How did my HDD unpartitioned itself?

[Newbie12]

Hi,

Just about a couple of weeks ago, one of my partition my HDD just 'unpartitioned' itself. How's that even possible? I've searched by something on this topic and all I've found so far that may do this is: virus and or dodgy HDD. All I've used my computer for is for typing stuff on Word and organizing files and folders. Is my HDD dying/dodgy? or is there a undetectable virus roaming randomly around on my HDD? How can you tell?

 

[Slapshot136]

have you tried reading the disk status (the smart information), and do you have an anti-virus?

 

[Newbie12]

reply to Slapshot136

Well, in windows explorer it says it's not formatted when I try to access the partition. Yes, I do have an Anti-virus. It's called AVG IS.

 

[Slapshot136]

can you (have you tried to) just re-format it?

 

[Newbie12]

I...I would, but then I'd lose all my stuff in my Doc's folder....I'd back those up if I could, but I can't even access the disk through explorer. Do you know exactly how long and how much time I spent in that folder organizing my stuff and suddenly the partition just unpartitioned itself?

 

[ertaboy356b]

Cheers... It's been a while..

@topic

When you open My Computer, does it show that it is in RAW Format?? If so, try downloading a light linux distribution like Puppy Linux or DamnSmallLinux then try booting from that OS. Usually these are Live CDs so you don't have to install them or replace your current OS. Burn your linux of choice into a CD then boot it from the CDROM.

Try accessing your drive using these Live CDs. I recommend Puppy Linux for better GUI.

 

[Slapshot136]

normally if you just do a quick format to the same as it was before you won't lose anything, and then you can use recuva or similar to get your files back - but I would try the above first to see if it works

 

[UndeadDragon]

Were your documents (or anything) on the "unpartitioned drive"?

 

[sqrage]

Click Start, click Run, type compmgmt.msc, and then click OK. On the left hand side, under Storage, click Disk Management. Take a screenshot of that page and upload it here.

 

[Newbie12]

reply...

@ertaboy356b
thanks for the reply. Whoa! Is this what Puppy Linux looks like? Is this, actual linux?
Anyway, yes it's raw formatted when I looked it up. hmmm, how is it that windows is unable to access raw formatted drives and this puppy linux can? heck, I got lost trying to find the HDD that got unparitioned...it's so different from windows. hehe, okay, I found the HDD that was unpartitioned (after like 8 minutes of looking...). Um, I have a question: how long does it takes to back up some files and folders from the unpartitioned drive to a partitioned drive?

@UndeadDragon
yes, pretty much all my documents were on that partitioned that just 'unpartitioned' itself...that's why I mentioned the Doc folder.

@sqrage
I don't think that'll be nesseccary, but thanks for reply though. I have sort of recovered some of my files and folders under the doc folder of the unpartitioned drive through ertaboy356b's suggestion.

 

[Newbie12]

?

Well?

It's been over 108 hours since I started back up those files....Is it done yet? I mean I see the the word done after the last one is copied, but the progress bar is not yet fully all the way at the end and plus the HDD is still working(the red light is still going on even though it says done). If this is a Linux based operating system, then I am not sure how the copy and paste system works...but I'm pretty sure it would be the same as if in windows and macs, right?

 

[ertaboy356b]

You have to open two folders on different drives and drag the files to the other. when it asks you to copy/move, use move for speed.. use copy for security just in case.

 

[Newbie12]

reply

okay...thanks for the tip. Um, so how do you know you've finished copying the contents of the Doc folder? I mean, is it by looking at the progress bar or by looking at the text and once it says something like done, it's done right? I using the copying method for security reasons... Like I said before, now it's just over 141 hours since my intiation. My mum is telling me to turn the computer off as it's been running this whole time up till now! I told my mum I can't because I'm backing things up, and she said it's wasting electricity and the bill will probably go up another $100 because of this... yes my computer is still up and running, and hasn't been shutted down ever since the intiation of this backup method you said, that is taking like forever.... I need an answer now! My mum's gonna squeeze me eventually because of this, if it continues to go on day after day for mayber another week. Actually, I really wouldn't want it to go for another week as #1 it's using up electricity and thus bill goes up and #2 I need the computer for school purposes. The progress bar isn't yet completed but in text it says 'done'. Is it really done? Well, from the looks of it, I don't think so because HDD is still doing stuff even though it says done in the window...or is that from malware or a possible virus running in the background taking up HDD accessing times and thus slowing the progress bar down?

 

[ertaboy356b]

That's a long time to wait.. Transferring files in linux should be fast. Maybe you're doing it wrong. How large are you transferring exactly??

My advise is that you should check your files in that drive and try opening them. Try opening doc files or image files. Then try transferring them folder by folder.

 

[Slapshot136]

the above, but before transferring lots of small files, consider zipping them and then unzipping them

 

[Newbie12]

the above, but before transferring lots of small files, consider zipping them and then unzipping them

Ah, now that hint would've helped before I actually started the process. But even if I did zip them all, it'll probably take as long as this and then I'd probably wait another 12 days for it to transfer to the target directory and then another 12 days to extract them fully...

@ertaboy356b, I doubt I'm doing this wrong, it's pretty simple - copy and paste, how hard's that? besides the fact opening the targetted directory and the one needed to copy from to the one copying to takes about 2 -5 minutes... If I can remember right, there were about 30000 - 35000 files in the 43 folders altogether which are in the *My Documents* folder. In windows, it never takes more than 2 hours to copy and paste this number of files and folders together! Trust me, I've done it before and I know what I see.

Anyway, it's been about 11 days and more than 22 hrs. I think it's completed the transfer: #1 - no HDD LED flashing(yippy! finally! Though am curious why after HDD LED was flashing....), #2 - the *Done* word is at the end and ... #3 - I don't think it's finished! Yet again the progress bar has not touched the other end of the window. Plus it doesn't even have a closed or a OK button at the bottom of the window! Oh well, regardless if it's done or not, I'm gonna shut it down after about 12 days of running just to backup 30000+ files...at last, I can finally live in peace.

 

[Newbie12]

If I can remember right, there were about 30000 - 35000 files in the 43 folders altogether which are in the *My Documents* folder.

Oh, oops. I found out an error....It's 8960 files all together in 946 folders now. It was a typo for that extra zero and I lied, it was 3000 - 3500 about 4 yrs ago. sorry.

@ertaboy356b, you're right! it shouldn't take that long as 72 files to transfer took about 4 seconds, thus 1 file = 18th of a second. Put that into the one did before this; 8690 x 18th of a second which = 4480/9 and divide that by 60 to get how long in minutes and that = around 8 minutes. The files were about similar size

So...any ideas as to why it happened in the first place and why sometimes AVG scan is suspiciously scanning when I didn't request it?

 

[Newbie12]

In case you wish to know what I was talking about, about that copying-pasting thing, it's explained in the attachment.

Anyway, is no one willing to answer those 2 questions stated above and as well as what this strange folder is doing in the F:\ drive: RD4B335D2AF9F44185AFC417F8D8D4B473DR?

 

[UndeadDragon]

So...any ideas as to why it happened in the first place and why sometimes AVG scan is suspiciously scanning when I didn't request it?

AVG is usually automatically set up to do periodic scans which would run without any interaction from you.

Also, that folder you said about sounds a bit suspicious. What is actually in it?

 

[ertaboy356b]

that's wicked.. Maybe a linux bug, not sure though..