Re: Disk Defrag Changes File System and Files Disappear

From: travel489 (anonymous_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 04/14/04 

Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:00:40 -0700

I have several of these Maxtor external hard drives and
formatted each in NTFS when first starting to use them.

In Disk Management, they always showed File System as NTFS
and everything else looked fine....Healthy, Active, etc.
I could see the disk size, available space, etc.

One disk had used 225 GB of 233 GB available. It was
running a little slow and all of a sudden did not appear
in Disk Management or in Windows Explorer / My Computer
listing. Eventually, it re-appeared withe the correct
Drive letter, but Windows Explorer did not display the
disk size or available / unused space.

When I checked 'Properties' for the drive, I noticed that
the File System had changed from NTFS to RAW. I had not
done anything to re-format, etc. It occurred all by
itself.

I then tried the defrag analyzer tool while in Disk
Management and defragged another / different 250 GB drive
without incident...it just took a lot of time.

Feeling brave, I went to another drive [120 GB] and
started the defrag process. After just a couple of
minutes, the process stopped and the drive disappeared
from any listing.

Eventually, I was able to have it display and, again, saw
that the file system had changed from NTFS to RAW.

I am now trying to use OnTrack data recovery software to
see how much I might be able to save. It appears that
most / all of the files are still there.

If there were some way to reset the file system to NTFS
from RAW OR if there is some way to use the files in the
RAW mode, that would be great. However, I am afriad that
I cannot re-set the File System without formatting and
losing all data forever.

I don't understand how you can not have a file system on
an external hard drive....I thought that was a requirement?

If you can shed some light on that issue, please do so.

Thanks for listening, hopes this helps clarify the
situation.

JRW
>-----Original Message-----
> That's one on me.. I have an external USB drive, NTFS
with no OS on it, of
>course. Assume you have none either, (just other
files?).. It would seem,
>although i am not a 'tech', that if the word 'raw' is
shown, that this is a
>new partition that has not been formatted(?) or activated
(that ) partition?
> i defrag my USB external with no problem... I am very
interested in a
>knowledgeable persons opinion on your problem..
>"JRW" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message
>news:1795401c4219b$d490e690$a001280a@phx.gbl...
>> I have a Maxtor external hard drive using the NTFS file
>> system. The disk contains mainly video and photo files.
>>
>> I used the Disk Defrag option under disk management.
>> Analysis of the disk recommended defragging.
>>
>> After beginning the process, the process stopped in a
few
>> minutes and all of hte files disappeared.
>>
>> In Windows Explorer, the drive appears; however, it does
>> not show any disk space used or available.
>>
>> In the Disk Management summary, it shows 100% of disk
>> available. However, the file system changed from NTFS
to
>> RAW.
>>
>> Any ideas as to what's going on to cause this and
whether
>> or not the files are recoverable?
>>
>> I performed a similar defrag on another drive...same
make
>> and model and file types. It took about 3 hours, but
>> without incident.
>>
>> I have a third similar drive where this opccurred, but
not
>> with the defrag operation....in that case, it just
>> happened and I am now trying to recover the files
>> commercially. Any suggestions on home software that
might
>> work would also be appreciated.
>
>
>.
>

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