External HD fixed, but can't get all my files back on it!

[SaiyanPrideXIX]

Alright. I'm going to try and keep this as simple as I can. A while ago I defragged my big beastly 160gig External Maxtor HD; it was overdue and the scan suggested it, so I figured what the hell.

Well. Turns out defragging a Maxtor External Hard Drive DESTROYS it, and Windows can no longer interpret it correctly afterward. This is a very big deal to me as I have ten years of writing, web design, graphics, programs, and musical recordings saved on there, as well as having all of my games installed to it.

I used a nifty little program called "File Recovery" that was able to see my data on the drive despite the computer seeing it as Unformatted or unreadable or any number of other things. Most of the data was saved without a hitch, though I got a lot of small error messages in the process. I knew the data wasn't going to be fully intact, so I expected as much.

Anyway, I got all my game folders off the drive (onto my brother's computer), and got all my personal files off as well (onto my own computer's internal HD). Once that was done I formatted the drive. It was done in a fraction of a second, and Windows could suddenly read it like normal again. Just to be sure, I turned off Quick Format and did it again. This time it was longer, but still mere minutes--much shorter then when I first bought the thing.

Windows was able to see it correctly again so I figured all I had to do was drop my stuff back onto it. The games from my brothers' computer all went on without a hitch (though most are damaged slightly...but I can always reinstall). It was only when I came down to my own computer that I had a problem with my personal files.

When I try to copy certain portions of the files to my X drive, It won't finish. It gives me a "Cyclic Redundancy Check" error--aka a CRC error. NONE of the files copy from these sections onto the X drive.

Strangely enough the files themselves appear undamaged and most open or run just fine. I just can't put them on the X drive. I can even copy them to other places on my internal HD, just not to the X drive. I don't really know what to do; if anyone knows a way around this the help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[DiebytheSword]

I'm starting to think that you may need to return that drive to Seagate/Maxtor for servicing. Keep in mind that Seagate and Maxtor recently merged, and seagate has taken over waranties and such.

You're talking about a Cyclic Redundancy Check btw:

http://www.softwarepatch.com/tips/cyclic-redundancy.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclic_redundancy_check

And it means your data is most definately damaged. Whether this is happening over signal noise (make sure your USB cable comes no where NEAR your subwoofer, plasma tv/monitor etc), a failure in drivers (do you have an Nvidia chipset running their "experimental" IDE drivers), or a dying drive, I can't be sure. If you say they open fine, I suggest cutting and pasting contents into a new file, and try saving that (at least for your text stuff.) Artwork may proove more difficult.

 

[SaiyanPrideXIX]

There are literally 5000 files on that drive. I suppose I could rig up a batch action in Photoshop to resave all the graphical things, and a Macro in word to resave all of the Word documents...but there are countless other things in there that I won't be able to save at all...

Part of me is wondering...since I can copy it to other places and just not onto this particular X drive...maybe if I went out and bought another drive, I might be able to get it all on there? Still seems like too rough a call to blow 300 bucks on another drive.

One thing is for sure--I will NEVER buy a Maxtor HD ever again.

 

[DiebytheSword]

You won't have the option too, as Maxtor was bought out by Seagate. As far as the second drive idea, internal drives work much differently than external drives. Even optical internals operate much differently, so it's possible you could get another brand new external and have the same error.

Bottom line: Your files are screwy. For some reason, they work well when being carved up into HDD sized blocks, but HDD over USB might use different sized blocks, which are failing their hash checks during transit.

 

[SaiyanPrideXIX]

Well I'm using firewire, at any rate, but that's hardly relevant at this point.

I guess I'm just going to have try to save a handful of relevant files and lose...the last ten years of my life. :0\