babydoll

OK - except after formatting the drive, the files that I knew were working (my Charmed and CSI videos) I put back onto the EHD so that I could delete them from my laptop - because backing up everything onto my laptop put my free space in the red and my laptop couldn't cope - does this mean that I have now written over the hard drive's memory of the other files? I have only put onto the hard drive back what files were previously there

Well this is why I had to back it up in the first place, because when I formatted the disc it deleted everything on it so the only version of the files I now have is the backed up versions on my laptop

But the backup process seemed to me to be successful... and transferring the files takes time, indicating the size is relevant... But even if they are empty shells - then there's a way of recovering the deleted files right? There's always a way isn't there?

OK, now I'm worried - I tried the file repair... tried a few different files, each time I got the error "No Data, File is empty, nothing to repair" :(

All that stuff is as it should be - Ownership is mine, the files are as they should be, (.mp3/.wmv/.wma) And the security permissions and file locations are exactly as you said they should be. ETA: For Mag's response. I am not playing these files from my External Hard Drive - I backed them up using Easy Recovery Pro when I needed to format the disc - the files are now on my laptop - and no matter where I move them I have the same problem. VLC player was one of the first things I tried. It just crashes. I do believe these files are recoverable, otherwise I would probably have smashed this laptop and be claiming compensation round about now!

Well it was a nice idea and something I hadn't thought of... However the preious versions only dated back as far as the last few days since I had backed up the files, so this was a fail I'm afraid. :(

1. The files aren't on my external hard drive any more, they're in another folder on my computer from when I backed them up - but moving them to the desktop makes abolutely no difference 2. All of the programs I have that make Audio CDs will not read the files

Yea I think that more or less sums it up. To clarify - the only files I have a problem with (as far as I know) are the files backed up from the disk which are in the following formats: WMA WMV MP3 - The problem being that this is MOST of my 100GB of files from this disc! (there's a few CSI and Charmed episodes that are working fine but other than that...) My other video and sound files are fine - I can't say for sure with documents because I haven't yet installed Microsoft Office since having to restore the laptop - I've not really needed them that much the last week or so!

OK, so the program I used to back up the files is called Easy Recovery Pro, and these backed up files on my laptop are the files in question here that don't work I have already tried VLC player and it cannot read the files. Tried the codec, no luck there either, seemed to make no difference.

Yea - I have had it a while - but that doesn't help me with my files?!! I'm awaiting a new iPod through the post - and currently no valid songs to put on it! To answer another question - yes the file types are just .wmv .wma and .mp3 there are no other additions to the file names - and the file sizes SEEM to be the same as they were before - not that I memorised them, but they look about right to me.

"Cannot get information from video file C:.......blahblah... Insert Failed!" (The exclamation mark was included here) So what does that mean? The files are compressed?

Yea the EHD has no problems on other computers - I imagine it's because I use my laptop on my bed it moves around an awful lot... However - the files are not working on any computer - my theory is that they were compressed when they were backed up - and this has made them unusuable, until I... uncompress them? Basically it is now all WMV,WMA & MP3 files that I backed up from the EHD before formatting the disk will not play - they make the media players crash, iTunes won't recognise them - they are basically useless to me - this is my major concern right now as it's maybe, 5000 important files here that I cannot use - is there any solution to this problem?

Yep, H: active primary partition - same as it was before formatting (I think it was a windows 7 assigning discs to USB ports error)... It's more or less OK now, I've manage to get across most of my files - just as long as I put it on a flat surface and don't move any of the wires around it it won't disconnect - The files in question however, are taking a turn for the worse - all of my music is also on this disc - mostly mp3s - if I try to play one of them on Windows Media Player (my primary player), it crashes the player - I don't know if it's the files or the player, anymore, because the other files that aren't working are all windows media files, but I can play AVIs + Mpegs from the same EHD on the player fine.

OK - so if one more thing goes wrong for me technically I swear I'll take up reading and move to the country! Brand new laptop - had malware, (don't you just love that as a gift with a brand new laptop), so, I was having a few USB connection issues with my EHDs after I got the new laptop anyway - about a month in, the laptop was no able to start-up, so I had to completely reboot the system, (not impressed that a new system made me do that!), did that last week, so now I'm re-installing slowly all the programs that I use - and one of my EHDs (I have 2, one for TV shows, and one for... everything else), everytime I plugged it into a USB port it told me that the disk needed formatting before I could use it - I have a LOT of precious files accumulated on there I wasn't planning on formatting that disk straight away - so I did some research, and found a program that allowed me to backup all my files, so I was able to format the disk, great I thought (except now my laptop is red on remaining memory) and then I will put the files back on one I can access the disck again. So my issues are as follows: 1. It was a difficult process formatting the disc, and I'm having trouble getting files back on it because it keeps disconnecting itself from the USB port at inconvenient moments without warning 2. All of the WMA and WMV files backed up from this disc (and most of these are videos and songs I have made myself over the last 8 years)n will not play. This is the major issue that nearly had me snap the laptop in 2 the other day, it said something about needing codecs and compressed files - so I downloaded the Windows 7 codec pack, nothing - these files are important I MUST find a way of playing them!! PLease help me!