[dagdabrona]

Hello,

You can try using Active@ Undelete software to recover data. It has the
best recover methods I've used before. If you really wish to recover,
use it.
http://www.active-undelete.com

 

[lungnut2002]

Active Undelete did the trick (or at least seems to be doing the
trick--it's recovering the data right now). I tried a couple of
freeware programs and while they seemed really good for pulling up
deleted files, they all stumbled at whatever chkdsk did to my file
system.

However, a simple quick scan by Active Undelete found all the old
files, and, amazingly enough, retained all of my organization (folders
within folders within folders).

It only cost $40, too. The one downside--recovery is grindingly slow.
Only 3 GB an hour--at this rate it's going to take three days to fully
recover the hard drive. But it's very promising so far.

I'm so freaking happy. Thanks to the person who recommended Active
Undelete and to all those who chided me into backing up my data. I just
bought 20 hard drives in bulk--every drive I create from now on will
have a duplicate.

And from now on, whenever it's time for a new hard drive, I won't buy
just one--I will instead buy two.

 

[Howard Kaikow]

Active Undelete did the trick (or at least seems to be doing the
trick--it's recovering the data right now). I tried a couple of
freeware programs and while they seemed really good for pulling up
deleted files, they all stumbled at whatever chkdsk did to my file
system.

However, a simple quick scan by Active Undelete found all the old
files, and, amazingly enough, retained all of my organization (folders
within folders within folders).

It only cost $40, too. The one downside--recovery is grindingly slow.
Only 3 GB an hour--at this rate it's going to take three days to fully
recover the hard drive. But it's very promising so far.

I'm so freaking happy. Thanks to the person who recommended Active
Undelete and to all those who chided me into backing up my data. I just
bought 20 hard drives in bulk--every drive I create from now on will
have a duplicate.

And from now on, whenever it's time for a new hard drive, I won't buy
just one--I will instead buy two.

Also, remember that programs such as Active Undelete can only recover stuff
if the sectors can be read. If a drive has bad sectors, such programs
cannot recover all the files.

 

[spodosaurus]

This is unreal. I had one hard drive in my system that was failing. I
had four hard drives in my system. Two of them (including the one that
was failing) was on my motherboards Ultra100 TX2 IDE Controller.

RAID?

I had had problems in the past with the driver of this controller, and
so when I started experiencing problems with the failing hard drive, my
first step was to uninstall/reinstall the driver for this device.

The drives were on the same IDE channel of the controller?

What this did was make chkdisk kick in upon my computer booting and it
proceeded to check both of these hard drives. The one that was failing
reported a lot of "File Record Segments" as being unreadable, and, as a
result, that drive is on its way to a data recovery service.

However, the result for the other drive, the "good" drive is that it
only shows a fraction of its original content on the drive, only about
2GB worth, and 230GB free.

This drive is a 250GB Western Digital drive that had about 220GB worth
of data (35,000 files painstakingly organized in folders). I cannot
lose 218GB worth of this data.

I can't emphasize how important this data is. I need it back badly.
There is a new hidden folder on the drive, "found.000", and it has a
small amount of the missing data inside it, but arranged in nonsensical
folders named "dir0000.chk" and "dir0001.chk".

I downloaded a file recovery program (PC Inspector), but it doesn't
show the old folders and files. It only sees the surviving folders and
what was once deleted on the hard drive (but not the missing "good"
folders/files).

This stuff cannot be lost--it has to be on the drive. How do I get it
back?

Thanks.

--
spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

 

[dannysdailys]

It sounds to me like a partition problem. Try this download demo, if
it can help it will tell you so, then pay for the working version.
It's helped me out in the past and is part of my toolkit now.

http://www.ptdd.com/

 

[dannysdailys]

Incidentally, I don't know what kind of data you could possibly have
that takes a full 17 hard drives to store. I've been in this game
for over 20 years and can't imagine what you could be storing.

I think it's time for a heads up and a re-evaluation of just what it
is you're doing with your computer. I can't believe this is a
mission critical computer. If it were, you'd be running RAID 1 on
everything. If it's not, I believe you are a junk collector. Maybe
it's time to get serious about getting rid of all the garbage.

Remember; the more hard drives you have, the more chance you have of a
problem with them. 17 hard drives is crazy by anyone's standard.

I hope that partition program can help.