Finding only "Lost Files" folder

[Orangetang]

I'm trying to recover the data from my WD Passport, that when connected to a computer shows up as not being formatted. I ran a scan earlier but had to stop it, and started a new one last night. The first scan found O/S files and all sorts of stuff within an hour which was good. I just didn't have the time for it to complete scanning. This time it only found a folder named Lost Files, and all of the files inside of it are named recovered_text_1.txt or recovered_pdf_2.txt for example. Is there a setting I changed by mistake? I'm using the complete format recovery. I let it run all the way through (9 hours) and then it reset the progress meter and began to analyse. After an hour or so of that I just stopped the search. Thank you.

[GDH]

Hi,

Shutdown everything and then restart and try again.

Run the search and follow these instructions and let us know how it goes.

How to recover a formatted hard drive

[Orangetang]

I restarted, and using the programs default settings was able to find all the files once again. It seems as though changing the file types to be searched for effected the type of search, or perhaps I had unknowingly changed another setting. Anyway, I'm on hour 8.5 of transferring the readable files to another external HDD, I'm hoping it'll go faster once the drive is formatted and I need to put them back on the WD.

Thanks for the tip!

[GDH]

Hi,

It seems strange that it is taking so long.

Make sure you go out to the drive where the files are being saved and test one or two to make sure they are all ok and open without any problems.

It almost sounds like the USB connection may be turning off?

[Orangetang]

I was going to upload a screenshot of the resource monitor but the allowed resolutions here wouldn't really make it usefull. The graph displaying disk usage is up and down in a consistent wave from 0 to 15-17MB/s, as if it IS switching on and off for some reason. Laptop is plugged in and in "high performance" mode. I can only think that the drive is damaged or shared USB performance on this laptop behaves like an old half-duplex network hub?!

Like I said write speed is peaking at around 15MB a second. USB 2.0 should be at least 50MB/sec and sustainable, right?

[Orangetang]

Answering your question, yes the files are being copied intact. I have checked many audio, video and graphic files, all have been perfect.

Here is a screenshot

[GDH]

mmm- its hard to say why it is going so slow - you are right, you should get much better speed out of a USB2.

However, if they files being saved are ok - then it is probably best to keep on going this way.