Defrag ext. HDD - Data Lost $mft :(

[DCASH]

Hey,

 

I just tried out Defraggler and seem to have a serious problem now. I ran defrag on an external 1 tb HDD with NTFS and watched it for a while. After a few hours I came back and noticed a "Data has been lost, writing H:\$mft failed" (translated into English, not exactly like that).

 

Now I can't access my data. I did not reboot my Laptop afterwards... are my files finally gone?

 

Any suggestions or ideas?

 

Thanks,

Danny

[eL_PuSHeR]

That's an odd error because Defraggler doesn't touch the $MFT file.

[DCASH]

The file system and the HDD have been working for more than a year now. I can't believe it to be just bad luck.

 

Anyway, can you imagine a way to get the files back?

[redhawk]

run chkdsk.exe /f e: (assuming e: is your external drive)

 

Richard S.

[login123]

Hi DCash. Redhawk "scooped" me on this one.

 

I was writing a post to say the same thing, and was going to ask him if he agreed.

 

You can read about CHKDSK HERE and HERE.

 

Having a messed up mft doesn't mean the files are gone, they probably are not.

 

If CHKDSK fails, I would hook the HD up to a linux box and copy the files over to another HD, but that is a looong way around for a fix.

[DCASH]

Seems like your suggestions helped... after a reboot I could check the disk and chkdsk repaired some failures. After that and another reboot I could access them again and hope, all are well. I think, the problem did occur from an USB-Hub. It probably was not prepared to transfer lots of files for hours...

 

Thanks for your quick help and responses!

[login123]

Good that it worked, thanks for posting back.