corrupted files on my external...how do i fix them?

[Toho]

is there anyway to fix them? i have no idea how they got corrupted, one day they were fine and the next my PC is like "HERP DURP THEY ARE CORRUPT".

please help...this is a 1 terrabyte of external we are talking about, and no its not all files but some of them i frequently use.

[Fuzzykins]

There's really now way to fix a corrupted file short of an uninstall and reinstall or repair tool.

[Toho]

alright well that sucks...how the hell did it happen anyway? it was working just fine two days ago and i didnt do anything to it...what gives?

[Fuzzykins]

Power could have gone off, mechanical arm could have messed up, a virus, damage to the disk it's self, any number of things.

[vesseblah]

You need to take a backup of everything on the disc asap in case it's breaking apart. Often when HDDs fail completely there are warning signs such as few corrupted files here and there.

After backup format it and run scandisc in most thorough mode few times before copying the data back there.

[Serissa]

http://www.memtest.org/

go there, DL, burn, test

had similar problem 2-3 years ago - half dead DIMM was problem