External HDD fixes?

[McP12345]

My cousin requested that I change her external HDD to FAT32 so it can be read by Apple PCs. I used Mini Tool Partition wizard to convert the HDD to FAT32 without damaging the files. The problem is my laptop suddenly overheated and shut down while the process was still 80%. The file is FAT32 format according to windows explorer but instead of displaying 981GB of total space, it displays 491GB total.


Some files are fine but I'm worried that 200GB files are corrupted including pictures. I tried to Surface Test it using Mini Tool Partition Wizard but it didn't detect anything wrong. Also, the program detects the external as having 981 GB but the used space is also doubled. The HDD itself can still be accessed, just that some files are corrupted.


As of now, I'm using the CMD command chkdsk /f and it seems to be going on forever saying Bad links in lost chain at cluster ###### and Lost chain-linked at cluster######. Orphan truncated. I started the command 6 hours ago and it's still running. Is this normal or should I do other fixes?

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, McP12345.

It's important for you not to write anything on that drive and stop the chkdsk command now. The /f switch fixes errors with the file system, which could lead to further corrupting the files and/or the already (at least from what it seems) damaged file system of the partition you've created. If nothing has been changed in terms of data (hopefully), then you should be able to recover the files by using data recovery software. You could try out the options from those links: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1644496/lost-data-recovery.html and http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm. If you have no luck with the data recovery programs, but the files are valuable and you guys need to recover them no matter what, you could go for a professional solution, such as a data recovery company.

Just for future reference - the better option for a hard drive's file system in order for it to be recognized and fully supported by both Mac OSX and Windows, is exFAT. It doesn't have the limitations of FAT32 (e.g. 32GB maximum partition size unless you use 3rd party software and it doesn't support files larger than 4GB).
And a pointer for next time - it's important to always have your important files backed up. Especially if you're trying something, which might take a wrong turn at some point, when doing something like extending/shrinking partitions or changing the file system, regardless of how safe the program says it is.

I hope that you guys are able to recover the files. Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD

 

[McP12345]

Hey there, McP12345.

It's important for you not to write anything on that drive and stop the chkdsk command now. The /f switch fixes errors with the file system, which could lead to further corrupting the files and/or the already (at least from what it seems) damaged file system of the partition you've created. If nothing has been changed in terms of data (hopefully), then you should be able to recover the files by using data recovery software. You could try out the options from those links: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1644496/lost-data-recovery.html and http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm. If you have no luck with the data recovery programs, but the files are valuable and you guys need to recover them no matter what, you could go for a professional solution, such as a data recovery company.

Just for future reference - the better option for a hard drive's file system in order for it to be recognized and fully supported by both Mac OSX and Windows, is exFAT. It doesn't have the limitations of FAT32 (e.g. 32GB maximum partition size unless you use 3rd party software and it doesn't support files larger than 4GB).
And a pointer for next time - it's important to always have your important files backed up. Especially if you're trying something, which might take a wrong turn at some point, when doing something like extending/shrinking partitions or changing the file system, regardless of how safe the program says it is.

I hope that you guys are able to recover the files. Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD

Umm, I did use Recuva but the files seem undecipherable such as this ««êºÿ__r.ë¼u.««êºÿ__r.ë¼u. What do I do with these files?

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Sorry for the late response.

Unfortunately it seems like the files might have been corrupted. You could try out with some of the other data recovery programs, to see if you have better luck with a different one.
You could also consult with a data recovery company, to see if the guys there can help you with recovering those files.