6500 MP3's Missing on External HD

[GeoffDMN]

Hey everyone,

I am currently using a PC and I use an Iomega 1TB external hard drive to hold my Mp3's so they dont slow down my computer. Well the other day I went on to my ITUNES and tried to play music but it all was missing. I then Checked the file on my Hard Drive and all of the folders were there, but the Mp3s were missing. The folders would contain the album art and whatnot but none od the MP3s were in any folder.

This collection is pretty much priceless to me so any help getting them back would be great!

 

[LookinAround]

You might try file recovery software like Recuva

If you want to be extremely cautious, you might want to first create a sector-by-sector "clone" of your drive so you can preserve it's current state (because some recovery procedures can modify the drive as it attempts recovery) but that would require you have another large drive to store the clone copy. EASUS disk copy can create the clone for you

 

[EXCellR8]

How much free space does the external drive read?

 

[GeoffDMN]

Well i tried Recova, and there were no deleted files. Could they have been lost by removing the usb plug without "safely removing" the hard drive?

 

[GeoffDMN]

The external hard drive has 811 of 930 gb free, that includes the folder with my internal HD backup.

 

[EXCellR8]

Well i tried Recova, and there were no deleted files. Could they have been lost by removing the usb plug without "safely removing" the hard drive?

doubt it, worst that could happen by not safely removing hardware is you fry one of your USB ports. having said that, have you tried the drive on another system? I'm thinking that the actual .mp3 files may not be showing up due to user rights or something. i would try disabling UAC, restarting the computer, and trying the drive again.

 

[GeoffDMN]

How do I disable UAC?

 

[LookinAround]

You can try using jdiskreport to view the files/folders on the drive. Windows Explorer may not show everything due to rights but jdiskreport should.

Really odd problem.. Only mp3 files are missing??

 

[GeoffDMN]

Yep only Mp3s. Im rebooting right now after disabling UAC.

 

[EXCellR8]

yea i forgot about jdisk, but disabling UAC should do the trick if the files are protected by user rights.

 

[LookinAround]

btw... unsafely removing a USB device wouldn't fry a USB port but can corrupt the filesystem on a USB drive. But even in that case, it would cause either EVERYTHING to disappear or at least strike randomly vs. just all the mp3 files.

as point of note: the idea of first "safely removing" is to allow windows to close all open file descriptors and devices on a usb device before removing it. Otherwise you risk corruption

 

[GeoffDMN]

Jdisk did not show all the files, and deactivating UAC did not help. I did however find that not ALL files were missing which i guess is good.

 

[tipstir]

Hey everyone,

I am currently using a PC and I use an Iomega 1TB external hard drive to hold my Mp3's so they dont slow down my computer. Well the other day I went on to my ITUNES and tried to play music but it all was missing. I then Checked the file on my Hard Drive and all of the folders were there, but the Mp3s were missing. The folders would contain the album art and whatnot but none od the MP3s were in any folder.

This collection is pretty much priceless to me so any help getting them back would be great!

Which OS are you using? What else was you doing prior when using using the 1TB external HDD. I've seen this happen with my external HDDs I've made using spare parts. Seems the drive either gets too hot or the data had failed to be saved causing the HDD to be wiped out. Strange to that all us depend on these type of devices and soon learn not to leave our important files on them. That's why Sync to another internal HDD is needed just in case for disaster like this one.

UAC can be a pain-in-the neck to have active, but I still leave it active!

 

[GeoffDMN]

Yuo said it gets to hot? could that be the problem? A friend said that I might need to remove the casing on my HD. I wouldn't see that bringing back the lost MP3s though so im still depressed! I need a Christmas miracle.

 

[EXCellR8]

Yes, it's very possible that what Tipstir has said could have occurred, and I don't know whether taking the enclosure apart and trying the hard drive "naked" would prove different results. Unfortunately, there's little anyone can do if the data is lost. You could try some specialized software like Undelete but that's typically used for Recycle Bin contents and not crashes. It's usually safe to store your stuff on external drives, but you still need backups.

I always tell people to back up their stuff, but they usually don't listen and come back crying. It's a bummer that you may have lost so many mp3s, but without a solid backup plan it's tough to have any sympathy. Hardware can fail, and when it does you just have to start over, especially when talking about hard drives.

For the record, I've witnessed a lot of iomega devices failing. I don't know if the HDD brand is to blame (usually Hitachi) or what but it seems to be an unfortunate trend.

 

[tipstir]

Yuo said it gets to hot? could that be the problem? A friend said that I might need to remove the casing on my HD. I wouldn't see that bringing back the lost MP3s though so im still depressed! I need a Christmas miracle.

Won't help once the data is gone it's gone. I have been there too so I know how it is. I don't depend on these type of drives again. Internal HDDs then back up to another network HDD or NAS then create a image of the contents. That's the way to go. Unless you want to take them with you then use the external.