Hello all.
First, I would like to apologize for what will probably be a long post.
I've ran into a problem with one of the hard drives on a computer where I work and I don't know how to solve it. Here's the deal. A couple of days ago, when I came to work and started up the computer, a disk check pops up and says there are inconsistencies with the disk (Western Digital 2tb, WD20EARS-00S8B1 if it matters). Naturally, I let it run its course. I work with a lot of really large files that get opened and edited a lot, so I figure something got messed up in the process or something. The disc check ran it's course successfully, I got into Windows (XP, SP3) and everything was fine. The next morning, check disk again. I let it do its thing, and again all is fine. Then today, the same, but when I get into Windows and try to open My Computer, it starts up very slowly and takes almost a full minute to bring up the contents of the computer. When it finally does, I can see the disk in question. However, while the letter is the same, the label is gone and I can't access it. Even trying to right click and get to "properties" takes a whole minute or more.
I went to Device Manager, and the disk is there as usual. So I went into disk management, and saw that the disk is shown as "healthy" but 100% free, as if there are no files on it. And yet, the check disk that runs before windows clearly identifies it by the right label and checks files as it runs. The only thing that check disc does differently today is that it doesn't run until the end (where you get the info about the disk, bad sectors, etc.), but rather stops at second step (or third) and says there is insufficient space to recover lost files. I find it doubtful because, while the files on this disk get opened and edited a lot, they mostly remain the same size. Moreover, I haven't been adding any new data to that particular disk in the last couple of days, just opening the files which I need for photoshop and saving the edits on a different disk which I use for work in progress. Hence, the result shouldn't have been different from the chkdsk yesterday given the fact that free space didn't change (I always keep about a quarter of a disk free).
I also ran the Crystaldiskinfo which I use to keep an eye on my drives. While it took a minute or so to start up, when I finally had a chance to look at the disk info, it reports the state as "good" and nothing really standing out as far as I can tell.
Now, I suspect (hope) that the files are not really gone and that something got messed up when it comes to booting the disk itself, something written where it shouldn't be. However, I don't know nearly enough about it to go messing about and risk losing the data which might be still there and undamaged. So any help you guys can offer will be greatly appreciated.
UPDATE: Yes, within the same post.
I went back to the computer to get the exact designation of the hard disk before I post this and decided to let the check disk run again for like the fourth time today. Oddly enough, this time it went through all steps, gave me the info (no bad sectors, correct amount of free/used space, the works), and when I got into Windows I could see the disk and access the data. While this is good news, I am still far from comfortable with this disk and would definitely like to know if it might be dying. Clearly something is bothering it. So if you could recommend a course of action at this point, it would be great.
First, I would like to apologize for what will probably be a long post.
I've ran into a problem with one of the hard drives on a computer where I work and I don't know how to solve it. Here's the deal. A couple of days ago, when I came to work and started up the computer, a disk check pops up and says there are inconsistencies with the disk (Western Digital 2tb, WD20EARS-00S8B1 if it matters). Naturally, I let it run its course. I work with a lot of really large files that get opened and edited a lot, so I figure something got messed up in the process or something. The disc check ran it's course successfully, I got into Windows (XP, SP3) and everything was fine. The next morning, check disk again. I let it do its thing, and again all is fine. Then today, the same, but when I get into Windows and try to open My Computer, it starts up very slowly and takes almost a full minute to bring up the contents of the computer. When it finally does, I can see the disk in question. However, while the letter is the same, the label is gone and I can't access it. Even trying to right click and get to "properties" takes a whole minute or more.
I went to Device Manager, and the disk is there as usual. So I went into disk management, and saw that the disk is shown as "healthy" but 100% free, as if there are no files on it. And yet, the check disk that runs before windows clearly identifies it by the right label and checks files as it runs. The only thing that check disc does differently today is that it doesn't run until the end (where you get the info about the disk, bad sectors, etc.), but rather stops at second step (or third) and says there is insufficient space to recover lost files. I find it doubtful because, while the files on this disk get opened and edited a lot, they mostly remain the same size. Moreover, I haven't been adding any new data to that particular disk in the last couple of days, just opening the files which I need for photoshop and saving the edits on a different disk which I use for work in progress. Hence, the result shouldn't have been different from the chkdsk yesterday given the fact that free space didn't change (I always keep about a quarter of a disk free).
I also ran the Crystaldiskinfo which I use to keep an eye on my drives. While it took a minute or so to start up, when I finally had a chance to look at the disk info, it reports the state as "good" and nothing really standing out as far as I can tell.
Now, I suspect (hope) that the files are not really gone and that something got messed up when it comes to booting the disk itself, something written where it shouldn't be. However, I don't know nearly enough about it to go messing about and risk losing the data which might be still there and undamaged. So any help you guys can offer will be greatly appreciated.
UPDATE: Yes, within the same post.
I went back to the computer to get the exact designation of the hard disk before I post this and decided to let the check disk run again for like the fourth time today. Oddly enough, this time it went through all steps, gave me the info (no bad sectors, correct amount of free/used space, the works), and when I got into Windows I could see the disk and access the data. While this is good news, I am still far from comfortable with this disk and would definitely like to know if it might be dying. Clearly something is bothering it. So if you could recommend a course of action at this point, it would be great.
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