How did most of my video files get messed up?

[Powder]

So I have tons of video files on my pc, lots of TV shows, movies, football games. I noticed recently that most of the video files on my HD, the audio and video are not on track, or the video seems real slow/choppy. I re-installed Vista recently so I thought that might have something to do with it, buy my OS is installed on a separate partition. I often time burn a lot of this stuff to DVD-R so that I don't run out of HD space. The last time that I did this however, was before I did the OS re-installation. I checked a few of the files that I had burned, and those play just fine. I'm thinking that when I re-installed, it somehow corrupted a lot of these files, but I don't see how since they are on a different partition. Another possibility I am thinking is that I could have a problem with my codecs, but if that were the case, the files that I have burned wouldn't play correctly. I dunno, I'm confused.

[redwudz]

I would either burn one of your problem files to DVD RW or put it on some other media and try playing it on a different computer. The files may be fine, but your computer may have problems.

A easy way to test for codec problems is VLC media player as it uses it's own codecs.

Another possibility is your video drivers are messed up. Though if your older files play back without problems, not so likely.

But if the files really are corrupted, could be a failing hard drive, or maybe or some sort of malware/trojan/virus has crept in there.

Just as a general comment, a separate partition is not anyhow similar to a separate hard drive, IMO. It's just a division of a drive done through software. Things on one part could affect the other part. It is possible, though not common, that when re-installing your OS, it somehow damaged the other partition.

Personally, I rarely use multiple partitions. It's much better to have separate drives instead, if you have the room for them.

And welcome to our forums.

[Powder]

I reinstalled my codecs... all is well.