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Hello there,
I have an External 500GB H.D.D and it had no problems until something happened today. Every time that I connected My HD to PC a message appeared which asks: "Do you want to scan and fix Local Disk (J:)?". As I knew that my HD had no problem , I didn't do it at anytime(when I connect any of my HDs this message appears, however there is no reason to do it everytime). But today after some months I thought may be it's good to do a check disk so if my HD got some problems it will fix it. I thought it's as easy as Windows XP's CHKDSK so without noticing something I clicked on "Scan and fix" and then checked all of the boxes under "Check disk options" frame and then started. after some minutes progress bar froze at about begining and didn't moved. Then I canceled the process and thought like classical CHKDSK it will not harm my files(like pressing Ctrl+C in Command Prompt). But surprisingly when I was seeing my files I noticed that a large part of my files and folders are deleted. But when I checked my disk space I saw the same size which was on my HD yesterday. so I searched my drive to see what's happened, then I saw some unknown ZIP, RAR and EXE files which are unreadable too are on my HD. They are apparently replaced with my own files.
My question: Is there a way for me to recover my files(which are unfortunately overwritten with those unreadable files) or convert the corrupted unreadable files to my own files.
By the way I'm sure nothing than Windows Check disk might do this because yesterday when i was seeing that part of my drive they were exist and from that time to now the HD was in my drawer.
P.S. I think if there is any reverse process of the scan disk parameters like "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" check box, it will be helpful to use it.
Another postscript: It seems that the unreadable files are the files which were previously used on Hard disk by the previous owner. it's funny that CHKDSK pulled out JUST THE NAMES of the completely overwritten files left from the previous owner of HD. I said just names because this files have names, icons, extensions and even sizes(they used some of my disk space) but NO ONE of them can be opened. It seems I really got a rare problem. what makes a recovery tool do this?
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Edit: Another thing makes me curious about this accident is the issue that it's a strange form of data loss. When you delete your files normally and don't copy/make more files on the drive which you deleted the files, you can recover your data. But when something converts your file sizes to zero and makes them empty, it's very strange. I want to know what can cause this to happen and can we technically recover these files.
what did Microsoft added with that tool except destroying our data ??
If you are under Windows operating system, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories, right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator. In cmd window that appears type this:
chkdsk x: /f
(where x = drive letter associated with your external hard drive, and before x: and after x: there is a space)
and press Enter.
Command chkdsk (check disk) will correct errors and your external hard drive will be accessible again.
As the original poster mentioned, it was CHKDSK -f that caused the problem. I'm in the same boat....chkdsk was automatically run by the system and corrupted the drive. It sees the correct number of files, and what appears to be the correct amount of space used, but the directory is completely corrupt. The log file left behind shows that it "fixed" the MFT and the backup MFT.
Since the early days of DOS, chkdsk -f has been considered the kiss of death....sad to see it's still the same today.
Still looking for a way to recover.
Now I'm using EaseUS Data Recovery to see what happens. I don't think it works because the two previous softs did nothing rather than showing the 0 Kilobyte files.
I wonder if any bad sector recovery software do like this windows' tool then there is no reason to make these tools. It actually DESTROYED my files. Is there someone who knows what is the reverse action of this process. Can I use any switches of chkdsk command in CMD to do something like this. Unrecovering bad sectors :|
Any help will be appreciated.
I really am going to give up now. Please if somebody knows what I can do help me. May be my data is not important for everyone but for me it's very important.
You probably have to accept this unfortunate event as a harsh lesson that you must back up all data that is important to you. Not before doing a chkdsk but regularly. How to put a value against "regularly"? Easy: When the loss of your data is of greater inconvenience than the hassle of backing up your data. To me, losing one week's worth of data is tolerable, except when I'm coding. I then back up my data at least twice each day, alternating between two separate backup media. What is a reasonable interval for you? How would it feel if your hard disk self-destructed overnight or if the machine got stolen? It happens all the time and is never an expected event.
Tried EaseUS Data Recovery and GetDataBack but still didn't get my files.
Looks like I need that god going down from the sky and rewrite the binary code of every of my files.
I really am going to give up now. Please if somebody knows what I can do help me. May be my data is not important for everyone but for me it's very important.
