# win 10 ate my files



## joed (Mar 13, 2005)

An entire folder of my electrical images has just disappeared off my PC. If I search the files some of them show up but if I try to open them all I get is file explorer opening.


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## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

joed said:


> An entire folder of my electrical images has just disappeared off my PC. If I search the files some of them show up but if I try to open them all I get is file explorer opening.


Why would Neal "like" this post?

Never mind.
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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

Have you looked in your Recycle Bin ? You may need to right-mouse-button and Restore, before you can open them.

But that does point out that you do not seem to be making a backup copy. Can buy an external hard drive and copy your entire My Documents perhaps once per week. Then disconnect it. Assume that at any time, you could have a hard drive crash, or get hit by a virus, and lose everything.


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## Drachenfire (Jun 6, 2017)

joed said:


> An entire folder of my electrical images has just disappeared off my PC. If I search the files some of them show up but if I try to open them all I get is file explorer opening.


First the silly question. Did you check the recycle bin on your desktop? If the folder/files are there, all you have to do is click on them and click restore.

If they are not in the recycle bin, let us go to the next step.

In the results of the file search, what sizes are the files and what extensions do they have following the file name (i.e. .pdf, .doc, .docx, .vsd)? 

Can you see what folder(s) they are in?

Issues like this is one of the reasons I urge people to invest in a backup system. 

It does not necessarily need to be a cloud backup subscription. A good 2TB external hard disk drive (HDD) can be purchased for as little as $60. It is cheap insurance for what is sometimes irreplaceable data.

Most come with software to facilitate automatic backups of your data. If the HDD does not have software, you can use the Backup and Recovery utility that comes with the Windows operating system or purchase third party software.

For those with little more money to spend and some tech savvy, you could invest in a NAS (network attached storage). This system is connected via Ethernet and utilizes RAID technology to store data across multiple hard drives. If setup correctly, should one of the HDD fail, it needs only be replaced and backed-up data is rebuilt on it by the system.

It should be understood that an external backup device is not a "set it and forget it" system. Periodically, you should perform a data recovery on some files and folders to ensure data integrity. 

Doing this will reveal any problems or failures in the backup system so they can be addressed before you possibly have a main system failure.


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## tribe_fan (May 18, 2006)

There are programs that will "undelete" files if you haven't overwritten them.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

Win10 has a good restore program, just go to system restore and pick a previous date where the files were still present.

Of course this erases any upgrades that you or the system made in the interim, between then and now. 

But at least you get those files back.


ED


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## joed (Mar 13, 2005)

> First the silly question. Did you check the recycle bin on your desktop? If the folder/files are there, all you have to do is click on them and click restore.
> 
> If they are not in the recycle bin, let us go to the next step.
> 
> ...


They are not in the recycle bin.
Search does not show where they are or open them when clicked.
The files are backed up on another PC so they are not completely lost.



> Win10 has a good restore program, just go to system restore and pick a previous date where the files were still present.


I do not believe windows restore will restore deleted files. It only restores windows to a previous state by bringing back a previous registry. Please correct me if I am wrong.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

joed said:


> I do not believe windows restore will restore deleted files. It only restores windows to a previous state by bringing back a previous registry. Please correct me if I am wrong.


Deleted stuff, is not gone until they are wrote over.

Therefore if those deleted files are still there, but the directory to them is gone, Sys restore will put the directory back in order.


ED


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## Drachenfire (Jun 6, 2017)

joed said:


> Search does not show where they are or open them when clicked.


That is very odd. Normally when searching for a file, there are three columns, filename, location (i.e c:\pictures) and size in bytes.

I am curious as to what exactly you are seeing in your search results.


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## joed (Mar 13, 2005)

> I am curious as to what exactly you are seeing in your search results.


Search would show some of my files. It does not show them today.

When I clicked the file to open it all that would happen is "this PC" page with all the drives etc. listed would open.


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## Drachenfire (Jun 6, 2017)

It sounds like your system has other issues.


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## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

joed said:


> Search would show some of my files. It does not show them today.
> 
> When I clicked the file to open it all that would happen is "this PC" page with all the drives etc. listed would open.


I think Drach's point is the Search window should show the folder location of the file(s) that it found.

What type of files are they: jpg, docs, pdf, etc?
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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

At times like this, I use a handy non invasive tool called Everything Finder. Sometimes things get dropped or otherwise relocated and the Windows search engine is so flaky that it takes forever to find them or perhaps you aren't asking it properly.

At any rate, Everything Finder is so much better at this sort of thing and so much more that you'll wonder why you didn't have it sooner. It's free which is my favorite price. If it can't show you where that folder went, then it's gone from the file table.

Trust me, this isn't some useless junk software that you'll never use, it's going to be your saviour and time saver any number of times. I don't often hype any software but this one deserves it.

Everything Finder


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## HandyAndyInNC (Jun 4, 2018)

I suggest always using a command line for things like this. It is faster and can go much more granular than a windows form. start in the root. the command to search for certain type of file extension is: DIR/S *.jpg If you want to know more about the dir command, simply type the command DIR/?
It is always easier if you tell the OS to always show all directories and files, hidden, system and read-only.


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## user_12345a (Nov 23, 2014)

don't bother with system restore, it only affects system files, installed software and registry.


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## adamz (May 13, 2018)

If Windows is opening the file using an unexpected program, it sounds like another symptom that you're having is a file association issue.

Just curious, what happens when you 'right-click' the file and choose Properties? At the top, under the General Tab, it displays the file association.

You may have a defective section on your hard drive or perhaps a virus or malware on your system.


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## joed (Mar 13, 2005)

The files are now gone from the search so I can't check the location.


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## adamz (May 13, 2018)

Did you try any disk checking utilities or virus scanner?


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## Deja-vue (Mar 24, 2013)

I'd slave the Drive to another computer and run some "un-delete" Programs like Recuva or the like.
Test Disk is another good one.
Important that you do not install these programs on your existing machine, they may overwrite the files you are looking for.:glasses:


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## joed (Mar 13, 2005)

I do not need to recover the files. I have them on another PC. I was just wondering if anyone else had similar issue and if I could expect it again.


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## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

Joed, do you have backups for these files, or is this a "I gotta get these files back or I'm in deep doo-doo" situation?

There are many professional data recovery companies out there that, for a large fee of course, can recover just about anything that is still physically on a disk, no matter if the disc is corrupted or otherwise unusable to the general user.
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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

joed said:


> I do not need to recover the files. I have them on another PC. I was just wondering if anyone else had similar issue and if I could expect it again.


It'd be smart to check the HD for bad sectors. If some are found, remember they cannot be fixed. They can be mapped out and ignored in the future. If so, I wouldn't recommend keeping that drive since it'll likely just keep developing more bad sectors. That choice is yours.

To check:

Start a command session with administrator priveleges and type *chkdsk /F /R* -> press Enter and wait it out for the results. If you have a super large HD... it takes a loooooooooong time! It could be better to get the drive manufacturers software for the job but sometimes that's destructive.


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## stanstr (Feb 19, 2012)

surferdude2 recommended Everything Finder (7-8-2020). It's name is "*Everything*". No 'Finder,' by Voidtools. It's a small easy download and it's free. 

You really should check it out. It sits in the system tray, uses basically no resources and finds any file or folder you want across all storage nearly instantly.


When you get it installed, go to View and have it show the Filters and Preview. 


Find it here, and the FAQ here.


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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

stanstr said:


> surferdude2 recommended Everything Finder (7-8-2020). It's name is "*Everything*". No 'Finder,' by Voidtools. It's a small easy download and it's free.
> 
> You really should check it out. It sits in the system tray, uses basically no resources and finds any file or folder you want across all storage nearly instantly.
> 
> ...


Indeed it's such a handy tool you'll laugh out loud when you see what you've been missing.

If you prefer, you don't have to run it until you need it... it'll index all attached drives pretty quickly when you start it up, so no big long wait. Admittedly, it's faster if you run it continuously but either way works, so choose for yourself.

It creates a .dat file on the root of your drive that you can delete when you finish if you want to reclaim the drive space. It's a great tool and quite sociable!

I called it Everything Finder because Google won't get it for you if you use Everything alone. Everything Search or Everything Find or Finder will get it.

Best regards, SD2


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## CaptTom (Dec 31, 2017)

I'll play with the Everything app, thanks!! So far I'm a little concerned that it remained running after I shut it down, but maybe it was building the index. I prefer it not do that, but I'm glad it's easy to delete, anyway.

FWIW, in my experience doing years of Windows support, "missing" files are usually because someone accidentally clicked while moving the cursor over a folder, which Windows interprets as wanting to drag that folder to another folder. So a tool like this is the exact correct approach. I also share the lack of faith in Windows' own search tools expressed here.


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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

Correction to my previous:

The file it creates is named "everything.db" and not a .dat file as previously stated.

I'm pretty sure it's located on the root of the system drive by default but it's been a long time since I installed it and I may have selected an alternate location. That selectable under Tools > Options > Indexes when running the program.

The database isn't that huge so really not to worry. Deleting it and having it rebuild bothered me so I just leave it alone on the system root. Be aware that it will not delete previously located copies of that file if you choose to select a new location.

You can check its location by typing "everything.db" into the program field and let the program show you where its database file is located... kinda like jujitsu using something against itself. :wink2:


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## CaptTom (Dec 31, 2017)

surferdude2 said:


> Correction to my previous:
> 
> The file it creates is named "everything.db" and not a .dat file as previously stated.
> 
> I'm pretty sure it's located on the root of the system drive by default but it's been a long time since I installed it and I may have selected an alternate location.


By default, mine created everything.db in the same folder the .exe file was running from. I did, however, pick the "portable" install, not the full Windows installer. I find that much cleaner.

Windows 7 and up don't like apps putting things on the root of the drive, so it may be relocated to VirtualStore, depending on how the app is written.


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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

Thanks for the info.... I explored that already and was ready to answer that for you. I started an install-over to see how it set the default... turns out it offers a fill-in field to allow user selection but it's filled in by default with "in the programs folder". :smile:

Mine is on the system drive root so I probably had a hand in that.

I rate the "Everything" software second only to the Spartan clipboard that I've been using for many years, which was free and unlimited but turned out to be so good that I sent the creator the money to register it! You might want to check that one out also.

Spartan Google Search Hits

The true source is M8software.com


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