Corrupt music files on my External HD

Paddy the Greek · 22-05-2010 4:10pm #1

Hi folks,

this is my first time posting on this particular forum...so hello to everybody. I have a problem that I hope somebody here might be able to give me some advice with.

Basically I have a 1TB external hard drive (FAT 32) that I have tons of music stored on, more music than I would ever have time to listen to. Lately, when I try to play particular files, some of them either wont play: I get a message saying: 'The file of directory is corrupt and unreadable'. Or they play for two seconds and then skip onto the next track and so on...

Another very curious thing is when I play certain tracks they turn out as Gibberish, high speed talking with high speed music playing along side it....totally weird. I know that these files played fine a few weeks back.

I tried to run CHKDSK on the drive (I use Vista 32 bit) but it would not allow me to do so. I scanned the drive for viruses and malware but no joy either. Can anybody suggest what I might possibly do, or even suggest what might have caused this?

I realise that Ill probably end up losing most of it, but just on the off chance somebody has any ideas...I would really appreciate some feedback....

Cheers....

Biggins · 22-05-2010 4:31pm

You might try this tool (free): http://www.piriform.com/recuva/features
It will scan the drive for anything recoverable that might be faulty.

Paddy the Greek · 31-05-2010 9:44am

Cheers for that Biggins.
I tried that but no joy

I wonder if anybody has any other suggestions? I at risk of losing a collosall amount of music...I know I should have backed up, Im an idiot

Can anyone help

laurence997 · 31-05-2010 1:50pm

Well recuva is the program that I have most faith in-It has never failed to find a file for me, but seeing as it isnt working for you try http://www.pctools.com/file-recover/
It might work. Theres also the option of sending the drive away to be recovered professionally-but its mad expensive.

bonzodog2 · 31-05-2010 3:47pm

I tried recuva once and it seemed to be easy to use, and free (always good), but ISTR it only works if it can recognize a filesystem. This is probably true for your disk, but there is other software, e.g. GetDataBack, R-Studio, and others, that are more advanced. Maybe you might have more luck with one of these, even if they require payment, its still probably 100x cheaper than a 'professional' data recovery company.

Paddy the Greek · 31-05-2010 5:10pm

Thanks for the feedback guys....I'll give all of those mentioned a go. Im not too confident I'll be successful at this stage but heres hoping... Cheers

JDxtra · 31-05-2010 8:54pm

Sounds like your hard drive is beginning to fail or you have file system corruption. I dont see the point in using a file recovery program as the files are there, they are just corrupt. First you should back up the essential data from it now while you can as a precaution. Check the system event log for disk or file system related errors. What was the error chkdsk gave you?

Paddy the Greek · 01-06-2010 7:49pm

JDxtra wrote: »

Sounds like your hard drive is beginning to fail or you have file system corruption. I dont see the point in using a file recovery program as the files are there, they are just corrupt. First you should back up the essential data from it now while you can as a precaution. Check the system event log for disk or file system related errors. What was the error chkdsk gave you?

Hey, thanks for your feedback.
I tried to run CHKDSK first as an admin within Windows (Vista 32 bit)...but it would not run. I then Tried it using the OS disk, no joy...no option to run CHKDSK on the CD. I finally tried it using DOS but again, it simply would not run....So I just gave up on CHKDSK alltogether.

I have a file recovery program scanning it at the moment and Im pretty confident it will do the trick....Im sure there are easier ways but so far this is the most progress I have got with it....

Paddy the Greek · 02-06-2010 8:33am

Hi Guys....

I happy to report that the program 'Get Data Back' resolved this issue for me ....well partially! I scanned the entire 1.5 Tb drive....It took nearly 24 hours. But basically all of the files which I was not able to open can now be copied to a new location and opened there...Brilliant software....

My new problem is how do I replace the corrupted files on the hard drive with the recovered ones? I cannot replace them to the original location using 'Get Data Back' and I am not able to delete them. I have tried using 'Unlocker' software to free them up to be deleted but no joy....Any ideas?

chin_grin · 02-06-2010 8:38am

http://eraser.heidi.ie/ ?

simoniz · 02-06-2010 9:22am

Have you fix it?

JDxtra · 02-06-2010 9:47am

Paddy the Greek wrote: »

Hi Guys....

I happy to report that the program 'Get Data Back' resolved this issue for me ....well partially! I scanned the entire 1.5 Tb drive....It took nearly 24 hours. But basically all of the files which I was not able to open can now be copied to a new location and opened there...Brilliant software....

My new problem is how do I replace the corrupted files on the hard drive with the recovered ones? I cannot replace them to the original location using 'Get Data Back' and I am not able to delete them. I have tried using 'Unlocker' software to free them up to be deleted but no joy....Any ideas?

If the files names of the restored data match, and they are in the correct sub-folder names, then it should be easy enough to write a simple copy batch script to do the job.

Myself or others here can help with that.

JDxtra · 02-06-2010 9:47am

chin_grin wrote: »

http://eraser.heidi.ie/ ?

Errr, that's for deleting files. Unless you are trying to be funny...?

Paddy the Greek · 02-06-2010 1:01pm

JDxtra wrote: »

If the files names of the restored data match, and they are in the correct sub-folder names, then it should be easy enough to write a simple copy batch script to do the job.

Myself or others here can help with that.

Yea I am willing to try anything that might make the job easier! Not every file is corrupt, only every third or fourth file...'Get Back Data' software allows you to copy the recovered files to a new location - My desktop in this case. Its just a matter of sifting through the results and replacing the corrupted ones....Any feedback on how to batch it over in one go would be great....Cheers for your feedback

JDxtra · 02-06-2010 2:27pm

Paddy the Greek wrote: »

Yea I am willing to try anything that might make the job easier! Not every file is corrupt, only every third or fourth file...'Get Back Data' software allows you to copy the recovered files to a new location - My desktop in this case. Its just a matter of sifting through the results and replacing the corrupted ones....Any feedback on how to batch it over in one go would be great....Cheers for your feedback

Do the recovered files have the exact same name as the originals? Are the recovered files all just in one folder, or are they in sub-folders that match the originals?

If so, I will send further instructions. If it's less than 100 files, you could probably do it quicker manually though.

Paddy the Greek · 02-06-2010 3:06pm

JDxtra wrote: »

Do the recovered files have the exact same name as the originals? Are the recovered files all just in one folder, or are they in sub-folders that match the originals?

If so, I will send further instructions. If it's less than 100 files, you could probably do it quicker manually though.

As far as I can see the organisation structure of the recovered files is the same as it was on the original HD...I reckon theres well over 100...its a 1.5tb drive and 60% of that is music

JDxtra · 02-06-2010 3:27pm

Great.

Open a command prompt.

Type C: [press return]
Type CD %homedrive%\%homepath%\Desktop\Recovered [press return]
Note: replace the folder named Recovered with the name of your folder.
Type dir *.* /b /s > recovered.txt [press return]

Post or PM the file called recovered.txt which will be created in the same folder. Also, send me the EXACT path of your ORIGINAL files e.g. E:\My Music\.

Paddy the Greek · 02-06-2010 4:05pm

JDxtra wrote: »

Great.

Open a command prompt.
Type C: [press return]

Type CD %homedrive%\%homepath%\Desktop\Recovered [press return]
Note: replace the folder named Recovered with the name of your folder.

Type dir *.* /b /s > recovered.txt [press return]

Post or PM the file called recovered.txt which will be created in the same folder. Also, send me the EXACT path of your ORIGINAL files e.g. E:\My Music\.

Im just a newbie here so It wont allow me to PM you....I see what your getting at though......

chin_grin · 02-06-2010 8:36pm

Paddy the Greek wrote: »

Hi Guys....

I happy to report that the program 'Get Data Back' resolved this issue for me ....well partially! I scanned the entire 1.5 Tb drive....It took nearly 24 hours. But basically all of the files which I was not able to open can now be copied to a new location and opened there...Brilliant software....

My new problem is how do I replace the corrupted files on the hard drive with the recovered ones? I cannot replace them to the original location using 'Get Data Back' and I am not able to delete them. I have tried using 'Unlocker' software to free them up to be deleted but no joy....Any ideas?

JDxtra wrote: »

Errr, that's for deleting files. Unless you are trying to be funny...?

Nope, not in the slightest.

Corrupt music files on my External HD

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