File errors on portable hard drive

[Guest ruiagnelo]

I have had this WD 500 gb portable hd for quite a long time and in the last months i noticed it sometimes unplugged with no reason at all, which i later came to associate with the use of a very small usb cable (about 25 centimeter long) that would cause this with sudden movements of the computer. only about two weeks ago, after i plug it, a message appeared mentioning errors on some files, and that same message shows now everytime i plug it.

it tells me to either check for errors, which i haven't done yet, because i know it will delete damaged files and i won't take the risk or either proceed with no checking, after which it runs normally.

 

i have more than a half of the full capacity with documents and of course music, that i really don't want to lose, so i am trying to solve this the right way. i know of people who plug their hds and get "need to format" messages, so i guess mine is not that bad.

 

i thought about doing a backup to other disk, then format mine and move the files again, but if the error is in the files, maybe that won't solve it. or maybe i should just do the checking, but i don't know exactly whay is damaged, so i am afraid of doing it.

 

suggestions?

 

 

What exactly are the error messages. They can usually be easily defeated.

 

The first one Ego posted. it's exactly that one.