Heeelp Plse !!? Error "windows cannot find file $Mft." (Packard Bell 3500 Store & Save )

Hello.

This problem will probably look very easy to solve (?) ,
to any PC experts reading this. Admittedly, I'm still very
much a novice .... so ANY advice / information would be
GREATLY appreciated !

I have stored, over the last 18 months, around 440 Gigabytes
of media ( Mpegs, Mp3's etc.. ) onto a Packard Bell 3500
Store & Save external hard-drive. It had almost reached it's
capacity of 500Gigs. Now when I plug it into ANY of the USB
ports in my main PC, it takes about 10 minutes to load ( & show
in *my computer*) & it stops ALL other programs from functioning,
whilst doing so. Once loaded, the files all show ( as they did before )
but when I try to open ANY of them, I get an error message saying
that "windows cannot find the file H.\\ $Mft. ". My main PC is XP
Home edition ... although that is probably not relevent as the same
error message & problems occur when I try to access the drive via
any USB on my seperate, brand new lap-top ( windows Vista system ).

I've tried to find problems , about " $Mft." files (via internet search
engines),
to no avail.
I would hate to lose ALL my data that is on the drive .... is there ANY
way that it can be saved ? As I said, it does still show up as a list of
files , but NOTHING will open. Any info. much welcome !

Cheers.

Mr. Blue :-(

Thank you, very much, philo for your time & advice.

I tried to run checkdisk, via properties ... & immediately got "windows
cannot run checkdisk on
disk H". It looks like I'll have to buy some kind of data recovery
software. :-(

Thanks again, anyway friend. It's comforting to know that there IS ,
actually, at least ONE
genuine *helper* out there, in the relevent newsgroups, amongst the mass of
horrible spammers !

Please do NOT go away .... people like yourself will ALWAYS be a godsend to
the struggling
newbies like myself !

Merry Xmas to you & yours, Sir !

Mr. Blue.



"philo" <> wrote in message
news:TO-...
> > Though it looks like the drive is corrupted, there is a possibility that
> the problem is with the USB interface in the enclosure.
> You could remove the drive and install it internally and see if it works.
>
> If not, I'd try some data recovery software.
>
> just an example, not an endorsement
> http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/file...htm?language=1
>
>
> As a last resort you can run chkdsk /f on the drive.
>
> Note: If it's simply a matter of logical errors, chkdsk /f *might*
> possibly
> fix the problem
>
> but NOTE: It could also render the entire drive useless by writing all
> your
> data to .chk files
> which would make recovery essentially impossible!
>
>

Wow.

I take it from your message that since the rest of us were working and busy
during the day, and haven't come to your aid yet, we are drivel that don't
matter, and should immediately end our existence forthwith.

Only gave us about 5 hours to answer your question..........

I'll be outside looking over the cliff, and doing some calculations to make
sure that when I hit the rocks below I'm sure to make a big splat. I'm a
"newbie" at jumping off of cliffs, so I want to get this right.

Happy holidaze.

bobwatts
EartH
nonhelper



"Mr. Blue" <> wrote in message
news:IPV2l.165425$ m...
> Thank you, very much, philo for your time & advice.
>
> I tried to run checkdisk, via properties ... & immediately got "windows
> cannot run checkdisk on
> disk H". It looks like I'll have to buy some kind of data recovery
> software. :-(
>
> Thanks again, anyway friend. It's comforting to know that there IS ,
> actually, at least ONE
> genuine *helper* out there, in the relevent newsgroups, amongst the mass
> of horrible spammers !
>
> Please do NOT go away .... people like yourself will ALWAYS be a godsend
> to the struggling
> newbies like myself !
>
> Merry Xmas to you & yours, Sir !
>
> Mr. Blue.
>
>
>
> "philo" <> wrote in message
> news:TO-...
>> > Though it looks like the drive is corrupted, there is a possibility
>> > that
>> the problem is with the USB interface in the enclosure.
>> You could remove the drive and install it internally and see if it works.
>>
>> If not, I'd try some data recovery software.
>>
>> just an example, not an endorsement
>> http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/file...htm?language=1
>>
>>
>> As a last resort you can run chkdsk /f on the drive.
>>
>> Note: If it's simply a matter of logical errors, chkdsk /f *might*
>> possibly
>> fix the problem
>>
>> but NOTE: It could also render the entire drive useless by writing all
>> your
>> data to .chk files
>> which would make recovery essentially impossible!
>>
>>
>
>

"Robert E. Watts" <> wrote in message
news:6f222$494c2b74$4ad76274$...
>> I take it from your message that since the rest of us were working and
>> busy
> during the day, and haven't come to your aid yet, we are drivel that don't
> matter, and should immediately end our existence forthwith.
>

Hey, Sorry fella. When I clicked on the group, there was so much spam in
it, I just posted my message
& hoped for the best. I honestly didn't even think that I'd get ONE
response. Apologies, if I've stepped
upon your toes.

I didn't mean any harm to anyone here.

Sorry .

"philo" <> wrote in message
news:...
> > I'm sure the OP was simply referring to the trolls
> that often inhabit many of the newsgroups...
> though fortunately, they don't seem to bother to come here!
>
>

Heck ..... now I'm getting paranoid. What's an OP ?
My mind is now working overtime, on this.
Please don't tell me it stands for "Offensive Pr*ck" !?
I was not trying to offend anyone.
Seriously, I'm not a computer genius .... & YES ... I confess,
I was trying to get some good advice, without having to pay
big money to some PC engineer that will rip me off.

I was only asking about my external drive that isn't working.
I did not want to offend anyone here. I'm sorry if I have.
I now realise that I may be regarded as a *troll*, but I did
not know this when I chanced upon seeking some help in a
newsgroup that I found purely by typing the words Packard
Bell into my easynews group search.

My apologies if I have upset anyone here.

Whatever .... I wish you all ( spammers apart ) a wonderful
Christmas & all the VERY best for 2009 !

Regards,

AB.

Hello Mr. Blue !

Fair enough, please accept my apologies.
(I'll explain later )
But fortunately, your second message was dead on, and accepted. It's great
to see new posters, and you defused the situation nicely. :-)

I'm kinda busy now, but I'll try to help later. Or someone will come along.
Not many posters lately, and the gang is probably anxious to do *something*.

By the way, OP means original poster. :-)

Just don't do anything rash with the drive ( for now ). Sometimes, doing
"something" results in things that can't be fixed. Doing nothing is
sometimes a pretty good strategy.

If you have another computer, try plugging it in there, and see if Windows
XP "see's" it. Just don't write to the drive for now.

bobwatts
EartH
( computer tech since '96 )



"Mr. Blue" <> wrote in message
news:x5W2l.122738$ m...
>
> "Robert E. Watts" <> wrote in message
> news:6f222$494c2b74$4ad76274$...
>>> I take it from your message that since the rest of us were working and
>>> busy
>> during the day, and haven't come to your aid yet, we are drivel that
>> don't matter, and should immediately end our existence forthwith.
>>
>
> Hey, Sorry fella. When I clicked on the group, there was so much spam in
> it, I just posted my message
> & hoped for the best. I honestly didn't even think that I'd get ONE
> response. Apologies, if I've stepped
> upon your toes.
>
> I didn't mean any harm to anyone here.
>
> Sorry .
>

"philo" <> wrote in message
news:...
>

Thanks philo & Robert.

I honestly did not expect to get ANY replies, when I *gambled* upon
seeking advice, on a
newsgroup.

So many of the newsgroups are just full of spam & rubbish.

Thanks , again, very very much !

Regards,

AB.

I do have SOME hope of saving the drive, now !

Thanks philo & Robert !

Cheers !!!


"Robert E. Watts" <> wrote in message
news:9a745$494c380d$4ad76274$...
> Hello Mr. Blue !
>
> Fair enough, please accept my apologies.
> (I'll explain later )
> But fortunately, your second message was dead on, and accepted. It's great
> to see new posters, and you defused the situation nicely. :-)
>
> I'm kinda busy now, but I'll try to help later. Or someone will come
> along. Not many posters lately, and the gang is probably anxious to do
> *something*.
>
> By the way, OP means original poster. :-)
>
> Just don't do anything rash with the drive ( for now ). Sometimes, doing
> "something" results in things that can't be fixed. Doing nothing is
> sometimes a pretty good strategy.
>
> If you have another computer, try plugging it in there, and see if Windows
> XP "see's" it. Just don't write to the drive for now.
>
> bobwatts
> EartH
> ( computer tech since '96 )
>

Hi Mr. Blue

Sorry I haven't gotten back to this sooner.....although I have given it a
bit of thought.

After re-reading your post, I realize this is not a PB problem, but a data
recovery problem. Although I have done my share of data recovery, I'm no
expert. It appears to be a problem with the way that Windows "see's" the
drive. Either a root directory, MBR ( master boot record ) NTFS ( assuming
you have NT File system, and not a FAT 32 system ) problem, or some other
thingy.

It's not the *files* on the drive ( probably ) that is the problem, it's the
way that Windows access' them, probably.

Do some searching (googling ) on the internet concerning data recovery on an
external USB drive, and you might even want to check the manufacturers
website. But don't jump into anything, sometimes writing to a drive with
problems will wipe out or corrupt the file system to the point that the
files will be unrecoverable.

The fact that Windows sees files and folders is good, and probably just
can't "use" them.

Sorry I can't be more helpful, but data recovery is usually an individual
repair thing, and I don't know what to suggest at this point. Busy time of
year, and got a lot to do. I really thought someone would come along by now
and help. :-)

Let us know how it turns out.

bobwatts



"Mr. Blue" <> wrote in message
news:LsR2l.121360$ ...
> Hello.
>
> This problem will probably look very easy to solve (?) ,
> to any PC experts reading this. Admittedly, I'm still very
> much a novice .... so ANY advice / information would be
> GREATLY appreciated !
>
> I have stored, over the last 18 months, around 440 Gigabytes
> of media ( Mpegs, Mp3's etc.. ) onto a Packard Bell 3500
> Store & Save external hard-drive. It had almost reached it's
> capacity of 500Gigs. Now when I plug it into ANY of the USB
> ports in my main PC, it takes about 10 minutes to load ( & show
> in *my computer*) & it stops ALL other programs from functioning,
> whilst doing so. Once loaded, the files all show ( as they did before )
> but when I try to open ANY of them, I get an error message saying
> that "windows cannot find the file H.\\ $Mft. ". My main PC is XP
> Home edition ... although that is probably not relevent as the same
> error message & problems occur when I try to access the drive via
> any USB on my seperate, brand new lap-top ( windows Vista system ).
>
> I've tried to find problems , about " $Mft." files (via internet search
> engines),
> to no avail.
> I would hate to lose ALL my data that is on the drive .... is there ANY
> way that it can be saved ? As I said, it does still show up as a list of
> files , but NOTHING will open. Any info. much welcome !
>
> Cheers.
>
> Mr. Blue :-(
>

Thanks for that, Bob.

Have also done a bit of *research* ( via google ) & found a few businesses
( here in the UK) that
advertise data recovery .... & they're VERY expensive ! :-(
I also d'loaded some trial software ( Power-Data Recovery ), via a Norton
site recommendation.
Good job I didn't purchase it ...... the trial version told me that " this
type of disc (external HD) is
is not recoverable by Power-Data Recovery".
Ah well, I'll just hang on to my UNplayable media ( external HD ) ..... &
wait a couple of months, 'til
an all-singing-all-dancing data-recovery machine is marketed, at around £3
( $5 ) ! ;-)
Seems to me that's how the technology market is continually ripping us off
!

Thanks anyway for you time & advice. HAVE A GREAT CHRISTMAS ! ... & ALL
THE VERY BEST
TO YOU & YOURS, FOR 2009 !

:-)

"Robert E. Watts" <> wrote in message
news:274fd$4950e628$4ad76274$...
> Hi Mr. Blue
>
> Sorry I haven't gotten back to this sooner.....although I have given it a
> bit of thought.
>
> After re-reading your post, I realize this is not a PB problem, but a data
> recovery problem. Although I have done my share of data recovery, I'm no
> expert. It appears to be a problem with the way that Windows "see's" the
> drive. Either a root directory, MBR ( master boot record ) NTFS ( assuming
> you have NT File system, and not a FAT 32 system ) problem, or some other
> thingy.
>
> It's not the *files* on the drive ( probably ) that is the problem, it's
> the way that Windows access' them, probably.
>
> Do some searching (googling ) on the internet concerning data recovery on
> an external USB drive, and you might even want to check the manufacturers
> website. But don't jump into anything, sometimes writing to a drive with
> problems will wipe out or corrupt the file system to the point that the
> files will be unrecoverable.
>
> The fact that Windows sees files and folders is good, and probably just
> can't "use" them.
>
> Sorry I can't be more helpful, but data recovery is usually an individual
> repair thing, and I don't know what to suggest at this point. Busy time of
> year, and got a lot to do. I really thought someone would come along by
> now and help. :-)
>
> Let us know how it turns out.
>
> bobwatts
>