Guest Adrian Bailey Posted September 14, 2007 Posted September 14, 2007 My laptop (using Windows XP) got infected a few months ago and I haven't been using it. I've just got round to disinfecting it, using HijackThis and AVG, and it seemed to be clear. Today when I turned it on, it said I should check the disks for consistency. Immediately it started giving "folder entirely unreadable" messages and removing the contents of what are in fact photos of our baby. I switched the machine off and back on again without doing the consistency test. When I open the two folders that have been emptied, a message tells me the drive (D:) is unformatted and asks me whether I want to reformat it. The drive and the (other) folders seem actually to be okay, so why did I get this problem? Why does my machine think the D drive is unreadable? (The hard disk is split into a C and a D drive.) And how can I get back the two lots of photos that have been deleted? Thanks, Adrian
Guest Pegasus \(MVP\) Posted September 14, 2007 Posted September 14, 2007 Re: folder entirely unreadable Multiposted. You also need to decide which OS you use. Here you write - My laptop (using Windows XP) and in several other posts you say - My laptop (using Windows 2000) Now which one is it? "Adrian Bailey" <dadge@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:GGxGi.217897$p7.88674@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk... > My laptop (using Windows XP) got infected a few months ago and I haven't > been using it. I've just got round to disinfecting it, using HijackThis > and > AVG, and it seemed to be clear. Today when I turned it on, it said I > should > check the disks for consistency. Immediately it started giving "folder > entirely unreadable" messages and removing the contents of what are in > fact > photos of our baby. I switched the machine off and back on again without > doing the consistency test. When I open the two folders that have been > emptied, a message tells me the drive (D:) is unformatted and asks me > whether I want to reformat it. > > The drive and the (other) folders seem actually to be okay, so why did I > get > this problem? Why does my machine think the D drive is unreadable? (The > hard > disk is split into a C and a D drive.) > > And how can I get back the two lots of photos that have been deleted? > > Thanks, Adrian > >
Guest Poprivet Posted September 17, 2007 Posted September 17, 2007 Re: folder entirely unreadable Pegasus (MVP) wrote: > Multiposted. You also need to decide which OS you use. Here you write > > - My laptop (using Windows XP) and in several other posts you say > - My laptop (using Windows 2000) > > Now which one is it? > > "Adrian Bailey" <dadge@hotmail.com> wrote in message > news:GGxGi.217897$p7.88674@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk... >> My laptop (using Windows XP) got infected a few months ago and I >> haven't been using it. I've just got round to disinfecting it, using >> HijackThis and >> AVG, and it seemed to be clear. Today when I turned it on, it said I >> should >> check the disks for consistency. Immediately it started giving >> "folder entirely unreadable" messages and removing the contents of >> what are in fact >> photos of our baby. I switched the machine off and back on again >> without doing the consistency test. When I open the two folders that >> have been emptied, a message tells me the drive (D:) is unformatted >> and asks me whether I want to reformat it. >> >> The drive and the (other) folders seem actually to be okay, so why >> did I get >> this problem? Why does my machine think the D drive is unreadable? >> (The hard >> disk is split into a C and a D drive.) >> >> And how can I get back the two lots of photos that have been deleted? >> >> Thanks, Adrian I noticed that, too. Sounds like a come-on, doesn't it? Pop`
Guest ric Posted September 17, 2007 Posted September 17, 2007 Re: folder entirely unreadable On Sep 14, 4:22 pm, "Adrian Bailey" <da...@hotmail.com> wrote: > My laptop (using Windows XP) got infected a few months ago and I haven't > been using it. I've just got round to disinfecting it, using HijackThis and > AVG, and it seemed to be clear. Today when I turned it on, it said I should > check the disks for consistency. Immediately it started giving "folder > entirely unreadable" messages and removing the contents of what are in fact > photos of our baby. I switched the machine off and back on again without > doing the consistency test. When I open the two folders that have been > emptied, a message tells me the drive (D:) is unformatted and asks me > whether I want to reformat it. > > The drive and the (other) folders seem actually to be okay, so why did I get > this problem? Why does my machine think the D drive is unreadable? (The hard > disk is split into a C and a D drive.) > > And how can I get back the two lots of photos that have been deleted? > > Thanks, Adrian When you say "removing the contents", what actually happened? That and the "entirely unreadable" bit doesn't sound like what Windows will do if it encounters file corruption, and is making me think virus/ trojan. Originally I was thinking that you'd got a plain and simple failing hard disk, but the specifics of what happened don't really sound like that, if that's actually what was displayed on screen. What you do next is up to you: if they're irreplacable pictures of your kids, then go to a data recovery specialist. In the UK http://www.retrodata.co.uk are excellent and cheap, but YMMV. If they're not important enough to spend money on then I'd try the following: 1) boot off a live CD (knoppix, BartPE, Ultimate Boot CD) and see what you can find on the disk. Copy anything you can read to USB pendrive, or CD, or to another PC via a network. 2) remove the hard disk and put it in a USB enclosure and attach to another PC. Copy over anything you can find. If either 1) or 2) get you the files you want, then I'd either replace the HDD in the laptop or reinstall Windows and check for any disk errors. Keep an eye on the event logs for any disk I/O errors. If 1) or 2) don't get you what you need then I'd clone the disk to another drive and run SpinRite and similar data recovery tools to see what came up. If all this sounds too technical then go see your local geek and see what they can do. I woudn't boot the laptop again until you've exhausted these options in case it's malware that's deleting your files on boot. Ric
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