[Carbon]

Open a command prompt by typing cmd into the start bar box, then "copy C:\location of folder with videos in it\*.avi C:\destination folder" should work.

[Paul4763]

I'm assuming the * is the individual file name? That could take hours, days even, but I'll see how it goes and get back to you.

Other than that, I know it's a Vista problem, so what steps can I take to make sure this won't happen again because something similar like this happened before to the point where the external HDD just became useless and I lost about 300GB worth of data and felt sick to my stomach and now I have 800GB so losing that, I just don't think I could handle it.

Is there any software or anything or any recovery programs of any sort that I can use to get the data off it?

[Paul4763]

I'm made some headway. Basically, when I go in a folder with no avi files, it's fine, works perfectly. When I plug it into a Mac it takes a minute or so to load all the thumbnails, but it works fine and tarnsfers fine.

Whenever I go into a folder with lots if avi's then the green bar at the top just keeps loading and it takes forever and I can't transfer.

Then I accessed this one folder with only one avi and it started loading and the external HDD light was blinking and I thought here we go again. But after a minute or so it was fine. So my guess is that a program of some form, or Vista is trying to access loads of information for whatever reason which is why it won't load when I open up the folder with 500GB worth of avi's on.

So, does this ring any bells? What can I do to stop it accessing these avi's so much?

Thanks, apologies for the double post

[Carbon]

How large are the files individually?

[Paul4763]

About 700MB+, some over a gig.

After further work, I can access files via the Start Menu. I'm using Vista but use Classic Menu style, so when you hover over Programs, for example a side list of programs pops up, ie. not in a window, I hover over My Computer--->External HDD--->AVI files, and it may take a few secodns to load but they're all there. If I try to play a file using this method then that is fine too, but if I try to transfer a file about halfway through it comes up with a "Cannot read from source file or disk".

Again, any clue?

[Carbon]

Yeah, I'm stumped. This would only make sense if they were uncompressed, and 700MB is too small for that. Have you run a chkdsk lately?

[Paul4763]

Ok, new thing. When I plugged it into the USB slot I always plug it into. It came up with this




Could that have anything to do with it?

How do I do a chkdsk?

[philthomas]

Have you installed SP1/2 for Vista ?

[Paul4763]

I have indeed

[philthomas]

To run chkdsk .... go to Computer, Right click the drive and select Properties, click on the Tools tab. Click on Check Now and tick up both boxes.