Portable HDD keeps corrupting? popup “format this drive to use it etc”

Question

I've got a ADATA Superior SH93 (500GB) for a while now. Formatted as NTFS. And within the first week two times the drive got corrupted (asks me to format it to be able to use it, although it was already formatted WITH files on).

Then it hasn't happened for a couple of months and it just happened again. What could be causing this? I'm using windows 7.

Also what can I use to scan the hard drive for existing files? since the drive havnt been used and impossible to use it without formatting it, all the bytes are still there but need to be peiced together.

What can I do to prevent this in the future? rather than throwing it against the wall and using memory stick with far less memory which seems to survive no matter what i do to it. Whilst the 'military grade' hdd fails when it hasn't even been moved.

Thanks in advance :)

Answer 1

I've seen this happen when you improperly remove the USB storage device - meaning you don't opt to "Eject" the media and wait for the all-clear from Windows to remove it first. Corruption is a distinct possibility.

A good article is available at How-To-Geek on properly ejecting your drive.

Answer 2

While there are quite a few reasons data could be getting corrupt, here is my theory:

• If the likelihood of data corruption is in direct relation to the amount you use it to transfer data (i.e. it's reads files fine, and then you save a movie (1GB) to it on Monday, it acts up on Tuesday)

• If you only use it on one system or if you always use Safely Remove Hardware in the OS before you remove the drive

Then I believe that the SATA/USB interface controller inside your drive is corrupting your data and you should do an RMA with ADATA.

You stated that the drive became corrupted when you first got it; I assume during this time you transferred a good bit of data to it. Then, the other day, you transferred a good bit of data to it and noticed it was corrupt again. If this is the case, it reinforces my theory.

Recover Data

I've used Active@ products in the past and they've been pretty good. You'd want Partition Recovery or one of the suites. I think you can run the demo to see if it will recover your files before you buy it.