tubaman

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I've got a 45 gig Western Digital hard drive. When I select all the files and folders in the root directory, it shows total space used as 2.90 terrabytes.

Yes, I said terrabytes.

If you can see it.

I've also got a few files that had maybe 20 mp3's in them, which now show mutiple directory's, and mutiple files. None of them have recognizable characters as names, and I can't open, or delete any of them, as they say they don't exist. If I select properties for individual items, it always shows as 0 bytes, but If I select all of them they show mutiple gigabytes. Any of you computer techs have some Ideas?

Also, if anyone can explain how to do a screen capture, I"d appreciate it, and I'd be able to show you a little better.

shaner

To do a screen capture just hit the prtscrn button and then paste that pic into MS Paint.

As for everything else, I must say I have heard of Windows reporting inaccurate memory readings though. It's not that uncommon.

What OS are you running though?

dizza

You have either a bad FAT (File Allocation Table) or a drive that is going bad. Run a harddrive utility such as Disk Doctor or Scandisk. Sounds to me that your FAT is screwed up.

David

tubaman

I was wondering if I contracted a virus or something. It's only a few folders that have changed. If I select the folders affected, it's shows crazy readings like 134 gb in one folder. I'm in the process of copying important files to other hard drives, but there are a few I lost that I need. Mainly tax documents.



Ahh, Much better.

dizza

Run a scandisk on it... I still bet its a FAT problem.

David

tubaman

This is the other part I talked about, the funky file names. Also, when I created this directory, it had one folder, album title, with files in it. Right now, i'm gonna copy all important files while I still can, then I'll start running tests and let everyone know what I find out.

Xcel

dood...that does NOT look good.....

tubaman

No shit. I've never found a virus so I'm not sure. I've had problems with the drive before, but nothing like this. I just want to save as much as I can before trying to fix it, in case I lose everything.

jdwalke

Hehe, it's probably not that bad. Windows is notorious for being a bitch when it comes to handling strange file names. If you know any Linux guys, they would probably be your best bet for getting rid of those files. It's much easier to just boot up on a Live CD (such as Knoppix), mount the partition, remove the files, and then unmount. However, before doing that, the filesystem (i.e. superblock/FAT) should be checked for corruption.

Before doing any of that I would first go to WD's site (http://support.wdc.com/download/#dlgtools) and download the DLG Diagnostic tool. Make the bootdisk, and then reboot and scan the drive for any bad sectors. If nothing is found, run scandisk or dosfsck/fsck.msdos (linux utility). Fix any errors, and then proceed to remove the files.

The corruption has probably occurred due to incomplete filesystem writes (unsynced buffers, etc.) in the midst of a power failure. FAT32/16/12 is not the most reliable filesystem in the world, so this would not be much of a surprise. I don't suppose a virus would act in such a manner (creating random files using arbitrary character sets - not as common as it may sound).

jdwalke

Oh yeah, for antivirus software, I suggest Avast or AVG, both of which are completely free.

tubaman

I use AVG, and it's never found anything. I've been going thru my files, and have noticed that some are just plain missing. Luckily, it's not on a HD that I boot from. Would a complete format help, or should I use some diagnostics first?

dizza

RUN SCANDISK!!

David

kricks99

Backup you crap & FDisk / Format. or atleast back up your crap. Your drive is either infected or dying

tubaman

Ok, an update, ran scandisk, standard, found numerous errors, big surprise. It fixed a few files, and created 753 file*.chk files. I did recover 1 of my tax files, still missing 8 others, Maybe I'll find, maybe I won't. I'll try a thurough check later and see what happens. Thanks for everyones help.