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Suddenly Missing All Files inside Folder and all Subfolders

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Shane:
I have never seen anything like that. The folder wasnt even on the Windows drive, and it was the only folder hit like that including all of it s sub folders.

When you right click on the main folder and go to properties does it show size is at 0 bytes?

Are there any kind of cleaner tools you run at all? Only reason why I ask is I want to cover all bases and I want to check any logs they might have made.

If the files where deleted and now even a raw or delete recovery  can see them then the only way that could of happened is if the data gets over written on the drive, which any kind of cleaner with a data wipe option would do.

I know it is a long shot, but data just doesnt disappear. Well ok it can, but normally like one file that might have been on a bad sector. Not a single folder and all of its sub folders. Something targeted that folder and wiped it. I want to find out what. :wink:

Shane

madhouserevival:
Yeah, the properties show 0 bytes (aside from a couple files I added today (3mb worth). Maybe system mechanic did something in the background (could have sworn I'd uninstalled that a week ago). But I never used it to clean files. I use Ccleaner and even then I manually select folders to clean (Windows temp 90% of the time). My memory (as in my brain) has taken a serious hit in the last year, especially short-term. Struggling to remember all the things I might have done since this happened. Too bad I didn't have system restore running on this drive. Currently running a surface scan of the drive.

Maybe I could look into the event history! I just don't know where to begin (always confused me). Plus, I don't know if what caused it occurred on my spinner drive system or my SSD system. Anyway, is there a way to specifically search for file deletion events in Event Viewer?

Shane:
Check any logs those programs have and do a search for the folder name to see if it shows anything.

System restore wouldnt have saved those files since they are on another drive unless system restore is set on that drive as well, and even then I am not sure system restore would do those files as it normally does important files.

You said you did a raw check have you done a undelete recovery yet? When Windows deletes a file the flag for the file is deleted while the data isnt (The data is there until something writes over it). Raw recovery is used when the file system is destroyed or formatted, but delete recovery will look at the current file system. Worth a shot.

Shane

madhouserevival:
The first thing I did with Easeus Data Recover was a "shift deleted" file search. BTW before this happened I had run your Advanced System Tweaker. I don't see how it would affect files being viewed by my other operating system though. But I might have picked an option (there are so many!) that caused the problem. I assume there's some way to reverse all the tweaks (fingers crossed) to see if I did something wrong?

Good night's sleep gave me a clearer head. :) I am thinking there is some security flag placed on the parent folder that also affects the files in the sub-folders. So the questions is how do I discover what the security flag was so I can try and "unflag" it? Thanks.

Shane:
None of the tweaks in the advance system tweaker target deleting files. I am not sure what you mean about the security flag. If anything was set it would only prevent you from opening them, it wouldn't completely hide them.

Plus even if the files where removed they should have shown up on a recovery scan unless what ever removed them also went back and wrote over all the data so it couldn't be recovered.

What happens if you move the main folder out of downloads and put it somewhere else? Also does the total size of the drive look any smaller to you as if the files where deleted the file size would be smaller, if somehow they where super hidden in the system then the size used on the drive wouldnt have changed.

Shane

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