Files missing form HDD but folders intact!

[aztecman]

My media files suddenly disappeared from my external HDD but the folder are intact!

Anyone have a solution?

TIA

[Clique]

Try opening a command prompt and typing:

attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:\*.*

where g is the letter of the external drive - this will take make any hidden file on the drive visible, and also remove any read-only tags. You can modify the file path so it only applies to a particular folder.

I had a similar thing caused by malicious software. When inserting a USB drive, all files on that drive would "disappear" and were replaced by shortcuts. Opening the shortcut still played the file, but there were a couple of extra .vbs files on the drive too. Had to use some extra software to remove the bug and then used the above to make the files unhidden.

[aztecman]

That does show the hidden files in the drive but unfortunately does not show the missing files. Thanks.

[megabyteme]

It may be as simple as restarting your computer and having Windows properly install the driver for the external drive. Sometimes the connection gets mumbled. If your problem goes deeper, you may want to look into running a live distribution of Linux off a thumb drive and rescuing your lost files onto that thumb. I had to do that once, and having a live distro on a USB can be handy. Ultimately, I kept the thumb set up in case it happens again.

On the positive side, since your problem is on an external drive, you might just make sure you safely eject your drive and try plugging it into another Windows machine. If it had been on your Windows drive itself, your problem could have been MUCH bigger since Windows likes to write new file info on unmarked space...

[teflon05]

I have a (really) old 120 GB Seagate external, connected to my desktop, with nothing but MP3 on it. A few weeks ago I was looking for a particular album & found that every folder on the drive was empty. ( And that's a shitload of folders.)
Needless to say, I was not happy...It would have taken me weeks to track down & re-download everything on that drive, & I probably wouldn't have been able to find all of it.
Anyway, before I went off on a major download tangent, I decided to disconnect the drive, restart the desktop, & reconnect it...& everything was back to normal. I still don't know exactly what caused it in the first place, but I'm glad it worked. It also made my mind up to go pick up a few BD 50's & back the whole drive up. Like I said, it's an old drive (damn near 10 years) & I don't fully trust it anymore.

[aztecman]

I have something like 10 folders with sub-folders.

However the missing files happened only in one folder. The sub-folders are still there. The rest of the folders are normal.

I tried all the suggestions but to no avail. I guess I'll have to re-download the files. They are only current TV shows so there should be no problem finding them.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

[megabyteme]

I have something like 10 folders with sub-folders.

However the missing files happened only in one folder. The sub-folders are still there. The rest of the folders are normal.

I tried all the suggestions but to no avail. I guess I'll have to re-download the files. They are only current TV shows so there should be no problem finding them.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Any chance you could have accidentally drug one folder into another? When you look at the "properties" info, does it indicate a size that would coincide with everything still being there?

[aztecman]

No I've checked. Couldn't have accidentally dragged. Like I said. The sub-folders are there but the files in them are gone.

[megabyteme]

Apparently these are easy-to-replace files, so no reason to make more work than necessary. However, it is quite unlikely the files are physically removed from the drive. Their names have been lost in Windows. Linux live distros run off a USB thumb should be able to find them. There are also some "undelete" type programs that should have almost as good a chance in recovering them, if you are interested in data recovery as an exercise. Never know when important files could go missing the same way...

Worth practicing in a no-big-deal-if-lost scenario. FAR more stressful to do when it is you only copy of a thesis/irreplaceable photos/etc.

[BigJon]

Hirens boot cd and get data back should do the trick for you matey.

[aztecman]

Apparently these are easy-to-replace files, so no reason to make more work than necessary.

Yes you are right. They're easy to replace. Just need to find out what happened and a solution if such should happen in future but touch wood.

I am gonna try Hiren to see whether it will work but I have already added files to the same HDD and may have render the lost files unrecoverable.

[caretaker2k2]

Try getting properties of the folder to see the size of it. this should let you know if they are still there and you cant see them or if they are gone forever

[teflon05]

Yes, I would definitely check folder size...Also, did you try enabling "show hidden files & folders" to make sure the folder contents hadn't become hidden somehow?

EDIT: Nevermind, I see on the other page that you already tried that :wacko:

[megabyteme]

Yes you are right. They're easy to replace. Just need to find out what happened and a solution if such should happen in future but touch wood.

I am gonna try Hiren to see whether it will work but I have already added files to the same HDD and may have render the lost files unrecoverable.

The new files will overwrite available space on your drive. If you are close to capacity, there will be fewer undamaged [old] files; larger free space will reduce the loss. I still encourage you to play with it as a lab experience. No harm on this project, so go in with experimentation in mind.*

IMPORTANT NOTE (again): Every time W$ starts, it writes files on your Windows partition- this can overwrite your old, important data. Even a damaged block (part of your file) can make it irrecoverable. Again, the safest way to recover files from a Windows system (even one where Windows will not start) is via a live distro of Linux on a USB thumb drive (apparently, Hiren's fits this description). Bios loads, USB is enabled, then Linux runs. After that, you simply look on your old HDD for the files you need to transfer to the thumb drive.


*Did I just try to entice you into the ghey secks? :fear::sneaky: