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General discussion

The disk structure is corrupted and unreadable

Mar 19, 2007 3:42PM PDT

I have an external harddrive and to troubleshoot the problem I installed the harddrive into my desktop and this is the error that I get: the disk structure is corrupted and unreadable. My questions is, will the chkdsk in Windows XP Home Edition fix this issue. My files are still there, I have ran the software to verify this, I just feel paying that much for a one time use of software is outragous. I just need to get the disk structure repaired so that I can retrieve the files. Is there some freeware or shareware out there in cyberspace that I can use to retrieve these files.

Discussion is locked

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Usually not.
Mar 20, 2007 12:24AM PDT

Look at Zero Assumption Recovery since it's demo mode should tell you if it's worthwhile for this failure.

Also can I ask if this is a FAT32 volume? If so those will go missing.

Bob

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NFTS
Mar 20, 2007 1:52AM PDT

The file system is NFTS and the files are recoverable. I guess I will have to breakdown and buy the software to recover the files.

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That's why it's good to try the demos.
Mar 20, 2007 1:57AM PDT

GETDATABACK is another one. For most it's just a decision of "are these files worth it?"

It's rare to see NTFS damaged this badly. Any theories?

Bob

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Spyware Possibly
Mar 20, 2007 1:08PM PDT

It all started when some spyware was on my PC. I had clicked on a link on myspace and that is when the file system was corrupted, or so it said. I started seeing a question mark on my bottom toolbar and it said that there was some spyware found on my PC. That is when I couldn't access the external harddrive anymore. The other possibilty is that the harddrive components might have been damaged also. I am not sure of that though because when I ran software to find files on the drive they are found and the files aren't corrupted, just the disk structure. So I am still up in the air as to what happened.

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And do you use IE?
Mar 20, 2007 1:10PM PDT

My advice is to not use IE unless there is no other choice.

best of luck with recovery.

Bob