External hard drive lost data

Bobthebass · 03 Jul 2011

I had a message about errors when I plugged in my WD external hard drive. I let the Error Checking run and when it finished it said I needed to format the disk. I cancelled this and looked in my computer and although the drive appeared, no details (i.e. space usage) was present.

I re-ran Error Checking with "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" checked.

After running this the drive appeared properly in My Computer.

However there are many files missing, and the space usage of what is there doesn't match up with what my computer says.

Files I can physically see: ~ 120 Gb.

Space usage according to Explorer: ~420 Gb.

So it looks like tha data may still be there but Windows can't see it???

Any suggestions on possible ways to recover??

Edit: BTW, forgot to say, all this is booted into Win7 not XP on my dual boot system.

theog · 03 Jul 2011

You may be able recover some of the data with this apps.
Recuva - Undelete, Unerase, File and Disk Recovery - Free Download

Check the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.
Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.
HD Diagnostic

James Colbert · 03 Jul 2011

Welcome, Bobthebass :).

Can you see the files with a Linux Live boot CD?:

Download | Ubuntu

I would try that first to copy data off the drive

I would then try running chkdsk/f from the command prompt (or if from windows, "Automatically fix file system errors" only) followed by checking the HD with the manufacturer's diagnostics.

Bobthebass · 03 Jul 2011

Thanks for the responses.

Recova can see some files but not all.

So far, repeated use of chkdsk from the command prompt seems to be getting somewhere. It keeps stopping with unexpected errors, but each time it runs it gets a little further. I've been able to get about 60 Gb of files back so far (and the photos I've recovered are the only things that I couldn't eventually replace!)

I have a Ubuntu CD somewhere, so I'll fire that up next and see how it goes.

Thanks again.

Bob