Windows 7 Windows Explorer Is Showing File Folders As Files

James Thompson · Jan 12, 2015

I have an external Hard Drive (WD My Book). I've been storing music on it and other data.

Last week my computer which is running Windows 7 stopped recognizing it. I received a bunch of weird errors from asking if I wanted to format the drive to the drive just disconnecting from the computer after 10 minutes of use.

Eventually, I was able to get the drive to re-connect, but when I went to my music folders, they are no longer showing as file folders, but as "FILE" only as the type.

Other areas of the drive are okay.

I've ran a CHKDSK and a Error Check and neither have corrected the issue.

Please tell me this is not going to be a $1000 data recovery job. I had about 100 hours of music/audio.

Let me know what if anything can be done by me to attempt to recover this.

Mychal · Jan 12, 2015

I am sure you reseated the data cable at both ends. This sort of thing seems to happen when there are loose connections during data transfer. I would consider investing in data recovery software prior to going the $1K route. One more thing, have you tried disconnecting the drive, rebooting then reconnecting giving windows a chance to refresh the hardware list. Also, you could uninstall the WD SES hardware driver and then reinstall it. Let us know.

Mychal · Jan 12, 2015

I am sure you reseated the data cable at both ends. This sort of thing seems to happen when there are loose connections during data transfer. I would consider investing in data recovery software prior to going the $1K route. One more thing, have you tried disconnecting the drive, rebooting then reconnecting giving windows a chance to refresh the hardware list. Also, you could uninstall the WD SES hardware driver and then reinstall it. Let us know.

Trouble · Jan 12, 2015

When you ran Check Disk from an elevated command prompt, did you include the /R switch?
chkdsk E: /R
It looks like there is a problem with the volume bitmap which may be correctable.

James Thompson said:
I received a bunch of weird errors from asking if I wanted to format the drive to the drive just disconnecting from the computer after 10 minutes of use.

That is not a good thing. Do you have any means to backup what is currently on there now?

James Thompson said:
Eventually, I was able to get the drive to re-connect

Does the drive seem to have settled down now and is working consistently and reliably?
Have you tried attaching it to another computer? Just to confirm that it is not a local issue with the computer hardware or software.

James Thompson · Jan 14, 2015

Mychal said:
I am sure you reseated the data cable at both ends. This sort of thing seems to happen when there are loose connections during data transfer. I would consider investing in data recovery software prior to going the $1K route. One more thing, have you tried disconnecting the drive, rebooting then reconnecting giving windows a chance to refresh the hardware list. Also, you could uninstall the WD SES hardware driver and then reinstall it. Let us know.

Yes, I have done all that except f or the data recovery software. That will be my next approach if nothing works...

James Thompson · Jan 14, 2015

Trouble said:
When you ran Check Disk from an elevated command prompt, did you include the /R switch?
chkdsk E: /R
It looks like there is a problem with the volume bitmap which may be correctable.

That is not a good thing. Do you have any means to backup what is currently on there now?

Does the drive seem to have settled down now and is working consistently and reliably?
Have you tried attaching it to another computer? Just to confirm that it is not a local issue with the computer hardware or software.

I THOUGHT that the /R swithc was going to work, but I ran it and it change anything.

I attached it to a second computer and the same issue. So it is not a local problem.

James Thompson · Jan 15, 2015

Trouble said:
When you ran Check Disk from an elevated command prompt, did you include the /R switch?
chkdsk E: /R
It looks like there is a problem with the volume bitmap which may be correctable.

That is not a good thing. Do you have any means to backup what is currently on there now?

Does the drive seem to have settled down now and is working consistently and reliably?
Have you tried attaching it to another computer? Just to confirm that it is not a local issue with the computer hardware or software.

This is what I got after I ran the CMD with the /R swtich. It says there are no issues :-(

I wonder IF i move these "Files" to another hard drive and then try to run it if it will correct it?

Trouble · Jan 15, 2015

The 160 KB in bad sectors is not encouraging.

James Thompson said:
I wonder IF i move these "Files" to another hard drive and then try to run it if it will correct it?

I would certainly try if for no other reason, than to have them backed up somewhere else but.......
Maybe rather than "move" perhaps copy them instead.

Windows 7 Windows Explorer Is Showing File Folders As Files

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