Recent Files Going Missing

[DigitalSympathies]

Hey there.

I just bought a new WD Elements 2.5 TB external harddrive to split up the load from my other three harddrives (two internal, one external). I transferred some files over, but when I went to go look today, some of my folders wouldn't display until I refreshed the window, and some of my folders contain nothing where when I transferred it, there were raw sims 2 movie files that I absolutely cannot afford to lose. I'm very ahead in a project I'm working on and just catching up editing, so not having these movie files there is a very big problem.

I use TeraCopy on Windows 7 Home Premium on a meticulously maintained and MyDefragged desktop. I have Avira (free version) installed. Three days ago we had a power outage lasting three hours (ten at night until exactly midnight) where my computer didn't shut off until about half a minute after the lights went dim and then out - and then it tried to reboot but I shut it off in case there was a surge even though we own a surge protector for all of our devices. I don't have a backup battery that I know of, but our power supply is supposedly supposed to give enough juice for half a minute after a power outage to save and close what you're doing. Also . . . today, for the first time since the outage, when it booted up it was veeeeeery slow and it wouldn't connect to the internet, so I had to reboot and finally about 10 minutes later I was able to get everything going and it sped up from there. Avira went nuts about my music files (from iTunes) being riddled with Trojans for some reason, even though previous scans said that they were A-OK, and the game with the (approximately 1800) movie files missing took a lot longer to load.

I have no clue whatsoever as to why this is happening - I've tried a restart but I'm just despairing that I've lost weeks of work on a deadline that's two days away. :blink:

[ellacharmed]

You bought another external?
I would have thought with the recent issues you have on an external, you'd go internal if you needed to add more drives. USB data transfers are so slow! Compared to SATA. I don't get how you could stand it.

At the time of the power outage, were those folders in use by any applications?
If your machine needs longer than what the backup power is able to supply, perhaps you should have gone for one that is able to withstand the longer time? Didn't you do a dry run?

Use a LiveCD and boot from that to scan for viruses. Better still if you can burn and slipstream an Antivirus with the latest virus database on a different PC confirmed to be virus- and issue-free. Also use a few different Antivirus, not just one. Plus a separate one with Malware/Spyware specific engine like MBAM, or Spybot.

Have you reset the router/modem? Power off and on?

[DigitalSympathies]

I would've bought an internal but it was such a steal of a deal that I couldn't pass it up. And last time we opened up the computer, we put the case back on . . . and it kind of jammed in place. T_T The transfer rate is actually REALLY fast, I'm so surprised - between my internal drives is slower, and I timed it.

I was using the game that the files went missing from, yes, to make a set. It was on my C: drive at the time, though, and I transferred it to my K: (Potassium, as I named it) drive the next morning, to clear up space. And again with the power supply, I didn't even know about the backup battery until I looked it up. So I couldn't have known. Power outages are so rare in my corner of the globe that I had little concern for it at the time of purchase.

I have reset both the router and modem, and I'm going to do exactly what you said now. My diagnostics guy that I work with says that it's likely the files were torched because I did have Sony Vegas open at the time with those files imported, so they were technically in use - my Vegas project file went totally missing as well now that I looked.

[ellacharmed]

How much did you get it for? I always value performance over price. And for a techie, I find it weird that you got a piece of hardware because "it is a steal". I would be wondering why it's so cheap. :p

That's a USB2.0 interface. You're limited to the USB2.0 specs vs a SATA3Gb/s specs, as most internal HDDs would be using, unless you have a mobo with Sata6Gb/s and a HDD port interface build to that spec.
I'll just leave these here.
- http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=668863
- http://archive.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=110144&cat_id=899
- http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/video-editing-performance-ssd-hdd,3089.html

Are your older internal drives having old 16MB cache and 5400RPM, versus current generations' 64MB and 7200RPM? And copying+pasting speeds/throughput is going to be different from rendering videos to an external HDD. WD never stated which of their drives they are using in their enclosures, so I wouldn't dare to presume to compare speeds of USB2.0 external drives to SataII internal drives - as the comparison would be skewed.

My take is to invest in a small capacity SSD for your scratch disk, and connect that via the Sata6Gb/s port with a Sata6Gb/s cable for all your encoding/transcoding tasks.

So you did purchase the backup power supply? But you have no idea on how it would perform when required? Like I asked before, no dry run? Then the piece of equipment hardly deserve being blamed, methinks. The rarity of the power outages to justify the purchase is irrelevant. You bought it, you test it. Else why bother buying it?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, for doing the tasks on this PC that you perform, I find your choices weird, on top of all the opinions and stuff you've written. But then again, I'm not paper-certified nor professionally-trained, this is just a hobby - so what do I know?

Can I ask : if you're paper-certified and professionally-trained, how come you need a tech guy? Is his certification higher and his training longer? :)
You know I'm taking the piss, right?

[DigitalSympathies]

Sorry for all the confusion! I tend to explain things quite poorly from my experience. I think that's why I'm not up at the front desk.

Around here, harddrives are about the price of a used, crappy small car - and I'm hard up for cash at the mo. I'd hit up my dad, but he's flown out to London for a conference. I looked at the specs of the drive in question online before I went to go get it at a chain store (the supplier that delivers to our shop takes about a week, costs a bit more, and I was *desperately* in need of some extra space), asked around a bit on a couple forums I frequent, and everyone said it was a good drive and that I'd have to be insane not to get it for that low a price. I'm not one to question my sources (aka, a private forum of overclockers my boyfriend is part of). Only when they aren't 100% sure of what they're saying.

My older internals have the old caches, yes, and I don't intend to replace them anytime soon - again, can't afford it, and the case is jimmied (the other side I can't get off for the life of me either, I might ask a few people to have a go at it - I'm weak). A decent-sized SSD (I'm needing 2.5 - 3 TB) here costs WAY too much for me to get without some serious begging and pleading, but I will look into that.

For the power supply, I didn't go out to buy it (my boyfriend did, gah, this explanation is getting confusing) but I did ask for him to go get one I found online that had a reputable amount of reviews across a lot of sites (I checked about 10, I think). I installed it a long time ago and didn't think about it until my sales guy asked to see it and asked me to look up if it had its own backup battery. It had a 30-second backup battery and I didn't think about it again until that power outage that took place. I don't know what you mean by "Dry Run" (is that slang? I'm no good with slang) but if you mean testing it out, then no, I didn't test out the backup battery because nobody told me I had it until I had to look it up. By "we don't have a backup battery," I meant that we don't have one that we bought just to serve that function, which is what we usually mean. Terminology gets somewhat skewed between different circles of people, I guess.

I get these odd looks a lot on forums for asking these sorts of things, but I'm not really that fazed - better safe than melted, as the sales guy says. I deal with hardware and OS installations - nothing too technical, just putting in new sound and graphics cards as well as power supplies, reinstalling OS's and replacing RAM on occasion. I don't really go too deep into what everything is for. Not my department. In the words of very many arrested people . . . I know nothing! :P I work with a few other people (aka, I have the sales guy, the recovery guy, the . . . uh, the guy that does something - I really can't recall what he does except eat our food, the server guy, the diagnostics guy and me. I'm mainly in charge of keeping the shop in order and as I said before, putting the stuff in. I'd ask the guy who does diagnostics but he isn't in again until Sunday and it's too early to call him.

I should have a badge that says, "Don't ask me, I just work here." xD

EDIT: I actually got a call from the diagnostics guy regarding a computer that was to be dropped off so I asked him to come in and he said he'd come and take a closer look. :) Before he just guessed from what I told him from across the room, now he'll get to look for himself. I do, however, have an important question for you. He said that since this computer (which is my baby that I would never fully replace, it's been through a lot with me since the first days of Vista) is the only 32-bit one we have in the entire shop, he wants to upgrade it to Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit. (We'd go for ultimate, but again it's a bit on the pricey side for a computer that isn't really even used for work.) I know how the upgrades work as I perform them almost daily on other computers, but I've never dealt with this sort of thing before.

So, my question is . . . if I back up all of my files (which I know I won't have an issue with if I use a loaner drive he's bringing, plus I know that hard drives aren't OS-dependent), including some files from Program files that I can't reinstall because the discs are in Australia in a box in my friend's attic, will I be able to transfer these back and use them? As in, game backups, my Freetime/SP files, a few misc. programs and Sony Vegas? I know my computer was actually made to do 64-bit but we opted for 32 at the time because I was eleven and . . . not too bright. I know I have to wipe the drive, but will putting these back cause problems? I'm not asking why he wants to do this except that he "feels sorry for me" and "my RAM amount is . . . um, new topic." :lol:

[ellacharmed]

That still did not tell me the price. I wanted to see if there were similarly priced internal HDD with bigger or better specs.
If you're not fussed about warranties, you could just take the disk out of its enclosure and use it internally.

Good lord! There's no 2TB SSD!
I said a small capacity SSD as a scratch disk! You don't know the terminology or its function either? I guess you'd be able to find out...how can you work with videos and not know this?

The excuses of who bought it, or "I didn't choose it" or "power outages is not common here" simply does not fly in my book. You want to use it as it's function dictates, than you test it!
Yes, dry run means to test, because you cannot possibly conjure up lightning or a thunderstorm to produce the power outage, right? So just shut the power to the mains that goes into the house/shop/whatever and see how long it last, and what happens to the PC when it shuts off before it completes it shut down cycle. So that if the time taken is not as long as it needs to be, then logic states to sell off that item and get a different model. If you had tested it earlier, I mean. But hindsight and all...
This also applies to backup and sync drives on scheduled tasks. Test it! Don't find out after the fact when disaster already strikes to realize the drives are not backed up properly or one critical folder is missing.
You bought a backup power supply, but it is not to serve the function to provide backup battery in case of power outage? Then what is its function?
Isn't that what the main function of an uninterruptible power supply is? Or you just used it as a surge protector?

Being humble is good. There's still unbound knowledge out there that both of us knows nothing about, right?
But when someone goes around saying "listen to me, I know stuff! and I'm always right! so your opinion doesn't matter to me" strikes me as all kinds of arrogant and condescending. Especially if their next post make me go "WTH!" on the technical front. Yes, I'm old and the arrogant young needs to be put in their place, so I hope you don't see me as putting you down or anything. And this paragraph in itself sounds condescending, doesn't it? ;) I read all this stuff 'cos I like reading about them. And I post here 'cos I like sharing that knowledge especially if it helps others. But I don't go around spouting things without substantiation. If I want to prove a point, I always back it up with links to sources. OK, enough of that, back to the issue.

On hindsight, I think that last paragraph should go into private PM, but I think it would benefit not just you, but all the young up-and coming tech-minded Simmers who reads this. Well, I hope it does, 'cos I've come across my phrases in other forums, and I feel all sort of flattered and tingly.

On the Win7 version: just Premium is sufficient. Ultimate is mainly for those who develop MS programs and stuff or have a fully network server-type setup for business or if you think you'd be using 192GB RAM. Didn't you check what their differences are?
- http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/14422-compare-windows-7-editions.html
- http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-7-editions-explained-simple-terms/

I've tried all sorts of backup, cloner and file-copy programs but still like the simple Xcopy or a copy+paste job if the files are manageable (I do it in batches).
A cloner program needs the partitions (size and/or system-based GPT/NTFS/HFS) and File-System to be identical (NTFS vs FAT32), to work well. The partition-copy is still a hit and go, depending if the HDDs are of different size or make/model.
But if your tech guy knows what he's doing, he would have a backup-restore procedure he sticks too anyway.

[DigitalSympathies]

Warranties fear me, let's just say that. I'll get my guy to break it open today. About the SSD, that was a joke (see how I fail at explaining things?) I know full well that I can't just go and rob NASA.

I have a main power supply, not a backup power supply. I said that.

I don't intend to be arrogant at all (did I really sound like that? o.o sorry), I just have trouble explaining stuff to people and I come off as a bit irritated because there's that . . . almost a language barrier. I understand what you say but the wording throws me off, and vice versa. I'm just an exhausted, overworked person with a lot of capacity to learn, who really just . . . wants to learn for future reference. I don't have a great memory and I don't trust Google unless it's for product reviews as they're unbiased AFAIK. I can't provide links to some things such as my sources (it's a private forum) but I'm not one to explain any more or less than what I know at the present point.

I did check the differences when it first came out, but what I need compared to what I don't need falls within Home Premium range - not much. Ultimate just seemed like overkill for somebody who does little more than shoot Portals and edit machinima on this thing - I don't know many people who use it. I don't use many Microsoft tools (I'm a gamer, I have separate computers with better setups for my job, I just use this one for personal stuff and occasional mild work-related stuff) so I don't need much to get far with it. To be honest I never really used Windows full-time at home until this computer - before I had ME (I know, it's sad) but primarily used Ubuntu (and before that Windows NT and a Mac) - I'm used to using small resources to get big results. :)

Thanks for the advice though on the copying. Him and Mr. Recovery Guy are about to pop in any minute. We had a discussion very quickly via a three-way call and RG agreed that maybe it's just time to get a new setup going - something that I won't have an issue with for a VERY long time. DG also said (to my great relief) that he'll probably manage to get the files back with a program he uses. Again, I don't question the methods, I just do my part and provide a basement to work out of.

[ellacharmed]

Searching is not limited to Google. The beauty of the Internet is you're not forced to click any link you don't want. If you don't trust the sponsored or the top-most results, don't click it and go to the 3rd page or whatever. But it's really ranked by relevance. But to discard a tool just because you don't trust the company is another manner of idiocy IMO. Just go use Bing or Yahoo or other indie search engines you want. There are so many.
And providing sources is not limited to your private forum. There're public forums, too. Like this one. ;) You should really venture out of your niche and comfort zone.

Yep, you sounded arrogant and come across like a privileged SOB. I mean with your dad "off to London" and you hang out on "private forums" that don't invite the riff-raff. But yet, you come to a public forum to seek help from us. Sorry, I just had to dig it in, don't I? :) That information is just not relevant to the issue of your disappearing files. Just like my next paragraph is irrelevant.
And please! Overworked? Try working full-time (with additional teleconferences and conducting online-training after my local full 8-10hour-days because we have a global team), preparing for said teleconferences/training after office hours, going to school part-time, having kids and family (and a cat), and still hang out and contribute on MTS, Wiki, other Sims forums (though I don't participate, just reading). Time to broaden your horizons, grasshopper.
(Oh, if interested, I have more time now 'cos I ditched that pesky, time-wasting, full-time work activity; so more MTS-time now, and more cat-time...I'm on what some may call an 'alternative income plan').

I'd be interested to learn how it went and what your tech guy did...I've always like closure and hearing about happy endings.

[DigitalSympathies]

I'm sorry, but I think you're really abusing your authority here - I've never had anybody treat me like this on any site I've been to and I don't think it's very courteous at all - I've been nothing if not civil to you. Calling me an SOB and more? Really now, is that mature at all? I don't have to tell you anything about how it went because you're being very judgemental of who I am. Privileged? Yes, you could call me that, and I can't do anything one way or another to deny that. Everything else? No, if you knew me you'd know that none of what you said is true about me. Learn when to keep your opinions to yourself, please, and I shouldn't have to tell you that seeing as you *are* a mod and being professional about helping others is one of the qualifiers. You can do some real damage by saying these things and I really, honestly don't appreciate you passing judgement on something that should've been kept strictly professional. I never asked for my methods to be swiss-cheesed and quite honestly, I don't have to tell you shit about how I work. I took the computer to a friend after my guy screwed it up, and it runs perfectly now. I don't care if you love me or hate me, but honestly that's neither here nor there if you choose to answer my questions.

[VerDeTerre]

I'd back you up on that assessment, D.S. I didn't understand half of what was said, but I did understand the insults for the most part. I'm a little foggy about the "piss" one, but I think I get the gist.

[ellacharmed]

Ah, some teeth!
I was really impressed you remained polite after all my sporkings, I guessed it's because I'm staff.

And I did keep my opinions to myself. You only learned about my feelings in here, right? And only after I snapped in post#6 after reading that excuse "it wasn't me who bought it, so I didn't test it, I just used it". After each subsequent excuse made me facepalm more. I never posted on all the other threads that turned into flame wars after one of your little factoids and anecdotes. The ones that had staff stepped in to stop the bickering. I'm not saying the other parties are right either, but don't you wonder how all the flaming started, what kicked it off?

I've already explained why I'm doing this publicly instead of in private PMs. You're not the only one with this attitude.
I could do more damage by letting the next generation think "they're all that". I do realize this is not the platform for this sort of thing (I could probably start a blog, but I don't think anyone cares about my take on things), so if MTS members think I've stepped over the line, I apologize. For "snapping" publicly and behaving in a manner not befitting staff. I'm OK to get my licks from the Admins. I'm no good with innuendos, more a straight shooter, which is why I suppose my innuendos don't work.

I'll leave this open if you want to respond, but I don't mind if you don't. I'll just lock/archive this when I next come on the site.

[HystearicalParoxysm]

... the fuck is going on here?

Locking before this turns into an even bigger stupid kerfuffle than it appears it already is. Criminy.