Contents of folder missing

[dyeman]

Hi all
I have a drive running Win XP, I had an issue with shortcuts and folders on my desktop getting duplicated three times over. I removed the duplicates but there were some files I was working with prior to this issue were now missing. I tried to do a restore but had no luck recovering missing files. I had a thumb drive with backup copies of these flles so it was not a huge issue. Now for the real issue. I have a folder on my desktop called "HOME" with a lot of files and folders that I access often. Today I tried to access some of the files and found all the folders within this folder marked "Home" appear empty. I don't recall if I accessed any of these files after the duplicates issue or not. If I show properties of the "HOME" folder there seems to be 146 mb's within it. So I don't know if these files are there or not. Is there a way to recover this folders contents if they are missing?

Thanks
ds

 

[DelJo63]

check the visibility and then properties on the folder name

 

[LookinAround]

You might also try exploring your disk using ExplorerXP as it has several advantages
> It ignores Windows "hidden" file properties so you always see hidden files
> It ignores Windows "ownership" properties so you always see folders and files regardless of ownership
> It shows you folder sizes ( a BIG advantage over Windows Explorer which doesn't display folder size unless you look at Properties)

Note: it counts file/folder sizes in real-time so expect it to take a short while as you watch sizes appear and get updated. Also, clicking Size column lets you easily sort things by size (including your folders) so you can easily "drill down" to see where space is being taken

 

[dyeman]

missing files

The only desktop folder I am having problems with is the one called HOME. So the 98 folders within HOME are still visible but using ExplorerXP I can see that they are all empty. There were a few misc files loose within home that were still there but everything else is gone. Not quite sure how that can happen.....folders still there but files gone. Any chance I can recover missing files?

Thanks
ds

 

[LookinAround]

I've never used it, but you might try Recuva.

It's from same people who provide CCleaner (for removing junk files) which is great so i'd try Recuva for your case. Hope it might help!!

 

[dyeman]

Well recuva found about 15 of the hundreds of files that disappeared from my folder, nothing that I was really hoping to recover. So I am trying "Recover My FIles" although I think it will find stuff but then you have to pay for the product before you can recover what it finds. Not sure if the program tells you the likelyhood of its ability to recover what it finds, but recuva did. Thanks for the suggestions.

ds

 

[gbhall]

Could be worth trying chkdsk /r you will be told to reboot to run this. When it restarts, it will do a thorough disk check, which - beware - can take a very long time.