Help - folders missing from drive

Amanda65

Hi all

I would like to pick your computer brains if I can.

We run a small local network at home connecting our desktop PC and laptops to each other. Last night I saved a document to one one the shared folders and went to access it this morning - and the folder has gone.

It's not showing in the recycle bin and not in quarantine and doesn't appear to be on either of the drives. My OH plugged in a USB external hard drive last night to access some information, which is the only thing out of the norm that we have done. He has checked the external hard drive and it has not transferred to there. He has scan searched all the drives and it cannot be seen. Other folders on the network are still and available.

It was a very large folder so had it tried to be accidentally deleted I assume we would have been asked to confirm this was what we wanted to do.

Any ideas please ?

Amanda

johnmc

How big is the file?

What sort of file is it?

How did you save it?

Can you see it in your "recent documents" on the start menu?

victor2

Maybe you've inadvertently dragged the folder onto another one, hence moving it. Easily done, very quick and no warning!
Go to the parent folder/drive where the missing one should be and search it for the folder or a file you know to be in it.

Amanda65

It's a very large folder with numerous saved files inside it. OH has done a search at root level and it's not not showing so presumably would have showed if dragged somewhere else. Size would probably have made it too large for recycling bin so if someone had accidentally tried to delete it I think it would have asked if we really wanted to - and there was no message

victor2

Maybe it's been renamed. Does searching the drive for a file you know to be in the folder find anything?

bob_a_builder

It's a very large folder with numerous saved files inside it. OH has done a search at root level and it's not not showing so presumably would have showed if dragged somewhere else.

NO- If it was accidentally dragged into another folder, it would only show inside that folder

victor2

bob_a_builder wrote: »

NO- If it was accidentally dragged into another folder, it would only show inside that folder

Assuming you're including sub-folders in the search, then searching from the root should see any matching file wherever it is on that drive. Depends on the version of Windows how you ensure it is doing that, but it is generally selected on by default.

bob_a_builder

yes - sorry missed the word Search even though I highlighted it
Ignore my previous

Amanda65

victor2 wrote: »

Maybe it's been renamed. Does searching the drive for a file you know to be in the folder find anything?

Searching for a file says the path isn't available. OH ran 'recuva' last night and it has recovered stuff but out of hundreds of photos only a few are visible and all the Word files cannot be read as they come up as symbols. OH saying he now wonders if it is a virus although not picked up on our Norton software

victor2

Amanda65 wrote: »

Searching for a file says the path isn't available.

Not sure what you mean there, but possibly the folder has somehow got renamed to something that Windows can't recognise?

Has recuva found the deleted folder, or just some files you think were in it? They might just be older versions of the same files.

A virus sounds unlikely if all that's happened is you've lost a folder. However, you could download and create the Avira Recovery CD (on another computer) and boot the sick computer with that to see if anything got past Norton.

I'd be looking into that error message in more detail myself.

prowla

My first thought was whether it had been mistakenly moved into another folder (I've done that myself!).

Alternatively it might have been set to hidden.

Of course, if you Shift-Delete a folder then it doesn't go in the recycler. Also, if something is too large for the recycler then it will ask if you want to delete it permanently.