Help- serious error causes loss of all photos!

[lindys]

Just wondering if anyone can help me decide what the problem is my my laptop...

Last night I decided to back up my photos to DVD. They are only stored on my external hard drive (and an online backup facility). I put the DVD in, went to copy the photos folder from E to the DVD- and it was completely EMPTY! I also had Photoshop open at the same time and it always gives me grief in that it takes forever to do anything.

I got an error message about the system being low on virtual memory (is this an issue with not enough RAM?).

And I also got "Windows- Delayed Write Failed. Windows was unable to save all the data for the file E:\$Mft. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. PLease try to save this file elsewhere."

So I am not sure if the (brand new) external hard drive failed, or if the DVD I put in to do the backup had problems, or what.

I'll probably take it to some sort of techy computer fix it person next week, but just wondered if anyone could shed some light?

Oh and I have over 8000 RAW files to download now, great. Bigpond already slowed me last month when I uploaded them as I used all of my allowance. And they have already slowed me again now- only 8% of my photos are back after 12 hours being connected. I have changed my plan so hopefully midnight tonight it will pick up speed

What a scary experience!

[kermi]

Have you tried a system restore Lindy?

[KristyMum]

oh poo... I have no idea in that dept Lindy, just hoping and finger-crossin' that you get everything back to where it should be...

[Nenearen]

Did you copy the files or move the files?

If you copied the files, it sounds like the system didn't have enough ram to perform the copy and something crashed along the way and the temp files were lost. Your originals should be safe and sound on your external drive.

without any programs open and no dvd in the drive and after a computer reset, can you see the files on the external hard drive?

If not, then make sure you do not save anything else to that external HD. The files can be recovered still but the process is a bit more trickier and best done by someone who knows what they are doing.

[lindys]

Thanks guys. I don't want to restore or anything at this stage as the recovery from the online backup will be interrupted. Once it is done though, I will get onto checking those things out- thanks for your help.

Nenearen- I was using photoshop and I always have problems with that, so yeah I think RAM is a problem too.

Thanks again
Lindy

[Admin]

Virtual memory is the amount of space on your hard drive set aside to store temporary files used to run your applications - it's not RAM. Delayed write failure is generally a hardware issue with the drive, if it's removable then it can be a USB communication issue, otherwise a drive issue, try doing a full scan and defrag on the removable drive. System restore will do little to help you as it only restores your operating system, not any files accidentally removed.

[lindys]

Ah thankyou Jo Was hoping you might see this! Defrag E drive will be done when my photos are back. What sort of scan?

[Admin]

Just do a full disk scan, if you have xp just right click on the drive and select tools, then check disk and make sure you check both of the available options.

[KristyMum]

hope it went ok Lindy

[lindys]

still in recovery mode- 30% of photos restored so far...getting there thanks K!

[KristyMum]

YAY for progress!
Makes you feel a little ill huh...
all those pics
Hoping for a full-pic-recovery

[lindys]

All recovered...AND I have discovered the problem...my DVD drive!! I just went to (again) back up my photos to some new blank DVD's and continually got the blue screen of death. When I stopped trying to use the drive- no more probs. So I'll have to have that looked at too when I take it in to get some more hard drive (and maybe RAM) added. I have everything backed up to the external hard drive and the online backup service so should be OK to finally format my memory card and start taking more photos now :-)