File Folders corrupted

Help please! I just transferred like 14 GB of data on a USB stick, since
I had to restore my computer to factory settings. Now when I reinsert my
USB drive, first, a popup says to scan and fix the disk. Regardless of
whether I do or do not scan it, when I open the USB drive (view files),
some of the file folders are corrupted.

My file folders like My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, that I've put
on there, each have like 2 - 6 GB of data. But instead of showing up as
a file folder, there's an icon that looks like a white page, and it's
being recognized as a "file". The file type is just "file", and I don't
think there's an extensition. the file size for all these folders are
now only 32KB. Which is rediculous, because if I go into the properties
for my USB stick, it stays that it has used up 14 GB, which is the
correct size.

I feel like if I could only let the computer know that these are not
"file"'s , but file FOLDERS, I may be able to recover my data.

There are file folders on my USB drive that are not corrupted. But
those don't contain much data, and are not as important.

Please help me! My life's worth of data is on this USB stick!

Thanks so much!


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ligerd
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Try the stick on another PC
Memory sticks are not infallible devices, they can & do fail at any time
You should not rely on a single media for important backups
If the data is important to you be prepared to spend much wonka at a
professional recovery company, usually on a no recovery no fee basis
Do NOT fiddle with the stick if you plan on going down this route.

"ligerd" <ligerd.3thx3a@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
news:ligerd.3thx3a@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> Help please! I just transferred like 14 GB of data on a USB stick, since
> I had to restore my computer to factory settings. Now when I reinsert my
> USB drive, first, a popup says to scan and fix the disk. Regardless of
> whether I do or do not scan it, when I open the USB drive (view files),
> some of the file folders are corrupted.
>
> My file folders like My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, that I've put
> on there, each have like 2 - 6 GB of data. But instead of showing up as
> a file folder, there's an icon that looks like a white page, and it's
> being recognized as a "file". The file type is just "file", and I don't
> think there's an extensition. the file size for all these folders are
> now only 32KB. Which is rediculous, because if I go into the properties
> for my USB stick, it stays that it has used up 14 GB, which is the
> correct size.
>
> I feel like if I could only let the computer know that these are not
> "file"'s , but file FOLDERS, I may be able to recover my data.
>
> There are file folders on my USB drive that are not corrupted. But
> those don't contain much data, and are not as important.
>
> Please help me! My life's worth of data is on this USB stick!
>
> Thanks so much!
>
>
> --
> ligerd
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ligerd's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/104352.htm
> View this thread:
> http://forums.techarena.in/vista-fil...nt/1194158.htm
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>

USB sticks can be analysed and (possibly) repaired like any other storage
media. Google on disk data recovery or similar and you will find that there
are many utilities and services available, including ones that will look at
the device and tell you what's recoverable before you pay money to get the
version that will do the recovery. Or you can use a service where you ship
the device to them and they work on it in their labs.

It is very important that you do not write any new data to that USB stick
while it is in the current damaged state.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"ligerd" <ligerd.3thx3a@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
news:ligerd.3thx3a@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> Help please! I just transferred like 14 GB of data on a USB stick, since
> I had to restore my computer to factory settings. Now when I reinsert my
> USB drive, first, a popup says to scan and fix the disk. Regardless of
> whether I do or do not scan it, when I open the USB drive (view files),
> some of the file folders are corrupted.
>
> My file folders like My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, that I've put
> on there, each have like 2 - 6 GB of data. But instead of showing up as
> a file folder, there's an icon that looks like a white page, and it's
> being recognized as a "file". The file type is just "file", and I don't
> think there's an extensition. the file size for all these folders are
> now only 32KB. Which is rediculous, because if I go into the properties
> for my USB stick, it stays that it has used up 14 GB, which is the
> correct size.
>
> I feel like if I could only let the computer know that these are not
> "file"'s , but file FOLDERS, I may be able to recover my data.
>
> There are file folders on my USB drive that are not corrupted. But
> those don't contain much data, and are not as important.
>
> Please help me! My life's worth of data is on this USB stick!
>
> Thanks so much!
>
>
> --
> ligerd
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ligerd's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/104352.htm
> View this thread:
> http://forums.techarena.in/vista-fil...nt/1194158.htm
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>

This same situation just happened to me, completely out of the blue. I
was working on a file from my USB stick, and then when I tried to open
another file on the USB, I got a message saying something about how the
file could not be found, which I thought was so odd because I could see
it sitting right there in the file folder.

Thinking it just needed to reset itself, I closed everything, safely
removed the USB, and then reinserted it, and then I got the same message
to scan and fix the USB disk, which I complied with, and now, like the
original poster, a few of my file folders (the newest ones I created)
have become white page icons that read as "file".

If anyone knows what's going on here, I'm really curious to know. Is it
a virus? Did I improperly insert/remove my USB? Is this my computer, or
just the USB stick (i.e. will this happen to all usb sticks I now insert
...I'm kinda scared to insert another one and find out).

Thanks to anyone who can give some clarity on this very strange
occurrance.


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notechwiz
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