wiped my external hard disk? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

dlish · 04-22-2011, 12:13 AM

help from the tech gurus in here needed urgently!

i installed 7zip and wanted to zip and protect some files i have on my external hard disk.

after selcting the files and selecting the password, i realised that i couldnt access the entire external hard disk.

when i try and access the hard disk it says that there are no files on there, and zero space left on the disk.

Ive got 5 years worth of work on this, and i know i didnt delete anything, so i NEED to recover all my work. i have 16,000 files and it would be a shame to lose them.

from what i can see, the file system is FAT32. did the program change the file system from NTFS?

is there a way to change from FAT32 back to NTFS?

would love if someone could help out.

Jove · 04-22-2011, 03:43 AM

Well, you can use Recuva to recover all your files and folders on your external hard drive. I would try that before converting your external hard drive from fat 32 to NTFS because you would have to format the drive.

dlish · 04-22-2011, 10:01 AM

any idea what would make the external hard disk go from NTFS to FAT32?? im still baffled.

i tried Pandora Recovery to recover the files ( its free) but i cant recovery any files because it wont recognise the external drive to enable it to scan it. By the looks of it, the drive does not host a supported file system.

does recuva host FAT32? i dont really want to pay for it if i cant get it to do what i want it to do.

flat5 · 05-21-2011, 08:31 AM

Have you verified that the file system has changed?

dlish · 05-21-2011, 10:39 AM

i forgot to update this.

i rebooted the computer and all the files were surprisingly there on the external hard drive. i have no idea what happened, but i havent touched 7zip again.

there is still something not right with my external hard disk though, so ive started to export the info to other places just in case.

thanks for the help anyways guys. i feel like a goose.

flat5 · 05-22-2011, 06:23 AM

I have two usb drives that when I add files from the desktop machine and then try to open them on the laptop they are never found. I have to run chkdsk /f on the drive and then the indexing is fine. Very annoying. My other usb drives don't have this problem.
All are ntfs and have indexing enabled. Has me baffled.

04-22-2011, 12:13 AM	#1 (permalink)
dlish Currently sour but formerly Dlishs Super Moderator Location: Australia/UAE	wiped my external hard disk? help from the tech gurus in here needed urgently! i installed 7zip and wanted to zip and protect some files i have on my external hard disk. after selcting the files and selecting the password, i realised that i couldnt access the entire external hard disk. when i try and access the hard disk it says that there are no files on there, and zero space left on the disk. Ive got 5 years worth of work on this, and i know i didnt delete anything, so i NEED to recover all my work. i have 16,000 files and it would be a shame to lose them. from what i can see, the file system is FAT32. did the program change the file system from NTFS? is there a way to change from FAT32 back to NTFS? would love if someone could help out. __________________ An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay? - Filthy

04-22-2011, 10:01 AM	#3 (permalink)
dlish Currently sour but formerly Dlishs Super Moderator Location: Australia/UAE	any idea what would make the external hard disk go from NTFS to FAT32?? im still baffled. i tried Pandora Recovery to recover the files ( its free) but i cant recovery any files because it wont recognise the external drive to enable it to scan it. By the looks of it, the drive does not host a supported file system. does recuva host FAT32? i dont really want to pay for it if i cant get it to do what i want it to do. __________________ An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay? - Filthy

05-21-2011, 10:39 AM	#5 (permalink)
dlish Currently sour but formerly Dlishs Super Moderator Location: Australia/UAE	i forgot to update this. i rebooted the computer and all the files were surprisingly there on the external hard drive. i have no idea what happened, but i havent touched 7zip again. there is still something not right with my external hard disk though, so ive started to export the info to other places just in case. thanks for the help anyways guys. i feel like a goose. __________________ An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay? - Filthy

04-22-2011, 03:43 AM	#2 (permalink)
Jove Groovy Hipster Nerd Location: Michigan	Well, you can use Recuva to recover all your files and folders on your external hard drive. I would try that before converting your external hard drive from fat 32 to NTFS because you would have to format the drive.

05-21-2011, 08:31 AM	#4 (permalink)
flat5 Very Insignificant Pawn Location: Amsterdam, NL	Have you verified that the file system has changed?

05-22-2011, 06:23 AM	#6 (permalink)
flat5 Very Insignificant Pawn Location: Amsterdam, NL	I have two usb drives that when I add files from the desktop machine and then try to open them on the laptop they are never found. I have to run chkdsk /f on the drive and then the indexing is fine. Very annoying. My other usb drives don't have this problem. All are ntfs and have indexing enabled. Has me baffled.