[newbe]

Hi there. Over the weekend my external 500gb Western Digital Desktop Elements drive started spontaneously altering thousands of files by itself. Sub-folders and files have disappeared - and other folders and files have mysteriously appeared with...

Hi there.
Over the weekend my external 500gb Western Digital Desktop Elements drive started spontaneously altering thousands of files by itself.
Sub-folders and files have disappeared - and other folders and files have mysteriously appeared with nonsense characters for names and stupidly large file sizes. For example, one of my MP3 folders which had 10 tracks of about 5mb each has been replaced with about 40 folders and files with names such as "^!*(%(^*$3^£)&$", several gb in size. Instead of being about 50mb, the folder is now 177gb!

I have tried it on another PC and run the diagnostic software from the Western Digital site. No errors were reported after scanning it for about 11 hours, but the problems continued. More files and folders have disappeared and reappeared as gobbledygook.

I'm using Windows XP service pack 3
Motherboard: Abit AI7
CPU: Intel 3ghz P4
Ram: 1,5 gb

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.