«

I have a 40G USB external HD (FAT32) I haven't accessed in awhile.
Today I hooked it up (WIN XP Home SP2) and it showed up in My Computer,
but the stated capacity was something like 7G and all the files/folder
names were weird characters. I couldn't open any of the files. I ran
scandisk but ended up with a bunch of chk files I didn't know what to
do with. So I reformatted the drive in NFTS. I'm wondering what could
have caused the file corruption and what I should do in the future to
prevent it!

Thanks,
BR549

"BR549" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
>I have a 40G USB external HD (FAT32) I haven't accessed in awhile.
> Today I hooked it up (WIN XP Home SP2) and it showed up in My Computer,
> but the stated capacity was something like 7G and all the files/folder
> names were weird characters. I couldn't open any of the files. I ran
> scandisk but ended up with a bunch of chk files I didn't know what to
> do with. So I reformatted the drive in NFTS. I'm wondering what could
> have caused the file corruption and what I should do in the future to
> prevent it!
>
> Thanks,
> BR549
>
Always disconnect your ext. USB devices, using the `safely remove`
icon in the systray.
It`s probable that you just unplugged, or switched off the drive
without doing that.
I always use`safely remove` before I shut down my system.
And touch wood.....

In news:JEb%f.4054$,
beenthere spewed forth:
> "BR549" <> wrote in message
> news: oups.com...
>> I have a 40G USB external HD (FAT32) I haven't accessed in awhile.
>> Today I hooked it up (WIN XP Home SP2) and it showed up in My
>> Computer, but the stated capacity was something like 7G and all the
>> files/folder names were weird characters. I couldn't open any of
>> the files. I ran scandisk but ended up with a bunch of chk files I
>> didn't know what to do with. So I reformatted the drive in NFTS. I'm
>> wondering what could have caused the file corruption and what I
>> should do in the future to prevent it!
>>
>> Thanks,
>> BR549
>>
> Always disconnect your ext. USB devices, using the `safely remove`
> icon in the systray.
> It`s probable that you just unplugged, or switched off the drive
> without doing that.
> I always use`safely remove` before I shut down my system.
> And touch wood.....

Especially FAT32 drives, IMO. Windows XP turns of write cachings
automatically for external USB drives, so it shouldn't be a problem, but
better safe than sorry...

--
My wife and I divorced over religious differences. She thought she was
God and I didn't.

On Wed, 12 Apr 2006 10:13:51 -0700, BR549 wrote:

> Subject: corrupted files on external hard drive
> From: "BR549" <>
> Newsgroups: 24hoursupport.helpdesk
> Date: 12 Apr 2006 10:13:51 -0700
>
> I have a 40G USB external HD (FAT32) I haven't accessed in awhile.
> Today I hooked it up (WIN XP Home SP2) and it showed up in My Computer,
> but the stated capacity was something like 7G and all the files/folder
> names were weird characters. I couldn't open any of the files. I ran
> scandisk but ended up with a bunch of chk files I didn't know what to
> do with. So I reformatted the drive in NFTS. I'm wondering what could
> have caused the file corruption and what I should do in the future to
> prevent it!

The hard drive Fairy sometimes does these things. Storing your external
drives under your pillow can keep him away.

--

Pierre Salinger Memorial Hook, Line & Sinker, June 2004