Last night at the same time that I docked my iPod (connected to my PC via USB on a new off-brand dock), I received a “Delayed Write” warning on the file $Mft on my Seagate FreeAgent 250 USB external hard drive that I keep connected to my PC at all times for additional storage.
I am assuming that the two events were related, as 1) I have never had any issues before I connected the dock to my PC (its been connected for about 3 months straight now) and 2) the dock also tends to freak out my USB scanner when the iPod is connected. I had to unplug and reconnect the scanner to wake it up.
I Googled $Mft and learned that this is the NTFS file table. That would explain why I was able to browse the root of the external drive, but not find any files with the folders in the root.
I shut down and unplugged the iPod dock, returning my PC to its previous state. Upon reboot, everything appeared normal with the external and continues to look fine since then.
Is there any way to find out for sure that the events were related and the dock was the culprit? Could anything on the external have been damaged permanently? I use this drive for backups and to store larger files, so its stability is important to me.
I figure I will do a disc scan later this evening. Should I move off the data and reformat the drive?
PK
