Help - HDD data disappearing

[Aereldor]

Greetings.

 

I'm away from home, and brought my external HDD with me. The largest folder in it contains several sets of videos, sorted alphabetically.

 

When I plugged my HDD into a smart TV, it only displayed four 'panes'- up until 'SP'. However, nothing else was displayed afterwards. I mistakenly assumed that this was because the TV could only display four panes. However, the issue persisted when I plugged it into another Smart TV - with all the folders after 'SP' remaining missing despite the pane not terminating there'. When I plugged it into a computer, I saw that every folder after 'SP' was indeed missing. 

 

This issue has not affected any other folders. My iTunes Library backup folder has not been affected- all folders from '33' to 'ZE' are present, and nothing seems to have disappeared inexplicably, nor are there missing folders after a certain alphabet.

 

Some of this data will be exceedingly difficult to replace, as I don't have a backup of all of this. Furthermore, I use this hard drive for important transfers, so if this is a sign that the reliability of my external drive has been compromised, I'll have to replace it.

 

What do you think is wrong? Do you believe there is a way to recover these missing folders? I will not be able to plug it into m own computer until later today.

 

Regards,

Aereldor.

[The_Dylmyster]

This may allow you to recover the files: https://www.piriform.com/recuva

I have used it quite often and it works well! Sorry i can't help with the reliability issue though.

[Aereldor]

2 minutes ago, The_Dylmyster said:

This may allow you to recover the files: https://www.piriform.com/recuva

I have used it quite often and it works well! Sorry i can't help with the reliability issue though.

All the missing files show up when I scan for viruses. Huh.

 

I'll try that next.

[Guest]

Run crystaldiskinfo? 

How long habe you had it? 

Which HDD? Brand/model?

 

[Aereldor]

1 minute ago, deXxterlab97 said:

Run crystaldiskinfo? 

How long habe you had it? 

Which HDD? Brand/model?

 

I don't have any of these tools on this computer. 

 

It's a WD Elements 1TB, and I've never had problems with it.

 

Also, all the 'missing' files show up when I let Norton scan it for malware. They just won't show up on Windows Explorer or either Smart TV.

[Aereldor]

@deXxterlab97, @The_Dylmyster- the scan seems to slow significantly when it goes through the missing files. Rather than 20 file s a second, it scans them at 20 seconds per file. What could this mean?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Aereldor said:

I don't have any of these tools on this computer. 

 

It's a WD Elements 1TB, and I've never had problems with it.

 

Also, all the 'missing' files show up when I let Norton scan it for malware. They just won't show up on Windows Explorer or either Smart TV.

Get it? it's free 

Try command prompt way? 

Open cmd, type

dir F:\ /ah

 

Replace F with the drive letter you need.  See if the list contains your files

Also does the total used space on HDD matches with what your drive should have?

[Guest]

Someone had a similar issue on Tomshardware too. Check if it could be more help

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/268370-32-external-hard-drive-missing-half-files-help

[fjdhdhcyfhf]

i wonder if it has to do with fat vs exfat? the devices youre using might not be 100% compatible with your filesystem

[Guest]

Anyway I am going to sleep soon. If you did see your files using cmd method type this to unhide

 

attrib F:\foldername -r -a -s -h

 

Keep doing for each missing folders/files

 

Or the toms solution

Spoiler

go to a cmd prompt type in 
chkdsk c: /r 
NOTE if the drive is g or whatever than instead of c: type g: 
it will take a while wait it out it will fix it all 

 

[Aereldor]

40 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

i wonder if it has to do with fat vs exfat? the devices youre using might not be 100% compatible with your filesystem

But would that result in them wiping away a ton of my files? The files that couldn't me displayed on the TV are also missing on the computer; which is running 64-bit Windows 10 Home. 

 

The HDD is formatted to NTFS.

[Aereldor]

@The_Dylmyster- It didn't work. The files show up in the virus scan, but the recovery program can't even find those. No offense to you, but if can't even turn up a trace, then it's a pretty horrible recovery program.

[Aereldor]

@deXxterlab97, @SCHISCHKA, @The_Dylmyster- I managed to get everything back, and... I'm not sure how. I feel bad marking this as best answer, but I really have no idea what happened or what I did to fix it.

[The_Dylmyster]

That's awesome you got everything back!

[Aereldor]

5 minutes ago, The_Dylmyster said:

That's awesome you got everything back!

Thanks. Funnily enough, after all that trouble, I forgot to take it with me and left it at the place I was at. I'll pick it up soon.