Directory Structure in tact, Files gone

milford · 11-03-2009, 12:38 PM

I caught my 2 year old son messing with my laptop. When I got him away it said Windows is shutting down.

It would not boot after that. I tried everything and then I turned off my Toshiba External Hard Drive and then it booted up. I Think he may have messed around with the cable, unplugging it and plugging it in.

Anyways. I thought everything was fine at first. I hooked up the external drive again and turned it on and the directory structure was there. I decided to make a backup of my important files.

I then went in to open some photos on the External HD. I went into the directory and there were no files at all. In fact all of the directories were epty directories.

If there anyway to recover what I can on this HD. I have tried Disk Internals UnEraser and Partition Recover but neither worked. It sees the files but when I try to recover them Windows says it can not open the file.

If you need other information let me know.

**raptor_pa** · 11-03-2009, 02:09 PM

Use the command prompt to do a dir command on one of the folders and see if the files show there. I am working on a simiar problem for a friend, the files are still there, it is appearing to be an explorer issue, but found no solution as of yet.

milford · 11-04-2009, 02:37 AM

Nothing in there at all. Also, when I look at the 1 TB drive it now says that it has about 970 GB available, when I know I have put at least 200 GB of pictures on it.

**raptor_pa** · 11-04-2009, 05:00 AM

Scan the disk with the demos of r-studio or getdataback and see if it finds the files.

milford · 11-04-2009, 07:12 AM

using r-studio I am geting a lot of Unexpected MFT records.

But the USB Drive is Formatted FAT.

Letting the scan go on for now.

I know that DiskInternals UnEraser can see the files but if I try to recover any of them I can not open the recovered files.

So I know they are there, just not letting me recover them. I can not believe that the drive lost those files and corrupted them. It has to be the File Table Allocations or boot information.

I have written to the drive, but not too much, I was not aware the files were gone when I did.

Besides this drive had backups of my software and games and files on it and had about 500 GB filled up, of about 1 TB. Writing only maybe 10 GB should not have damaged too many of the files.

**raptor_pa** · 11-04-2009, 07:15 AM

It depends how it wrote, a sector is only 512 bytes, so 10 GB is about 20 billion sectors depending on the file, even one sector would corrupt it, and the drive doesn't write in sequential order, sectors for hte files can be scattered all across the disk surface when written.

milford · 11-04-2009, 08:41 AM

I stopped the scan to check and I am starting to see the files and open some of them. I wish there was a way to just place the files back into the directory that they were in before. I will have a lot of work to do if not.

I am going to let it complete the scan and see what I can get from it. If I can at least recover my photos and family video I will be happy.

**raptor_pa** · 11-04-2009, 09:07 AM

Make sure when you recover them you copy them out to another disk! Otherwise you could be writing over the data you want to recover.

milford · 11-04-2009, 10:11 AM

I was wondering, how many boot sectors should be on this drive, it is only one FAT32 partition, it has right now, per R-Studio, 1 NTFS Boot Sector and 162 FAT Boot Sectors.

**raptor_pa** · 11-04-2009, 11:47 AM

Are they 162 boot sectors, or 162 directories, should only be one MBR, and a volume boot record for any other partitions. But if it was only one partition, then one MBR. If you are looking at the little colored blocks, its probably seeing false signatures, it will populate the left column with found filesystems when it finishes.

11-03-2009, 12:38 PM	#1 (permalink)
milford Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Vista	Directory Structure in tact, Files gone I caught my 2 year old son messing with my laptop. When I got him away it said Windows is shutting down. It would not boot after that. I tried everything and then I turned off my Toshiba External Hard Drive and then it booted up. I Think he may have messed around with the cable, unplugging it and plugging it in. Anyways. I thought everything was fine at first. I hooked up the external drive again and turned it on and the directory structure was there. I decided to make a backup of my important files. I then went in to open some photos on the External HD. I went into the directory and there were no files at all. In fact all of the directories were epty directories. If there anyway to recover what I can on this HD. I have tried Disk Internals UnEraser and Partition Recover but neither worked. It sees the files but when I try to recover them Windows says it can not open the file. If you need other information let me know.

11-03-2009, 02:09 PM	#2 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,933 OS: XP	Re: Directory Structure in tact, Files gone Use the command prompt to do a dir command on one of the folders and see if the files show there. I am working on a simiar problem for a friend, the files are still there, it is appearing to be an explorer issue, but found no solution as of yet. __________________

11-04-2009, 02:37 AM	#3 (permalink)
milford Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Vista	Re: Directory Structure in tact, Files gone Nothing in there at all. Also, when I look at the 1 TB drive it now says that it has about 970 GB available, when I know I have put at least 200 GB of pictures on it.

11-04-2009, 05:00 AM	#4 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,933 OS: XP	Re: Directory Structure in tact, Files gone Scan the disk with the demos of r-studio or getdataback and see if it finds the files. __________________

11-04-2009, 07:12 AM	#5 (permalink)
milford Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Vista	Re: Directory Structure in tact, Files gone using r-studio I am geting a lot of Unexpected MFT records. But the USB Drive is Formatted FAT. Letting the scan go on for now. I know that DiskInternals UnEraser can see the files but if I try to recover any of them I can not open the recovered files. So I know they are there, just not letting me recover them. I can not believe that the drive lost those files and corrupted them. It has to be the File Table Allocations or boot information. I have written to the drive, but not too much, I was not aware the files were gone when I did. Besides this drive had backups of my software and games and files on it and had about 500 GB filled up, of about 1 TB. Writing only maybe 10 GB should not have damaged too many of the files.

11-04-2009, 07:15 AM	#6 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,933 OS: XP	Re: Directory Structure in tact, Files gone It depends how it wrote, a sector is only 512 bytes, so 10 GB is about 20 billion sectors depending on the file, even one sector would corrupt it, and the drive doesn't write in sequential order, sectors for hte files can be scattered all across the disk surface when written. __________________

11-04-2009, 08:41 AM	#7 (permalink)
milford Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Vista	Re: Directory Structure in tact, Files gone I stopped the scan to check and I am starting to see the files and open some of them. I wish there was a way to just place the files back into the directory that they were in before. I will have a lot of work to do if not. I am going to let it complete the scan and see what I can get from it. If I can at least recover my photos and family video I will be happy. Last edited by milford; 11-04-2009 at 08:42 AM.

11-04-2009, 09:07 AM	#8 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,933 OS: XP	Re: Directory Structure in tact, Files gone Make sure when you recover them you copy them out to another disk! Otherwise you could be writing over the data you want to recover. __________________

11-04-2009, 10:11 AM	#9 (permalink)
milford Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Vista	Re: Directory Structure in tact, Files gone I was wondering, how many boot sectors should be on this drive, it is only one FAT32 partition, it has right now, per R-Studio, 1 NTFS Boot Sector and 162 FAT Boot Sectors.

11-04-2009, 11:47 AM	#10 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,933 OS: XP	Re: Directory Structure in tact, Files gone Are they 162 boot sectors, or 162 directories, should only be one MBR, and a volume boot record for any other partitions. But if it was only one partition, then one MBR. If you are looking at the little colored blocks, its probably seeing false signatures, it will populate the left column with found filesystems when it finishes. __________________