USB File Deletion Question

[UndercoverNinja12 176]

So, recently I ran into some computer issues beyond my knowledge, and I had to take my computer to the shop. Today I got my computer back, with a new hard drive, but I can't find my SC4 files on my USB. I'm 99.9% certain that I backed up my SC4 files onto a USB (I have no external hard drives). The only thing I can think of is that they were deleted by my computer when it ran a "check USB for errors" kinda thing, but I know I didn't select the "fix bad sectors" box. Just check. Could the files have been deleted that way?

 

Sorry, I know this isn't an SC4 game question, but this was the best thread I could find for my issue. Thanks in advance to anyone who answers!

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

Did you check all your USB chips, or do you only have one?

[Prophet42 1,503]

If there are bad sectors on your USB drive, then the files are probably unreadable.  You can try to fix the sectors and see if the files become readable again.  If not, you may be out of luck.

[UndercoverNinja12 176]

I have 3 USBs, but I only use one currently. I did check all 3 last night and I didn't find the files. Like I said, I'm 99.9% sure I backed up the files, and onto my main USB.

 

If there are bad sectors (which there very well could be), would it just not show those files, as if they were never on the USB in the first place?

 

Edit: Upon checking, I believe I did check the box to fix errors. Sadly. So, that means that my SC4 files were fixed and deleted, or something like that?

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

Wish I could help, but I have very limited experience with thumb drives.  I have a 1TB and a 0.3TB external hard drives.  Where to save something is never a problem.

[Prophet42 1,503]

I have 3 USBs, but I only use one currently. I did check all 3 last night and I didn't find the files. Like I said, I'm 99.9% sure I backed up the files, and onto my main USB.

 

If there are bad sectors (which there very well could be), would it just not show those files, as if they were never on the USB in the first place?

 

Edit: Upon checking, I believe I did check the box to fix errors. Sadly. So, that means that my SC4 files were fixed and deleted, or something like that?

Depending on the issue, fixing bad sectors does not necessarily delete the data on those sectors.  If you have any disk utilities that can recover deleted files (Like Norton Utilities program) you can try to use that to see if the files are still there and are recoverable.

 

Good luck.  Hope it works out well

[Cyclone Boom 17,032]

Like Prophet42 suggested, it might be worth trying a file recovery tool. One which I use is Recuva (free), which can attempt to recover deletions from USB drives, as well as hard disks. Basically, it works by searching a drive for sectors which are yet to be overwritten with new data. If the data is still readable, it can usually be safely restored.

 

If you wish to give this a go, I suggest a quick read through the help documentation. This gives an overview of the options and the best way to go about it. For example, there's a mode which takes longer to perform the scan, but may find deeper results.

[UndercoverNinja12 176]

Good news (I think). I found a version of my plugins folder that was pretty close to up to date with my last playtime, I think. I've recovered that plugins folder, but I think I'll still use one of those data recovery tools that were mentioned, and if I'm lucky I'll be able to find my exact SC4 backup with regions and whatnot. Otherwise, I think I can make do with what I have, but I'll probably start a new region to avoid any conflicts since it's not an entirely up-to-date version of my plugins folder.

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

A word to the burned.  Set up an automatic backup for your system.  If you can, make a new partition on your HDD for an incremental backup that runs at least weekly.  I have one that updates a partition on one of my external drives.

[platinumranger 18]

And remember to always use the remove USB or eject routine from explorer. I've lost files and spiked a few thumb drives in the past from being in a hurry. Also beware of cats!!! Certain key combos from a cat walking on your keyboard can cause you to loose stuff too. That's from experience.

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

A good point.  File systems are often in a write-behind situation and haven't actually written things out unless you do a software dismount of the device.  For Linux users, the command to flush buffers is sync.

[UndercoverNinja12 176]

Well, I ran SC4 and I guess I'm missing some dependencies, because I got brown boxes a bunch. I think I'll just go through one-by-one with the buildings & mods I use the most and redownload their dependencies, but sadly this is going to be a long process. I'm still not entirely sure why I lost the backup files in the first place, but one day I will certainly get an external hard drive, especially after what happened with my USB. The things are just so fragile & finicky sometimes, that an external hard drive seems like a much better option for a backup. Alas, today I take the first steps towards rebuilding my plugins folder! Wish me luck, and thanks for all the technical help!

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

Well, good luck lad.  A 1 TB free-standing drive is about $150 U.S. but if you don't need one that big, you might find a smaller one.  Take it very carefully when formatting it.  I put five partitions on mine.