external drive: files have dissappeared

[slick607]

 I have a onetouch4 750GB. Files have disappeared on the drive. But  about 200GB of space is not available to use. So something invisible is lurking on the drive?
1. Can I recover the hidden data?
2.Can I wipe the drive clean and start over?
3. What's the chance of things disappearing again?

Thanks for any info and help

[dahlarbear]

1.  Operating System.  What operating system and service pack level is used to access the drive; e.g. Windows XP Professional SP3 ?

2.  Disk Management.  If possible, view the disk's structure within Disk Management to see how it's reported.
     o  Number and Type of Partitions (e.g. primary, extended)
     o  File System(s) (e.g. Raw, FAT32, NTFS)
     o  Unallocated space on drive (how much, if any)

To access within Windows XP, select "Start" -> right-click "My Computer" -> select "Manage" -> within "Storage" category on left pane of "Computer Management" window, select "Disk Management".

[Allan]

Files don't "disappear". What's the whole story? What led up to this?

[slick607]

Dell XP  Home SP 3
Partitian Basic  NTFS  Healthy 698.63 458.51 67% no 0%
This is the report from computer management


dahlarbear Thank you for being so pleasant and helpful

[Allan]

I'm not sure why you're catching an attitude - my post was not intended to be sarcastic or attacking. It was - and is - a legitimate question. If you want help you need to tell us the backstory.

[slick607]

Allan
"disappear"

intransitive verb

1 : to pass from view
2 : to cease to be : pass out of existence

OK this post has an attitude, but that is what happened.
If you go on the Seagate/Maxtor site there are numerous complaints about my exact problem and there isn't any rest of the story.
I turned on my computer, opened my external drive and folders and files were missing 200+GBs.
I transferred everything left off the drive, all that remains is the Backup folder 45GB and New Folder2 that won't grant me access. That leaves about 200GB unaccounted for or in my vernacular disappeared.
Sorry if I perceived a condescension in your post,if none was intended.
Thanks for your help
Dan

[dahlarbear]

Dell XP  Home SP 3
Partitian Basic  NTFS  Healthy 698.63 458.51 67% no 0%
This is the report from computer management

1.  OK.  While this does not directly address missing folders and files; I'll just say it for completeness, so we can move on.  The total disk capacity reported by Disk Management appears to be correct.

If the advertised capacity is 750 GB (decimal giga byte), then that is approximately 698.49 GB (binary giga byte).  See Gigabyte.

I think you're reporting:
    a.  "basic" disk, single partition with "healthly" NTFS file system.
    b.  Partition size is approximately 698.63 GB of which 458.51 GB is used.
    c.  There is essentially no unallocated disk space outside the partition.

2.  Your complaint is the missing folders and files (?) which makes the problem interesting.  I guess I'd want to go to vendor's website and/or forums to see what's being reported.  I'm interested, but I can't promise any results.

Some questions:
     a.  "New Folder2 that won't grant me access".  Does it permit you to display its "Properties" ?

     b.  "Backup folder 45GB".  What program, if any, was used to create this backup ?

3.  Check Disk.  Are you familiar with the "check disk" utility that is used to verify the integrity of the file system as well as the disk surface ?

[slick607]

Folder 2  Properties=0bites, read only Can't delete it access denied

453GB is the freespace after I moved all the files off the drive

Maxtor One Touch4 what ever came with the drive
check disk says everything is fine
The back up file says, access denied, make sure the disk is not full or write protected.

Can I wipe the drive clean and start over? What kind of program do I need to clean the drive? do I need to reformat the drive ? How

[dahlarbear]

1.  Correction.

Dell XP  Home SP 3
Partitian Basic  NTFS  Healthy 698.63 458.51 67% no 0%
This is the report from computer management

Now that I'm looking at Disk Management on a Windows XP system, I see that I misinterpreted your data.  When I coorelate it to the default column display, I get:

     a.  Layout:        Partition
     b.  Type:           Basic
     c.  File System:  NTFS
     d.  Status:         Healthy
     e.  Capacity:      698.63
     f.   Free Space:  458.51
     g.  % Free:        67%
     h.  Fault Tolerance:   no
     i.   Overhead:     0%

So, there's still approximately 240.12 GB of data within the partition on the drive.

2.  Wipe Drive and Start Over.

Folder 2  Properties=0bites, read only Can't delete it access denied

453GB is the freespace after I moved all the files off the drive

Maxtor One Touch4 what ever came with the drive
check disk says everything is fine
The back up file says, access denied, make sure the disk is not full or write protected.

Can I wipe the drive clean and start over? What kind of program do I need to clean the drive? do I need to reformat the drive ? How

The short answer is "yes", you can wipe the drive clean and start over.  Of course if you use the same hardware/software configuration and the same programs to access the drive, it will probably happen again.

I'm not familiar with the Maxtor OneTouch4 products, so I don't know what software utilities they provide (or what magic, if any, they add to the hard drive).  If you don't care about the "special" Maxtor utilities, I assume you can treat it as a generic drive and do everything you need to do from within the Disk Management program of Windows XP.

From within Disk Management, right click within the graphic display of partition space and work from the resulting context menu.  You should be able to delete partitions, create new ones from the resulting unallocated space, and format with file systems.

Did I mention I have no experience with Maxtor OneTouch external drives?

3.  Recover Data. Do not defrag the disk or continue using it until you recover all the data you want or give up.  Try to take ownership of the troublesome folders and see if that helps:  How to take ownership of a file or a folder in Windows XP.

There are also third party software programs you could try.  I don't have enough experience to guide you in this, but there are some good "free" programs you can use from within Windows XP.  Two I've looked at are:

     a.  TestDisk.  There's Windows version download link here.
     b.  Recuva.  Pick up either the "portable" or "slim" version from special builds page to avoid any "optional" toolbar installation.

[slick607]

I wiped the drive clean.
I probably need to format it to use it again.
Can you tell me how?

Thanks

[dahlarbear]

1.  Maxtor OneTouch4 Family.  There appear to be three different product lines for the Maxtor OneTouch4 family of external drives:
     a.  OneTouch 4
     b.  OneTouch 4 Mini
     c.  OneTouch 4 Plus

I'm assuming you have the OneTouch 4 drive.  From "Maxtor OneTouch 4 Windows User's Guide" Frequently Asked Questions:

10.  What do I do if my OneTouch 4 software is lost or corrupted?

The OneTouch 4 installation software and utilities are pre-loaded on your drive.  These files will be permanently lost if you delete them or reformat the drive.  Seagate recommends that you copy all installation files to your local system before using the drive.

If the OneTouch 4 installation and utilities files are lost or corrupted, you can download new copies from the Seagate Website at www.seagate.com.  On the website, click the Download Center link for all available downloads for your OneTouch 4.

The download file and installation instructions may be found here:  OneTouch 4 Lite Software.

2.  Maxtor Format Procedure.  Within the procedures in the following link there is a "Formatting the OneTouch 4 Drive" subsection:  OneTouch 4 / SentrySafe DrivePass - Erasing Your Drive for Windows [200231].

I suspect you might have to erase the drive in order to access that capability within those procedures.  It's also not clear what default file system it will format to (FAT32 or NTFS).

3.  Windows XP Disk Management Format Procedure.  Instead of using the  Maxtor erase and format procedures above, I would just format NTFS file system from within Windows XP Disk Management utility.  See subsection "How to format the drive in NTFS under Windows 2000 and XP" within following link:  When using Microsoft Backup I receive a 'disk full' error. [180743].

While in Disk Management, be sure you're working on the Maxtor external drive.

4.  How will drive be used?  NTFS is best file system to use with Windows XP, but some people need FAT32 for other uses.  See How can i format my hard drive FAT32 or can i?

[dahlarbear]

I wiped the drive clean.
I probably need to format it to use it again.
Can you tell me how?

I'm guessing you'd like to know what parameters to provide within the New Partition Wizard you'll probably trigger within Windows XP Disk Management after deleting the current OneTouch4 partition and requesting the creation of a new one.  See link in paragraph 3 of my previous post.

You should see the following New Partition Wizard windows:
     1.  Select Partition Type.  Select "Primary partition".

     2.  Specify Partition Size.  Select "maximum value" if you wish to place all storage in one partition, otherwise select size you wish.

     3.  Assign Drive Letter or Path.  Select "Assign the following drive letter" and take the default "letter" offered.  If it's a problem, you may change it later.

     4.  Format Partition.  Select "Format this partition with the following settings".
          a.  File System:  NTFS  (wizard will not format FAT32 on partition larger than 32GB, although you may use "format" from command prompt for larger FAT32 partitions).
          b.  Allocation unit size:  Default
          c.  Volume label:  OneTouch4.  Use whatever you wish here although there may be restrictions against "spaces", "special characters", or number of characters.  I'm too lazy to check that now.

I'd leave the following two options "unchecked":
          d.  Perform a quick format
          e.  Enable file and folder compression

     5.  Completing the New Partition Wizard.  Review your settings; if correct, select "Finish" and wait for format to complete.

In the upper right-hand pane of the Computer Management window, you should see your OneTouch4 external drive listed with a "Status" column.  You should see something like "Formatting: (15%)" while it's working; followed by a status of "Healthy" when complete.

[slick607]

Thanks you gave great easy to follow directions.
I started using the drive this week.
Is there any maintenance that I should do to monitor and make sure files don't disappear again?

Thanks again