Computer Data Nightmare

**Diary of a Mad-man** · 09-16-2008, 10:38 AM

I , like many of you, have an MP3 collection on my computer that is about 7 or 8 years old. Thousands and thousands of files.

Everything is gone C-Z. All of it. Well, sort of.

The reason this sucks is because I had tons of rarities. Audio books, old Stand up comedians, Symphonic music I played in band that I cant find anywhere, a recording of me on stage with Tommy Chong, etc.

I wouldnt give a shit if I lost a collection of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, you see.
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The reason I say sort of lost, is because when I open my playlist in Winamp, it still plays the lost music. If I look at the playlist entry's properties, it shows it where it was as it plays the music, ex. e:\music\metal\*****

This gives me hope as the files are still being read from the same spot, I just cant see them from my computer. I wont be able to do anything with them other than play this winamp playlist. Cant even copy to MP3.

Suggestions?????

I cant find them from my command prompt either. I cant find an e:\ drive. only c:\. In the past frmo DOS i thought you could go COPY C:\*.* to E:\*.* (for example) if you wanted and if of course there was an E drive.

**kloter1** · 09-16-2008, 11:49 AM

Where are the files at? On the Cdrive or a secondary drive?

**JiGGaMaN** · 09-16-2008, 12:22 PM

If you are using XP try: START->search->pictures music or video -> check music -> type * for search and you should find every music file on your computer.

**Diary of a Mad-man** · 09-16-2008, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by kloter1

Where are the files at? On the Cdrive or a secondary drive?

They are on a slave drive. Its where I organize my downloads. The computer has ran in this setup for years and years now. No other files are missing, but my music C-Z. There is other stuff on the drive.

Originally Posted by JiGGaMaN

If you are using XP try: START->search->pictures music or video -> check music -> type * for search and you should find every music file on your computer.

The only problem is, the playlist entries have properties you can look at, and of those properties, it says their location. Those files are supposedly in the same old spot they always were, according to the winamp program that plays the music still. Very weird. If my playlist file was deleted, I couldnt listen to any of it. I also cant open it with any other music programs now.

Im running the search. None of them are coming up.

Maybe I will google some sort of recovery software?
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Also, rebooting didnt work, in case someone was gonna ask.

**Diary of a Mad-man** · 09-16-2008, 01:00 PM

I dont think the harddrive is bad b/c Ive experienced that before. Clicking and what not from the drive. Also, corrupted files usually start naming themselves a bunch of crazy gibberish and say they were made in 1952.

**Bryan2** · 09-17-2008, 11:16 AM

I fix computers for a living.

I would get some data recovery software asap

Torrent a program called easy recovery Its one of the best out there

It will find any missing files and then you will be able to copy them to your othr primary drive.

After you get your data in another location run a program called drive fitness test it is free from hitachis website.

Download the .iso file and burn it to a disc and then reboot from the disc. usually f12 or escape sometimes delete as well.

It sound s like you might just have bad sectors on the harddrive. If they are repairable this will fix it for you if not one way or the other youll know if it is a bad drive or not.

**tadpoleboyy** · 09-17-2008, 03:56 PM

My windows crashed on my computer, due to reasons unknown. Either way, i could not boot to access anything. I had a lot of important data. Here's what i did...

Take your harddrive out. Hook it up to a different computer, as the slave. Boot up from the master drive. You should be able to find your stuff, it will be listed as another drive. Assuming there is something wrong with the OS, if the drive is failing, your fvcked

**Polska** · 09-17-2008, 07:13 PM

Go to control panel -> administrative tools -> computer management -> storage -> disk management. Do you see the volume listed there, and does it list it as healthy? If you're still able to play the files from your playlist I doubt they're lost for good. If the drive is healthy under disk management I would boot from a boot disk (windows pre-installation environment) and run a full chkdsk on your drives. If you can access your music from the disk I would back it up to an external HD just in case your drive is failing. This should be a lesson to you to always have recent backups of data that is vital to you. Your hard drive can crap out without any warning

**Diary of a Mad-man** · 09-18-2008, 07:26 AM

Thank you everyone! Some great advice.

I actually solved the problem right before the last 3 responses, but you guys were on the money.

I backed up what little info was left and more info started disappearing frmo the drive. That done, I ran a chkdsk on the drive which I didnt think was even working. It took about 7 hours, and when it was done, VIOLA, everything was back. I promptly copied all my shit to a good drive, and now I have an old hard drive I can toss.

That data recovery software is nice to have on hand. Thanks for that.

Not a bad idea about taking the drive out of one computer and putting it in the other. Wouldnt work in this case tho because my other computer is too old now, it doesnt recognize the HD and wouldnt have enough space.

SO FREAKING HAPPY. I AM GOING TO LISTEN TO THE SOUNDTRACK FROM CONAN THE BARBARIAN FOLLOWED BY JERKY BOYS FOLLOWED BY CLIVE BARKER'S HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 50% of my music isnt even music. So much time downloading.

THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!