Hard drive corrupt? About to lose files?

JustAnotherSaver

Guys, here's a question which I wonder if it contributed to causing this problem...

Ok so right at the beginning of all this, I was setting up Windows 10 on a new SSD. I don't have the SATA ports to have ALL drives connected so there was a bit of chopping & changing drives here & there.

It seems that whenever I switch out a drive for another, on start up it's wanting to check a drive. Not necessarily only the new drive that's been added. At one point last week it wanted to check two drives on startup "for consistency".

Just now I've been & got an old drive as I wondered if it contained old files that were perhaps lost off the new drive so wanted to connect it up to rule that out.

So I switch out the problematic 6TB drive, stick in this 1TB drive & then on startup it's asking about "checking for consistency".

I couldn't see which drive it was about to check as I thought we're not having that carry on again & just kept smashing the keyboard to get it to skip the process.

Why is it doing that? And how do I stop it, other than waiting & watching & hitting the keyboard?

In addition, I ran a quick Seagate SeaTools scan (as the long one was going to take a million years) & it said the drive was good. CrystalDiskInfo says the drive is good.

Obviously an intensive scan may say otherwise.

GDB2222

https://www.r-datarecovery.com/check-disk-for-consistency.html

GDB2222

"I couldn't see which drive it was about to check as I thought we're not having that carry on again & just kept smashing the keyboard to get it to skip the process."

You really should let Windows do its thing. It does sound like perhaps you need a new PC to work on, and just keep this old one for data recovery. 

JustAnotherSaver

GDB2222 said:

You really should let Windows do its thing.

Last time I did that I ended up wasting 6-7 days on something that I didn't plan on doing.

Now I know some here have said it's the fact I pressed reset (as in suggesting if I hadn't done that then nothing would've been deleted, even though the screen kept saying deleting XYZ). The EaseUS guy said simply just running chkdsk could've caused the problems.

So you'll have to forgive me for not letting Windows do its thing again.

GDB2222

JustAnotherSaver said:

GDB2222 said:

You really should let Windows do its thing.

Last time I did that I ended up wasting 6-7 days on something that I didn't plan on doing.

Now I know some here have said it's the fact I pressed reset (as in suggesting if I hadn't done that then nothing would've been deleted, even though the screen kept saying deleting XYZ). The EaseUS guy said simply just running chkdsk could've caused the problems.

So you'll have to forgive me for not letting Windows do its thing again.

oh, I forgive you. Your data. Your computer, etc. 

I don’t really get this 'wasting 6-7 days' thing. Data recovery takes a long time. It’s a very large disc. My impression is that what matters is recovering as much as possible, rather than how quickly it does that? 

JustAnotherSaver

GDB2222 said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

GDB2222 said:

You really should let Windows do its thing.

Last time I did that I ended up wasting 6-7 days on something that I didn't plan on doing.

Now I know some here have said it's the fact I pressed reset (as in suggesting if I hadn't done that then nothing would've been deleted, even though the screen kept saying deleting XYZ). The EaseUS guy said simply just running chkdsk could've caused the problems.

So you'll have to forgive me for not letting Windows do its thing again.

oh, I forgive you. Your data. Your computer, etc. 

I don’t really get this 'wasting 6-7 days' thing. Data recovery takes a long time. It’s a very large disc. My impression is that what matters is recovering as much as possible, rather than how quickly it does that? 

Let me help you get it then...

I have a list of things that need doing and I have a limited timeframe that I want them completed by. After this time is done it is going to be infinitely more difficult to complete these jobs.

The hard drive hiccup has caused a major problem as time was not allocated for that & it's been significant time.

Yep, it's 'one of them things' and 'these things happen' and whatever other phrase fits the bill but that doesn't change the fact that it's seriously eaten in to the time I've got to get other things sorted by & I can't magic more time out of thin air.

I should've been spending the time on other jobs, not this, but it happened & shifted the priority for a while.

GDB2222

JustAnotherSaver said:

GDB2222 said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

GDB2222 said:

You really should let Windows do its thing.

Last time I did that I ended up wasting 6-7 days on something that I didn't plan on doing.

Now I know some here have said it's the fact I pressed reset (as in suggesting if I hadn't done that then nothing would've been deleted, even though the screen kept saying deleting XYZ). The EaseUS guy said simply just running chkdsk could've caused the problems.

So you'll have to forgive me for not letting Windows do its thing again.

oh, I forgive you. Your data. Your computer, etc. 

I don’t really get this 'wasting 6-7 days' thing. Data recovery takes a long time. It’s a very large disc. My impression is that what matters is recovering as much as possible, rather than how quickly it does that? 

Let me help you get it then...

I have a list of things that need doing and I have a limited timeframe that I want them completed by. After this time is done it is going to be infinitely more difficult to complete these jobs.

The hard drive hiccup has caused a major problem as time was not allocated for that & it's been significant time.

Yep, it's 'one of them things' and 'these things happen' and whatever other phrase fits the bill but that doesn't change the fact that it's seriously eaten in to the time I've got to get other things sorted by & I can't magic more time out of thin air.

I should've been spending the time on other jobs, not this, but it happened & shifted the priority for a while.

It’s easy to be wise after the event, but, as others have suggested, I’d have removed the drive from the PC and left it until I had time to deal with it properly. In the meantime, I would have a fully functional PC to do my work on. The data you want to recover would not have become more corrupted if the disc had been put on a shelf for a while. 

Perhaps I misunderstood, but I thought the data on the disc is not stuff you need right away?

debitcardmayhem

JustAnotherSaver said:

GDB2222 said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

GDB2222 said:

You really should let Windows do its thing.

Last time I did that I ended up wasting 6-7 days on something that I didn't plan on doing.

Now I know some here have said it's the fact I pressed reset (as in suggesting if I hadn't done that then nothing would've been deleted, even though the screen kept saying deleting XYZ). The EaseUS guy said simply just running chkdsk could've caused the problems.

So you'll have to forgive me for not letting Windows do its thing again.

oh, I forgive you. Your data. Your computer, etc. 

I don’t really get this 'wasting 6-7 days' thing. Data recovery takes a long time. It’s a very large disc. My impression is that what matters is recovering as much as possible, rather than how quickly it does that? 

Let me help you get it then...

I have a list of things that need doing and I have a limited timeframe that I want them completed by. After this time is done it is going to be infinitely more difficult to complete these jobs.

The hard drive hiccup has caused a major problem as time was not allocated for that & it's been significant time.

Yep, it's 'one of them things' and 'these things happen' and whatever other phrase fits the bill but that doesn't change the fact that it's seriously eaten in to the time I've got to get other things sorted by & I can't magic more time out of thin air.

I should've been spending the time on other jobs, not this, but it happened & shifted the priority for a while.

Yet but you have time to spend looking for conspiracy theories on quora about google being able to read your encrypted files on the cloud. You need to spend your time leaving the recovery to run for a while in the background, whilst devoting your time to the other things that need sorting..  
Edited see your post below this one

JustAnotherSaver

GDB2222 said:

It’s easy to be wise after the event, but, as others have suggested, I’d have removed the drive from the PC and left it until I had time to deal with it properly. In the meantime, I would have a fully functional PC to do my work on. The data you want to recover would not have become more corrupted if the disc had been put on a shelf for a while. 

Perhaps I misunderstood, but I thought the data on the disc is not stuff you need right away?

I've highlighted the key point.

I guess you're a calm individual. That is an option of course. If I was like you then I could've taken that approach.

However I know ME. When there's such a problem as this, I wouldn't have been able to concentrate on anything else tbh. It's all I would've been thinking about. Can I get the stuff back, yes/no, how much has gone, has the vital stuff gone or the insignificant stuff or both. Questions questions questions.

So the only way I could then crack on with the other jobs was to get this job to a point where I could accept it - which was get back as much as I could in good time.

Then anything beyond that can be done at a later date.

[Deleted User]

16th century English proverb springs to mind:

"Moste tymes he seeth, the more haste the lesse spede."

My late father used to have an intricate model engineering hobby, I'd sometimes go in his workshop and watch and on occasions he'd suddenly burst into expletives and throw something away that he'd been working on for days.

I'd ask him what went wrong and he say "less haste, more speed" and then very calmly start over again.

I didn't quite understand it as a child, but even though I never followed him into the same hobby, the phrase rang true so many times in my computer related profession and hobbies.

I can't even remember the number of times I've bricked a computer, lost an entire hard drive or damaged a component from mishandling and of course the hours and money wasted by doing that, but I live, I learn and I make fewer mistakes now I'm 40 years into my computer hobbies.

Among my sysadmin IT colleagues, when we switch off and have a drink, we share those "oh sheet" moments we've all had, the ones when you press a button or execute a script and suddenly all the blood drains from your head as you realise you've just trashed a major system and you will need the collective skills of the whole IT team to fix your mess. Usually at 4pm on a Friday or month end when the Finance team need to produce their sales figures so every boss in the company knows about your mistake.

But for every single one of the moments, we all come through it as better people.