How Come Random Songs Disappear From My Hardrive After A Long Time??

Status
Not open for further replies.

matthew2777

Posts: 43   +0
Ive Been Expieriencing This For 5 Years Already On Two Different Computers...

One Day I Will Be Searching For A Song On My Pc..and Suddenly Its Gone...and I Have To Download It Again

Im Not Talking About Alot Of Songs Disappearing Just Random Songs Disappearing After Years ...

Could it be because I have alot of songs in the same folder?

What i dont get is...i put them on itunes...and if the file is missing it should just show the question mark...but it doesnt even have the song on itunes record anymore...as if i deleted it myself...
 
Hey, I am not certain, but I have heard of time dated files that expire after a period of time. also I have burned music files to CD and they still end up some
how currupted or gone. I think this is some type to file protection that gets
written to your registry and puts a time limit on the use of the file!
Remind you this is only my theory. I do not know a way to get around the
expire date other than keeping the same date on your computer, but that will
probably lead to a computer crash! Aaaarg!
Rickman45
 
Rickman45 said:
Hey, I am not certain, but I have heard of time dated files that expire after a period of time. also I have burned music files to CD and they still end up some
how currupted or gone. I think this is some type to file protection that gets
written to your registry and puts a time limit on the use of the file!
Remind you this is only my theory. I do not know a way to get around the
expire date other than keeping the same date on your computer, but that will
probably lead to a computer crash! Aaaarg!
Rickman45
hmmm...........

how can i view expiration dates on files?
 
Several possibilities.

matthew2777 said:
Ive Been Expieriencing This For 5 Years Already On Two Different Computers...
Hey Matt, I've experienced this problem myself. There are about a half dozen possible causes, none of them good.

The least tragic case first:

If all the files that were lost are all files that haven't been moved or modified in years, the magnetic recording of the file may be fading away as the drive ages. The quickest "fix" is to simply "move" all the data to another partition temporarily, then moving it all back so that it's written fresh. But start planning on replacing your drive now if this is the case. And be SURE that your drive is "mechanically" fine and not at fault before attempting this, or you could loose everything. Try simply defragging your PC first to "freshen" much of the data with a more recent recording. But realizes your oldest stuff is unlikely to be moved/freshened in a defrag.

For me, the problem was over-heating. Naturally, if your PC crashes due to over-heating, you're likely to loose whatever you were working on. BUT, directory entires can get screwed up as well, so even files you haven't touched in years can be "lost" (literally, they're there, but FAT can't find them).

Even though this has been happening for years, you could have a bad drive. Sometimes old drives get the hiccups (for lack of a better term) and start writing data in spots were other data already exists, thus destroying the previous file. Doubly worse when the "hiccup" occurs while writing to the FAT.

A dying CPU can direct the drive to do "bad things". Ditto for a bad or failing MoBo.

Bad ram can trash a file even while you are working on it. You end up saving "nonsense" to your drive that can't be read back later.

And finally, Windows could be screwed up. Typically a bad driver. If this is a frequent problem, try updating your drivers and or Windows itself to a NEW hard drive.

Sometimes, the cause of the file loss was a one-time thing that happened long ago in one or a series of minor disruptions, but your only now discovering the havoc that was created long ago as you just happen across those old files you haven't touched in years.

Hope this helps.

PS: I forgot to ask, are these two PC's connected?
 
Mugsy said:
Hey Matt, I've experienced this problem myself. There are about a half dozen possible causes, none of them good.

The least tragic case first:

If all the files that were lost are all files that haven't been moved or modified in years, the magnetic recording of the file may be fading away as the drive ages. The quickest "fix" is to simply "move" all the data to another partition temporarily, then moving it all back so that it's written fresh. But start planning on replacing your drive now if this is the case. And be SURE that your drive is "mechanically" fine and not at fault before attempting this, or you could loose everything. Try simply defragging your PC first to "freshen" much of the data with a more recent recording. But realizes your oldest stuff is unlikely to be moved/freshened in a defrag.

For me, the problem was over-heating. Naturally, if your PC crashes due to over-heating, you're likely to loose whatever you were working on. BUT, directory entires can get screwed up as well, so even files you haven't touched in years can be "lost" (literally, they're there, but FAT can't find them).

Even though this has been happening for years, you could have a bad drive. Sometimes old drives get the hiccups (for lack of a better term) and start writing data in spots were other data already exists, thus destroying the previous file. Doubly worse when the "hiccup" occurs while writing to the FAT.

A dying CPU can direct the drive to do "bad things". Ditto for a bad or failing MoBo.

Bad ram can trash a file even while you are working on it. You end up saving "nonsense" to your drive that can't be read back later.

And finally, Windows could be screwed up. Typically a bad driver. If this is a frequent problem, try updating your drivers and or Windows itself to a NEW hard drive.

Sometimes, the cause of the file loss was a one-time thing that happened long ago in one or a series of minor disruptions, but your only now discovering the havoc that was created long ago as you just happen across those old files you haven't touched in years.

Hope this helps.

PS: I forgot to ask, are these two PC's connected?
no...i already threw the old pc away,and it aint overheating i think..my pc has never crashed

.....but i think ur right about the files being gone for a while i just havnt searched for them...

its not a big problem tho...i dont lose like 100 songs out of no where...its just like 1-10 songs a year

this pc is only 2 years old...

but what i dont get tho is...even if a file disappears...shouldnt it still be on record for itunes?

cuz if u delete a file from the itunes folder...it still shows up when u run ITUNES...but it wont play of course...it will have the question mark that says "song is not in folder"

how can a file disappear from itunes records without me actually deleting it in ITUNES
 
Just guessing.

matthew2777 said:
but what i dont get tho is...even if a file disappears...shouldnt it still be on record for itunes?

cuz if u delete a file from the itunes folder...it still shows up when u run ITUNES...but it wont play of course...it will have the question mark that says "song is not in folder"

how can a file disappear from itunes records without me actually deleting it in ITUNES
I know absolutely nothing about iTunes, so I'm only guessing here.

Depending on how iTunes works, if deleted files still show up in the directory, then the most likely answer is that the file isn't really gone. If iTunes automatically deletes "corrupt" files from its listing, then even if it finds it, if it decides the file is unplayable, it may just omit it from its menu.

It really all depends on how iTunes handles files, which I know nothing about, so I can only guess here. Sorry.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back