Need help with data recovery

[wolfmanys]

Hello

One week ago when I rebooted my PC something strange happend.
Before XP loaded there was some kind of control of my files on a certain partition.
I would translate that to inconsistency check. A saw a lot files passing by.
After that I looked in the file explorer and saw that almost all files
where gone on that partition. After rebooting again, all files where back.
I cannot remember if this inconsistency check was made again.
Altogheter I have three HDs. This troubled HD is the oldest.
I thought the HD was having major problem so I bought myself a new HD.
I removed all HDs and installed XP on the newest HD.
The troubled HD is no longer in business.
I inserted one of the other HDs, made backup of data, repartitionate and format.
When I inserted the last one I got problem. This inconsistency control starts running
again. The result is major data loss. I can see some folders that should be on
that partition but they are almost empty. Subfolders and files are gone. 99% is gone.
You havent heard the weirdest part of this. One of the partitions of the HD which I just
formatted now contains the exact contents of the one with the data loss I just described.
To make this clearer:
The new one is primary master and runs fine with both partitions.
The second is secondary master. The first partition is the troubled one with 99% loss.
The second partition works fine.
The third one is secondary slave. The first partition is the "mirror" of the troubled partition
of the second HD. The second partition is empty because of the reformatting.

Im an amateur when it comes to this, and I have no clue why this happens.

I now realize that I should have posted this right after it happend.
But I didn´t. I was convinced that I would solve this by myself.
I ran a check on the partition. Right click on the partition an choosing tools
and then check now. No errors reported. (Is that the same as chkdsk?)
I ran Seagates seatools which gave this very "helpful" report:
The following erros where found while scanning the volume:
* One or more errors where found in the index
* One or more errors where found in metadata file records
* Other errors where found.

I ran Stellar Phoenix v.2.1, which didnt find much.
I ran tools-> search lost files and folders, which found some more data that is not
visible in the file explorer. Still 95% missing.
It did find something that I think is of importance. Some examples:
*NAME* *TYPE* *SIZE*
$LogFile File 67108864
$Volume File 512
$AttrDef File 2560
$Bitmap File 511576
$Boot File 8192
$BadClus File 512
$Secure File 271220
$UpCase File 131072
$MFT File 102016000
$MFTMirr File 4096

Stellar also says that the partition table is OK, whatever that means?


I have also tried Easy Recovery, using the "Raw Recovery", but no success.
Other important(?) info:

* No weird sound from any HD.
* With every reboot comes a blue screen for 0.1 second which of course cannot be read.
* Using NTFS and XPSP2.
* No files has been added/deleted to the damaged partition. Except for the recovery programs?
* The "mirror" partition with the exact content is completely untouched.
* All recovery attempts has been made to healthy partitions.
* All partitions are visible in the file explorer.
* BIOS recognizes all three HDs.

There are of course a lot questions that needs some answers here.
What did I do wrong? The check for inconsistancy started before I even opened my case!
I have another PC here. Can that be of help?
can the "mirror" contain anything of importance?
Virus problem?
How can I prevent this in the future?
But for now, how do I get my data back?

Please....

Edit: I have also tried boot with knoppix with sad result....

[Gizmo]

Are you running a RAID array by any chance? If not, it sounds like the MFT keeps corrupting, which would require a repair install or better still, a complete formatting of a new filing system and then reinstall the OS again.

[wolfmanys]

Thank you, Gizmo

Sorry if I was unclear. There is no OS running om the troubled partition.
Never has. I just want my data back.

Any ideas, please....

[Gizmo]

When you're in Windows Explorer, go to the menu bar and click Tools>Folder Options... then a dialogue box with tabs will appear. Click on the View tab and check the "Show hidden files and folders" option. Sometimes Windows returns to default user settings and hides things.

I had a machine that belonged to an organization that was taken charge of by a friend of mine, XP started a Harddrive consistency check, which is basically the same as running chkdsk. It checks for any OS errors, such as filing system, files, MFT, partition table and general OS errors. It does not check the physical status of the harddrive, just OS health and status.