external hard drive questions

[nandac]

i am quite new to computer audio and had bought a 500 gb external hd sometime back. took a lot of trouble putting atleast 70% of my CD collection of over 1000 CDs into the hd.

the hd was the source for my itunes.

but sometime back my computer was struck by a virus attack. probably due to that for some reason, i am not able to see the contents of the hd anymore by windows explorer. i ran a virus scanner on it and can see all the files being processed. but windows explorer shows the hd as 'no folders' - totally empty.

my itunes still links to it and though its source shows as the itunes directory in C:/, if i delink the hd and try to play any song on itunes, it says the 'source cannot be found'. it can only play songs if the hd is linked.

so two questions here :

1. what do i do about the existing hd? how do i resolve the issue.

2. can i get a hd with some kind of internal ability to play music files etc, so that i can keep it as stand alone and not connected to a computer and thus safe from virus attack etc. i am planning a new hd with lossless files of my entire CD collection and so would like to try a safer tool.

appreciate any insights.

 

[vprasad84]

i am quite new to computer audio and had bought a 500 gb external hd sometime back. took a lot of trouble putting atleast 70% of my CD collection of over 1000 CDs into the hd.

the hd was the source for my itunes.

but sometime back my computer was struck by a virus attack. probably due to that for some reason, i am not able to see the contents of the hd anymore by windows explorer. i ran a virus scanner on it and can see all the files being processed. but windows explorer shows the hd as 'no folders' - totally empty.

my itunes still links to it and though its source shows as the itunes directory in C:/, if i delink the hd and try to play any song on itunes, it says the 'source cannot be found'. it can only play songs if the hd is linked.

so two questions here :

1. what do i do about the existing hd? how do i resolve the issue.

2. can i get a hd with some kind of internal ability to play music files etc, so that i can keep it as stand alone and not connected to a computer and thus safe from virus attack etc. i am planning a new hd with lossless files of my entire CD collection and so would like to try a safer tool.

appreciate any insights.

your folders seems to be hidden which was done by the virus. You need to unhide them by changing the attributes through third party software. Refer this video

Unhiding files and folders hidden by virus - YouTube

However first ensure your PC is clean or format it if required.

 

[jsanand]

On a technical note it may be just that your address book of files (MFT - Master File Table), where address and sector locations of your files got corrupted by the virus attack. Just google File recovery tools and recover the files and copy them or rebuild the address book.

Sometimes even chkdsk tool, already available in Microsoft OS will help. Otherwise you can search and download NTFS (I am assuming your HDD is formatted with NTFS) repair recovery tools.

If you have a Linux system accessible, try mounting this external hdd and copy all the files.

 

[vin_eme]

Try to do a "chkdsk" on the drive which is corrupted. It will rebuild the MFT's and hopefully should be able to see the contents back.

 

[ak47]

i am quite new to computer audio and had bought a 500 gb external hd sometime back. took a lot of trouble putting atleast 70% of my CD collection of over 1000 CDs into the hd.

the hd was the source for my itunes.

but sometime back my computer was struck by a virus attack. probably due to that for some reason, i am not able to see the contents of the hd anymore by windows explorer. i ran a virus scanner on it and can see all the files being processed. but windows explorer shows the hd as 'no folders' - totally empty.

my itunes still links to it and though its source shows as the itunes directory in C:/, if i delink the hd and try to play any song on itunes, it says the 'source cannot be found'. it can only play songs if the hd is linked.

so two questions here :

1. what do i do about the existing hd? how do i resolve the issue.

2. can i get a hd with some kind of internal ability to play music files etc, so that i can keep it as stand alone and not connected to a computer and thus safe from virus attack etc. i am planning a new hd with lossless files of my entire CD collection and so would like to try a safer tool.

appreciate any insights.

I had faced a similar problem with my 1TB NTFS. Before using any 3rd party software, first make sure the files are not hidden. To do that, open windows explorer, go to tool>folder options>view tab: under the view tab, check show hidden files and folders and uncheck hide protected operating file systems.

If this does not solve your problem(it solved mine), then you can use chkdsk or any other 3rd party ntfs recovery software.

Cheers

 

[baijuxavior]

1. what do i do about the existing hd? how do i resolve the issue.

2. can i get a hd with some kind of internal ability to play music files etc, so that i can keep it as stand alone and not connected to a computer and thus safe from virus attack etc. i am planning a new hd with lossless files of my entire CD collection and so would like to try a safer tool.

appreciate any insights.

1. Have you tried the HDD on another pc? Run a virus scan from another system that is updated to the latest virus definitions. Some virus will render your media files unusable. A few years back all my media files were infected by a virus which changed them to .mp3 files containing warning message including the F word.

2. What you need is HD media player. You can play all your AV files without computer.

 

[nandac]

>I had faced a similar problem with my 1TB NTFS. Before using any 3rd party >software, first make sure the files are not hidden. To do that, open windows >explorer, go to tool>folder options>view tab: under the view tab, check >show hidden files and folders and uncheck hide protected operating file >systems.

>If this does not solve your problem(it solved mine), then you can use >chkdsk or any other 3rd party ntfs recovery software.

>Cheers


it worked fine. thanks so much.

 

[Shivam]

Download a linux distro in live-cd form (I suggest knoppix)

Boot into the linux operating system, copy all your data to another place.
Format your hard disk and then copy the data back to it (after scanning for viruses).

In future keep back-ups !

 

[ak47]

>I had faced a similar problem with my 1TB NTFS. Before using any 3rd party >software, first make sure the files are not hidden. To do that, open windows >explorer, go to tool>folder options>view tab: under the view tab, check >show hidden files and folders and uncheck hide protected operating file >systems.

>If this does not solve your problem(it solved mine), then you can use >chkdsk or any other 3rd party ntfs recovery software.

>Cheers


it worked fine. thanks so much.

You're welcome!