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My external HDD became problematic. I wanted to get rid of some unused data, and found two folders were not accessible under Windows because they were corrupted and unreadable. These folders had no problem opening under OS X and Linux. I could read all the content also via GetDataBack for NTFS. chkdsk was getting stuck always at the same point, step 2, 'Correcting errors in index $I30 for the file n°'. What is strange about this is that once the program gets to this point, the HDD stops its activity, its LED stops blinking at first then completely turns off. I also left it running overnight but already knew what the result would be..
HDD Regenerator had no effect on the drive. I also run ntfsfix under Linux but it obviously did not help. So I copied what I needed onto my main drive and deleted the two folders under Linux.
Now I am here because the HDD seems fine, HD Tune returns a completely green grid under 'Error Scan' and a pile of 'ok' under 'Healt', but chkdsk keeps getting stuck at the same exact point, and in read-only mode (no parameters) a few of the files that I deleted under Linux are being mentioned, saying something like
'The entry tot. in the index $I30 of the file n° is not correct.',
plus some
'Error in the index $I30 of the file n°.'.
What I want to do is defrag it, but I'm afraid it can get much worse :/
Could this be a hardware problem? Should I worry for my data? As of now, I don't have an other place to backup my files, so I can't format the drive.
Thank you for the help :D

--EDIT

After deleting the folders from the drive, I copied one of them back in the same subdirectory with the same name, although it was much more light weight after 'cleaning' it. The files mentioned by chkdsk are permanently deleted :/

No one have suggestions? I continue searching but find no similar situation! Should I just go on with the defrag - the drive has some high fragmentation rate - and forget about the error or is it a serious issue for my data?
I'm afraid that using the drive, some data can be overwritten because of bad indexes.
Will reformatting the drive help?
Thank you :D

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Now I am here because the HDD seems fine, HD Tune returns a completely green grid under 'Error Scan' and a pile of 'ok' under 'Health'

This is good, it means that most likely there are no hardware problems.

Should I worry for my data?

Yes, file system corruption is not good for your data. But you already mentioned working with GetDataBack to read the files so you should be able to extract them.

Do not attempt a defrag on a failing NTFS partition.

As of now, I don't have an other place to backup my files, so I can't format the drive.

I suggest you do not gamble with your data. Get another drive, copy all the files and then you can experiment on the old one.

Will a reformatting the drive help?

Yes, you need to format it.

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  • grazie :) I managed to free enough space on the drive so I could make a new partition, copy all the data there and then format the old one, but neither Disk Management on Windows or GParted on Ubuntu will allow me to partition the drive due to errors :/ I think I'll just stand by this drive for a while and go for a new one when possible... Thank you anyway :D
    – itsmeciao
    Commented Jun 7, 2016 at 12:22
  • @OmarElHajj when I was talking about formatting I meant wiping the entire drive, which you will do after getting a new one (ASAP). If the answer helped you, consider upvoting it and you might also consider accepting it.
    – Andrea Lazzarotto
    Commented Jun 7, 2016 at 12:25

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