No backup and ... tragedy

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frans van Zelm
  • Start date Start date
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Frans van Zelm

Hi there,

This is what happened to a friend of mine (no kidding, not to me).

A music cd 'exploded' in the drive.
The system halted.
On reboot (several times):
- all her files were gone
- all programs asked for installation disk (but start if message ignored)
- desktop icons were gone
but
- her husbands (other account) files are still there

Question 1:
What happened?
The cd broke, okay. But what happened to the files, desktop icons, ...?

Question 2:
Is there salvation?
As mentioned in the subject: she has no (recent) backup.
I found a folder Found.004 with files numbered from 0000 to 9999, some
containing fragments of her files.

Kind regards, Frans
 
Frans said:
Hi there,

This is what happened to a friend of mine (no kidding, not to me).

A music cd 'exploded' in the drive.
The system halted.
On reboot (several times):
- all her files were gone
- all programs asked for installation disk (but start if message
ignored)
- desktop icons were gone
but
- her husbands (other account) files are still there

Question 1:
What happened?
The cd broke, okay. But what happened to the files, desktop icons,
...?

Question 2:
Is there salvation?
As mentioned in the subject: she has no (recent) backup.
I found a folder Found.004 with files numbered from 0000 to 9999, some
containing fragments of her files.

Kind regards, Frans
Click to expand...

Normally, CDs do not "explode". Only if it was spun faster than a normal
(properly functioning) CD player could OR if the CD itself was already
fractured. It would not (in the latter case) cause trouble with the hard
drive.

However - the fact you found the "found.xxx" files tells me there was hard
drive failure of some sort - possibly a power surge that caused both issues?
The bad drive is likely going south fast - backup files you can and get a
diagnostic application from the web page of the manufacturer of the hard
disk drive and test it.
 
You could try tapping the F8 key on start-up,select."Start in last good
known configuration".Or replace the cdrom,open xp,press,Ctrl_Alt_Delete
at the same time,this opens task mgr,select,new task,type:cmd Install xp cd,
exit the info page,then type:Sfc /Scannow When its thru,type:CHKDSK C: /F
Agree to restart,then type:EXIT Restart computer,remove xp cd.
 
Frans said:
Hi there,

This is what happened to a friend of mine (no kidding, not to me).

A music cd 'exploded' in the drive.
Click to expand...
What do you mean "a music CD"? A prerecorded CD from the music store,
or some pirate CD that somebody else made and which may or may not have
had viruses on it?

If it was a legitimate music store CD, then I see no way that could have
damaged anything. More likely the computer died and in the process
somehow killed the CD too. Even if the CD physically "exploded", which
seems unlikely, I can't see how that would damage anything more than the
CD drive itself. Perhaps someone else here will have other experience.

Regardless of the proximate cause of the problem, it sounds to me like
she's screwed. She may be able to recover individual data files, but
it's going to take a lot of detective work and effort. I hope her
husband's files are now backed up?

Good luck...

Bill
 
Hi Andrew,

I will try "<F8>, Start last good configuration" for sure. Thanks for the
hint.

Can you explain a bit on your other suggestion? What will it do?

Frans
 
Hi Shenan,

Indeed, cd's normally do not explode. But this one already gave trouble in
the hifi-cd player and she wanted to try it in the computer. It must have
been defect.

What amazes me is that most info in her 'Documents and settings' folder
seems
to have gone. Her husbands 'Documents and settings' folder seems healthy.

Could it be that 'all files in use' were 'shredded' at the moment that the
cd
player was damaged?

Frans
 
Hi Bill

It was a legitimate music store CD. But this one already gave trouble in
the hifi-cd player and she wanted to try it in the computer. It must have
been defect.

And I will warn her dear husband at a suitable moment. For now, they try
to get over the loss.

Frans
 
Hi there,

This is what happened to a friend of mine (no kidding, not to me).

A music cd 'exploded' in the drive.
Click to expand...

That's really hard to believe, but I'll let it stand.
The system halted.
Click to expand...

The CD had nothing to do with the Halt.
On reboot (several times):
- all her files were gone
- all programs asked for installation disk (but start if message ignored)
- desktop icons were gone
but
- her husbands (other account) files are still there
Click to expand...

If only one users files are missing/corrupt, and the other users programs
still work, including the programs they shared, then you've got a ghost in
the machine.

Even if her profile were trashed, the shared applications, had they been
deleted/corrupted, would not work for the other user.
Question 1:
What happened?
The cd broke, okay. But what happened to the files, desktop icons, ...?
Click to expand...

Hard to say, the CD breaking has nothing to do with the fault - it can't
physically hurt the hard drive, and removal of a CD in the middle of
playing, even forcing the drive open, won't damage files on the hard drive.
Question 2:
Is there salvation?
As mentioned in the subject: she has no (recent) backup.
I found a folder Found.004 with files numbered from 0000 to 9999, some
containing fragments of her files.
Click to expand...

Found.004 indicates that there were three prior instances where problems
occurred with the drive/system. If the file fragments are numbered 0-9999
then there was a serious corruption of the drive, and it would not just
impact her files, it would be system wide.

At this point you have two problems:

1) You need to replace the CD-Rom drive, if it spun a disk fast enough to
frag it, then it needs replaced. If it damaged a disk in some other means,
enough to frag it, then it still needs replaced.

2) Your drive is filled with found files because CHKDSK is detecting a
data problem, either crashed apps with opened files or bad drive media -
replace the hard drive and start over.

While there are indications that we don't have the full story here, the
corrupt user profile and users files, without touching the other users
files is very suspicious. It's almost like it was done on purpose.
 
A few years ago, a friend of mine had a 50x (that's was a laugh in itself -
it still read data off at only a fraction of that speed), cd-rom drive that
several times ejected the drawer with cd spinning at full speed. After a
literally just missed him, he carefully removed the drive from his system
box, took it outside and put it down in hisdriveway, and gave it one
almighty smack with a sledge hammer.

One would perhaps be wrong to assume that the hardware and firmware in all
cd/dvd drives would be designed so that this sort of fault could never
occur.

(Hello Dave - if you're in here and spot this post - remember that drive LOL
!) :-)

regards, Richard
 
Leythos said:
That's really hard to believe, but I'll let it stand.
Click to expand...

PC User magazine in Australia has discussed the exploding/shattering of
CDs. I've done a very quick search of their web site (painfully slow
site on dialup) and it's definitely known in Oz.
http://www.pcuser.com.au/pcuser/hs2.nsf/web/1F0C6F74807F6711CA256E84001FA630

The magazine article was quite some time ago but I'm sure part of the
concern was that someone had been struck or nearly struck in the eye by
a flying piece.
 
the problems are unrelated. it's just coincidental.
if the cdrom drive reads other cd's, it's fine and
doesn't need to be replaced. the cd was flawed.

What i'd do about the missing files, etc., is pull the hard drive and
install it in another computer as a slave, and run a good anti-virus program
on it, also adaware and spybot.
you can try the undelete funtion, too.

if you don't have access to a spare computer, you can go on line and do a
real time scan of your system. try here:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Also, there are programs for retreiveing lost files, but the more the system
was used after the file was lost, the less likely it is you will be able to
get it all.
 
Shenan said:
Normally, CDs do not "explode". Only if it was spun faster than a
normal (properly functioning) CD player could OR if the CD itself was
already fractured. It would not (in the latter case) cause trouble
with the hard drive.

However - the fact you found the "found.xxx" files tells me there was
hard drive failure of some sort - possibly a power surge that caused
both issues? The bad drive is likely going south fast - backup files
you can and get a diagnostic application from the web page of the
manufacturer of the hard disk drive and test it.
Click to expand...


Actually, cd's can and sometimes do " explode". While rare, they can do so,
rendering damage to the drive they are in.

Cd's are made from a plastic called polycarbonate - some may be familiar
with the term Lexan. Some even relate Lexan to being an " unbreakable"
material, which is a mistatement. Polycarbonate can shatter, typically
caused when a stress crack is introduced. Stress cracks can come from hard
blow, from a cleaning chemical, being exposed to the sun, etc...
 
Frans van Zelm said:
Hi there,

This is what happened to a friend of mine (no kidding, not to me).

A music cd 'exploded' in the drive.
The system halted.
On reboot (several times):
- all her files were gone
Click to expand...

It's a long shot but...

If the broken CD jammed the CD drive motor or caused lots of vibration then
it might just be possible for it to have damaged the hard drive.

If it jammed the motor then it might have caused excess current to be draw
from the power supply and dipped the supply rails. That might have caused a
crash and/or HD corruption. Excess vibration from the out of ballance CD
might have caused a head crash on the HD.

Make sure you get all the little bits of the CD out of the drive or it may
jam up something at a later date.
 
Interesting tale. My son & I were playing a game that although did not
"explode" did freeze/lock the drive and had to perform a system restore. Now
my hard drive is full from the restore. Any ideas on how to get rid of files
that were probably "doubled" in the copying process?
 
System Restore cannot "fill up" your hard drive, but if it could, then
undoing the System Restore should correct this.
 
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