Unhide system files:

File Explorer -> View tab -> Options -> Change Folder & Search Options -> View tab -> uncheck Hide Protected Operating System Files -> Click Yes to warning -> Click OK.

You should be able to see those files in File Explorer now.
The Found files are created by chkdsk from errors it has repaired.

More info:
https://www.howtogeek.com/282798/what-are-the-found000-folder-and-file0000chk-file-in-windows/
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-recover-chk-files-created-by-chkdsk-and-scandisk/

 

Hi,

Thanks for your message and information. I just did that and was able to view those files and delete most of them but the folder "Found.003" which contains four FILE0000.CHK with size 0 KB for all of them. Each time I try to delete it I get the error code 0x80070570 the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.

 

Each time I unplugged and plug again the external drive I get the message "we found errors on the drive - click to scan and repair" and that's what I do and after I get the message that it was successful but a new "Found folder" appear on the drive. I'm able to delete the previous folder but not the new one. I clicked on "Diskcleanup" and saw "directxshadercache 0 Bytes" and "recycle bin 0 Bytes" and checked both of them and clicked on "do you want to permanently deletes these files" but nothing happened.

 

I was able to remove the Found folder with DiskGenius. I unplugged the external drive and plugged it back and still got the message "we found errors on...." I didn't click on scan and repair and it seems the drive is functionning correctly so I'm not sure what to do... I even check the health status on CrystalDisk and the health status is good.

 

Backup anything of importance on the drive first.

Check S.M.A.R.T data for warnings on the drive using Crystal Disk Info.
If 'Reallocated Sector Count' or 'Current Pending Sector Count' are greater than zero, that is a sign that the drive is in the process of failing. Start thinking about replacing the drive.

Who is the manufacturer of drive? Many manufacturers have dedicated disk tools for checking/repairing their own drives. Seatools for Seagate and WD Drive Utilities for Western Digital, for example.

You can try to locate/recover bad sectors. First determine drive letter of this external drive.
Then open command prompt as admin (search for cmd, right click on Command Prompt app in results, select Run as administrator). Type:

chkdsk <drive letter>: /R

This can take several hours depending on the size of the drive.

Need to know format of the drive, so go to File Explorer, click This PC in left pane, right click on the drive in the right pane, select Properties, File System will say NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT, most likely.

If the drive is formatted as NTFS, you could instead try:

chkdsk <drive letter>: /B

That will locate bad sectors and also re-evaluate previously marked bad sectors (and will also take forever).

If the disk is formatted as FAT/FAT32/exFAT, and you don't care about these recovered files, you can try:

chkdsk <drive letter>: /F /freeorphanedchains

That will free the orphaned cluster chains but not recover any data from them It will not work with an NTFS formatted drive.

If you are being continually asked to scan the drive, this command might help:

chkdsk <drive letter>: /markclean

Works only on FAT/FAT32/exFAT. Removes the dirty bit that indicates whether the drive needs scanning or not.

 

Backup anything of importance on the drive first.

Check S.M.A.R.T data for warnings on the drive using Crystal Disk Info.
If 'Reallocated Sector Count' or 'Current Pending Sector Count' are greater than zero, that is a sign that the drive is in the process of failing. Start thinking about replacing the drive.

Who is the manufacturer of drive? Many manufacturers have dedicated disk tools for checking/repairing their own drives. Seatools for Seagate and WD Drive Utilities for Western Digital, for example.

You can try to locate/recover bad sectors. First determine drive letter of this external drive.
Then open command prompt as admin (search for cmd, right click on Command Prompt app in results, select Run as administrator). Type:

chkdsk <drive letter>: /R

This can take several hours depending on the size of the drive.

Need to know format of the drive, so go to File Explorer, click This PC in left pane, right click on the drive in the right pane, select Properties, File System will say NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT, most likely.

If the drive is formatted as NTFS, you could instead try:

chkdsk <drive letter>: /B

That will locate bad sectors and also re-evaluate previously marked bad sectors (and will also take forever).

If the disk is formatted as FAT/FAT32/exFAT, and you don't care about these recovered files, you can try:

chkdsk <drive letter>: /F /freeorphanedchains

That will free the orphaned cluster chains but not recover any data from them It will not work with an NTFS formatted drive.

If you are being continually asked to scan the drive, this command might help:

chkdsk <drive letter>: /markclean

Works only on FAT/FAT32/exFAT. Removes the dirty bit that indicates whether the drive needs scanning or not.

Hi,

My external drive is a Seagate 2TB and I will have a look at the disk tools I can find on the manufacturer site. Here's underneath the results after the repair scan with chkdsk :

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19044.1415]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>chkdsk D:/r
The type of the file system is exFAT.
Volume Serial Number is A457-238D
Windows is verifying files and folders...
Volume label is Seagate Por.
Windows is verifying file allocations...
100 percent completed...

I also ran the command with "freeorphanedchains" last evening and now I don't get anymore the pop up message "we found errors...." when I plug the drive.

 

This drive is a new one but I transferred a lot of information on it and there was a power outage the other day. This is the information I can read on CrystalDisk :
"Reallocated sectors count" : current 100 worse 100 Threshold 36 Raw value 00000000000
Same numbers for "current pending sectors count" except for Threshold "0"

I will run the scan with Chkdsk: /R tomorrow, I won't have time today but I will get back to you after I'm done.

Thanks again,

Serge

 

It doesn't matter what any test might show. If you care about the files, they should be backed up, preferably in multiple places.