VenomXt

ok wtf...

i reformated my comp and got it up and running did a reboot the check disk comes up on my 250 gig drive..... runs for like 20 mins does alot of diffrent stuff then when i get windows back up a good amount of data on the drive is gone.... still alot on it but around 60 gig is gone...

about a month ago i had 2 120 gigs die within 2 days of eachother.

im so confused what the hell is going on.

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NetRyder

Whatever you do, try not to write any new data to the drive with the lost files.
You could try using data recovery software to see if your deleted files can be salvaged. People have had different experiences with different tools. Personally, I've had a positive experience with an app called "GetDataBack for NTFS" (they have a FAT32 version as well). My dad accidentally deleted a partition a few months ago, and GetDataBack was able to recover almost all of the 40GB of lost data.
Also make regular backups if you have any indication that the drive itself might be going bad.

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Lonman

You're running ntfs? The only thing i can think to suggest is to run the hard drives utilities on it to make sure the drive is ok. How is your POST time? If it's exceptionally slow you may have a problem with your jumper configuration... I know WD drives are real finicky that way... they'll boot but it takes a while and that can cause data transfer problems.

VenomXt

ran wd utility to test integ. seems ok going to try to get the prog NetRyder i will keep in touch

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NetRyder

Good luck with it. Remember to restore any recoverable files to a different physical drive to prevent the deleted data areas of the disk from being overwritten.

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VenomXt

OMG.... im so confused i just rebooted my comp again and check disk came up again and somehow fixed everything........ im so confused.........

what you think Neyryder?

im gona run a more extended test on the drive and start backing up the info on the drive onto another hardrive.

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NetRyder

That's quite strange...perhaps an issue with the NTFS MFT that chkdsk was able to fix? I'm not quite sure either.
In any case, it's nice that you were able to get your data back without much effort. Creating the backups now is a good idea.

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VenomXt

ok i seemed to have recoverd almost everything
except about 20 video files of diffren sizes which have been re wreitten to the size of 0..

iv had weird things like this happen on a old computer but very very rarely...

any ideas.. just weird hardrive fart?

i ran the extended test on the drive (took freaking 7 and half hours) and it passed...

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dreamliner77

If I were you, I'd get everything off that drive and then do a low level format. See how the drive behaves for a while but don't put anything important on it until you are satisfied that it's ok.

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Mainframeguy

I second what dreamliner said - I recently had a brand new laptop HD and it went in a very similar manner - checkdisk would fix up errors and it would seem to be OK for a while and then there would be problems again. If a HD gives errors once chances are that sooner or later it will give them again - any chance it is within RMA period?

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Lee

Amazing, I am so nervous about this happening to me, I leave my HD on 24/7/365, do a check disk every 5 boots, have fragmenter smart schedule and do a defragment of high priority every night, whilst snoozing.

I had one drive die on me a 10 gig drive about 4 years ago, I knew it was screwed when it took 25 minutes to boot to WinMe.

To your title, I would say buy an eternal HD and back up the whole drive to that every night, so if the worst happens again at least you can return all your data to a new HD.

OR/ you could do a DVD backup of all your most sensitive files.
Fingers crossed I have had this HD 3 years 9 months and it has never caused 1 problem.

VenomXt

the drive is very fragmented could this cause this? what you guys think..
and yes the drive is within the ram period. hehe havent even recived the rebate for it yet.

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Lonman

Just out of curiosity, seeing how you have what, 4 hard drives? How are you set up? Is your system drive, the one losing data, on the controller card or on the motherboard's controller? Run your setup down by channel... could be a clue there.

VenomXt

my system is on a 120 gig with 2 partiitons.

the 250 gig has two partitions. only one of them has had check disk check it.

i do have a controller card but not using it at the moment. the 60 gig is in a internal enclosure. (via usb 2)

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Lonman

Are the 2 ide drives on the same channel (cable)? If so, make sure the jumpers are right. The master should have the jumper across the middle teeth, and the slave should have a jumper one set over to the right (looking at the drive w/ the circuit board down). However you have them setup, double check your jumper configuration. If you have the hard drives sharing a channel with the burner and/or dvd, then those units will also need to be jumpered correctly. They'll still work being incorrectly jumpered, usually, but you'll end up scrambling the signal to the drive which could be responsible for the wierdness you're experiencing.

Here's a diagram for Western Digital hard drive jumper settings. Remember, if they're sharing an ide channel with anything they have to be jumpered correctly as either master or slave.

http://support.wdc.com/techinfo/general/jumpers.asp

VenomXt

all ready been done....

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VenomXt

ok wow... some new stuff has developed.. and i will try to explain this.

ok..

start from the beginning.


i first noticed a problem a few days ago.. when playing a large video file it was skipping in the same spots.. so i played another large video file that i had seen a day before that had not skipped and it also skipped..

so i reformated... got Xp up and running fine. and then the check disk thing above happend. and lost the data then rebooted again and recover all but like 20 files of data which had been rewritten to the size of 0. ok well i took the file that was skipping and placed it on another hardive (in same machine) and ran it and it worked perfectly.. ok..

so this elimates the file from being the source of the problem.. and points to the hardive.

ok..

i relized something i had recently put in new cables (rounded) for my hardive and at first was not experiencing any problems. but then some odd thinsg began happening.. (slow drive) (vdeo problems like i mentioned)

so i just replaced the ide cable with another one i had and now the video on the 250 gig plays fine.

i guess what im asking is could a defective ide cable be the cause of all these problems (loss of data)(slow video file)??

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VenomXt

(bump)

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Bytes Back

Have you been in windows event viewer and checked the system logs ?

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VenomXt

kinda didnt see many things in there i understood a few errors.

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