Folders Disappeared from Second Drive after Downgrade from Vista to XP

[joshbula]

Hello,

I have 2 drives in a system, C: is for Vista and programs, and the D: drive is where I store all my data, including users folders. They are two separate physical drives.

I recently downgraded to XP by formatting the C: drive and doing a clean install of XP. After completing the install, I tried to redirect the My Documents to the users folder on the D: drive but the users folder and all subfolders had garbled names, and double-clicking on them just gave me an error saying that the file or folder is not available.

I rebooted and the users folder was gone along with 2 other folders. They were each replaced by a 32k file with the name of the original folder and no file extension.

I tried a linux boot disk, and it showed the same thing--folders gone, replaced by the 32k files. I re-installed my Vista installation from an image, and the same problem persists... even restoring the Vista image that I made just before formatting still can't read those folders on my D: drive.

I tried running SpinRite, CheckDisk, and Restoration file recovery on the drive, and nothing helped. Restoration found a bunch of files and folders with the garbled filenames, but when restored, their names were all garbled and it's impossible to determine what files are what. Even after renaming them, they don't work.

The used and free space that explorer is reporting for the drive suggests that all the files and folders are still on the drive taking up space.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what may have caused this and how to repair these folders and the data within them?

Thanks!
...Josh

 

[linney]

Have you used any Encryption to protect the files?

Have you tried defragging the drive, but perhaps that would be a bad move if you are going to pursue other recovery options later?

Can the hard drive be easily removed and tested on another machine?

A program such as MBRwork might be able to scan the Partition Tables and recreate them for you? I am not sure how the fact that the problem is occurring on a second drive effects this program but you can have a look at it.

The following are notes from the late Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)

"Go to

http://www.bootitng.com.

look for MBRWORK in the free tolls and download it, put it on a DOS floppy (one made by formatting in XP and taking the MSDOS Startup disk option will do).

Boot that and run MBRWORK
Use options
1 (to back up the current state, so it could be restored with 2)
3 then 4 to delete the current code and tables
there will then be a possibility of using A
which will scan the disk for 'signatures' of partitions and rebuilt the partition table then
5
to install standard MBR code so the disk could be booted"



Just out of interest are you able to write to this suspect drive and then read what you have just written to it?

Anything odd happen during the original Format and install of XP that might explain this problem?

 

[joshbula]

I have not used any Encryption.

I am able to write to the disk and read the files just written. It seems to be functioning like a normal drive, with the exception of those folders showing up as files instead.

Nothing odd happened during the Format and reinstall... it went very smoothly.

Thanks for the tip with MBRwork... I'll give it a try and let you know if it worked.

Thanks,
...Josh

 

[joshbula]

I just downloaded and ran MBRwork following your instructions and still no luck.

One more bit of information--don't know if it has anything to do with this problem or not--but a few days ago I physically moved the drive inside of my case and connected it to the other IDE port. It was slaved to my DVD-RW drive, and I moved it to be slaved to my C: drive. It was working fine that way for several days before I did the XP downgrade.

 

[linney]

C:\Docs and Settings folders are now files
thread779-1323484


You could try registering this .dll from the Start Run box.
regsvr32 /i shell32.dll


Have you looked at the Properties of these 32kb files to see what information is obtainable from that?

What usernames are listed in the Access Control lists under the Security Tab, is the System User listed in there?

What is the exact message you are receiving when you click on these files?

Are you showing both Hidden and System files via Folder Option/ View?

 

[joshbula]

Registering the dll didn't work. The properties list the date created as the date the original folder was created. No attributes are checked, and there is no security tab to let me look at permissions.

I do have the folder view options set to show hidden and system files.

Thanks.

 

[linney]

What file system is used on your drive where these odd folder/files reside, is it NTFS or FAT32?

Do you have Security Tabs on other files on that drive?

Do you have any Security Tab when viewed from Safe Mode?

If you are unable to check or set Access Control Permissions for those files, that may be a major part of your problem?

 

[moosician]

Hi joshbula,
Havey you solved this problem and how?

I'm facing the same problem on my data disk (100Go FAT32 file system, on the same HDD as my main NTFS file system)

This large fat32 drive was working perfectly on windows 2000, but when I upgraded to XP, some folders disapeared and have been replaced by 32Kb files.

All files have been moved in FOUND00XX folder with fake filenames.

Here is what I have understood from the web :
- 32Kb is the minimum size for a non empty file in FAT32 (so those files are quite empty)
- XP does not support more than 32Gb drives with FAT32

my supposition is :
when XP scan the drive compliant with windows 2000 or vista, has it doesn't support large FAT32 drives, it considers some FAT errors and try to repare them.
Then it brakes the file allocation table.
hm. stupid XP!
Up to now, I just saved what I could, and I'm looking for a solution. If someone have an idea it could help.

By the way, if you want to recover your data, it is really better to avoid writing on this drive, and the worst thing to do could be a defrag.

bye

 

[linney]

What about a 9x Startup Disk and trying ScanDisk from DOS on the FAT32 Partition

You could also try XP's Recovery Console and run ChkDsk /r on the Partition.

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

Vanishing Files and Folders
thread528-633281

Limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q314463

http://www.mcmcse.com/windows_xp/guides/filesystems.shtml

Data recovery.

Recover CHK Files

http://www.ericphelps.com/uncheck/index.htm

PC Inspector

http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm

http://www.restorer2000.com

http://www.runtime.org/hints.htm

Plenty of other recovery software listed here.

http://dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Disk_Management/Error_Checking_and_Repair/