Lost NTFS file system on external harddisk.

[Riv3n]

Hi everyone,
I've a big problem. My external storage drive (Maxtor OneTouch II 100GB) is lost. I can't access it anymore.

Windows Explorer reports the drive as:
"O:\ is not accessible
The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable."

I've used a disk recovery software called R-Studio and it does help to narrow the actual problem a bit. Apparently, the NTFS file system on my external hard disk is corrupted. I can still see the drive in Windows Explorer, which is good news.

Now, I don't want to recover the files, applications, etc. in the drive, and transfer it to another drive. It seems that the problem can be solve by repairing or rebuilding the NTFS file system. Then the drive is usable again.

I've found softwares that can recover partition tables, fix MBRs, etc. Just to be on the safe side, I'm hoping that a pro, or someone who has encountered this same problem to aid me in this matter. I don't want to have to lost all my files on this drive. It's my life's work, in a way.

Anyways, anyone who has had the same problem who can help me? Give me suggestions on the right software to use and methods. The problem seems repairable now, and I don't want to messed something up.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[jbennet]

Look into using the windows command chkdsk (google it, i cant remember which switches and paramaters you have to use to repair)

EDIT:

Actually, it ,may be easier to go into Control panel -> admin tools -> computer management -> disk management

right click on the disk you want to check and choose properties

go into the tools tab and choose error-checking.

You may need to reboot (it should say)

Checking can take > 2 hours sometimes

[Riv3n]

CHKDSK can't complete its operations. But I did get a suggestion to fix the boot record of the external drive by a software called Partition Table Doctor.

So I'm looking for repairing the boot record. Any ideas?

[jbennet]

I dont think the boot reord is in need of repair?

[Riv3n]

Well, running the CHKDSK command get me this:
"The type of the file system is NTFS.
Unable to determine the volume version and state. CHKDSK aborted."

I've tried fixing the boot sector, but resulted in failure. By the way, I've only tried 3 programs to fix this, so I'm still optimistic.

[jbennet]

Try it the second (graphical) way that i described.

[Riv3n]

I've tried using the GUI and the process didn't start. With and without selecting the options, the outcome is still the same. I think because it detected no file system.

I did test the procedure on other drives (including my other external drives), and cause no problems at all.

[jbennet]

Ypu might just have to format it and start over (this will loose all your stuff( :(

[Riv3n]

jbennet, thanks for your help. It does gave me ideas about my actual problem.

Anyways, your right. I'm about to reformat my drive. But I did recover about 92% of my data. I used Ontrack's EasyRecovery.

Thanks again.

[jbennet]

Thats good. What i would have recommended otherwise was maybe direct connection but I dont think that would have solved the problem in your case (an external hdd of mine broke before so i dismanteled it and found it was just a regular SATA hdd inside, so i put it inside my pc and it worked again. I think the controller on the external casing was broken)

[Riv3n]

Yeah. All the external drive that they sell were actually just another internal drive that anyone could buy, with the exception of having a cool casing for it. Anyways, I learned another good advise. Thanks.

[Dudezter]

Hi everyone, I've a big problem. My external storage drive (Maxtor OneTouch II 100GB) is lost. I can't access it anymore.

Windows Explorer reports the drive as: "O:\ is not accessible The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable."

I've used a disk recovery software called R-Studio and it does help to narrow the actual problem a bit. Apparently, the NTFS file system on my external hard disk is corrupted. I can still see the drive in Windows Explorer, which is good news.

Now, I don't want to recover the files, applications, etc. in the drive, and transfer it to another drive. It seems that the problem can be solve by repairing or rebuilding the NTFS file system. Then the drive is usable again.

I've found softwares that can recover partition tables, fix MBRs, etc. Just to be on the safe side, I'm hoping that a pro, or someone who has encountered this same problem to aid me in this matter. I don't want to have to lost all my files on this drive. It's my life's work, in a way.

Anyways, anyone who has had the same problem who can help me? Give me suggestions on the right software to use and methods. The problem seems repairable now, and I don't want to messed something up.

Thanks in advance for any help.

I just registered awhile ago, anyway I still want to share my idea regarding this problem. Yes I experience this kind of problem before. I tried and I cant remember why I wasn't able to fix using some of the recovery tools before. But what simply solve my problem is that, I restarted my computer without detaching my external storage, then during boot-up Windows XP usually examines any file system drive to fix, Windows XP detected my external storage with problems and fix it in the process, after that, XP proceeds loading windows system files, after login, I check my External Storage using windows explorer, the problem was solved. The NTFS partition of my external storage was restored, and all files still intact.

[Tech Tiger1]

Hi,

You have to recover your NTFS file you can recover your file from:

http://www.windowsdatarecovery.com/

Tech Tiger1