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File Folder disappearing/deleted in Windows 7

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phantomfreak
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File Folder disappearing/deleted in Windows 7

Post by phantomfreak »

I need some help. Got on my computer this afternoon and was going to do some flight sim stuff, when I went to open the folder that I normally keep all my flight sim programs stored I got this error message saying the folder was inaccessible. OK, so I reboot my computer to see if that would fix my issue. However when it started back up and got to the windows log in screen, my mouse was frozen, so I rebooted again. This time I go the black screen with the option start windows normally. Did that thinking that was ok. Then I get another message saying checking E: drive (the drive I keep it on), it does its thing and I come back to login. That's when I discovered the folder I keep my paintkits, afcad, ade9,... and so on was gone. I'm pretty sure I did not delete the folder (it's a big folder). What can I do to try to recover them?
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Firebird
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Re: File Folder disappearing/deleted in Windows 7

Post by Firebird »

OK firstly it would appear that your original problem was corrupt index, at least, on the E: drive.

If you haven't done so yet run chkdsk on it. In your case the command would be 'chkdsk E: /R'
The /R option tells chkdsk to locate bad sectors and recover any readable information from them. This does more than the more normal /F option that finds and fixes errors so it will take longer than normal. The length or time will depend upon the size of disk. What it does is read each sector of the disk and rebuild the index.
With luck you will get your stuff back.

Even if you have a back up I would do this. I would never restore to a disk that you know has a corrupt index - you are kinda asking for trouble.

Now if you do that check and no errors are found but your folder is still not back then one other thing to try is to search for folder name that is missing. Use Everything rather than Windows as it is far quicker.
The reason for the search is because one time I found that my 'Addon Scenery' folder was missing and it was found in another sub directory. I don't remember having it selected and accidentally moving into another folder but that is what happened.

Hope this helps.
Steve
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Firebird
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Re: File Folder disappearing/deleted in Windows 7

Post by Firebird »

I have since read a newer thread of the same name and see that the last case was indeed what happened.

What I would suggest is still do the chkdsk I mentioned. The reason is that if the index got corrupt, which I think it did as your restarts showed, it will make sure that you have a clean index.
Steve
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