Lost Document!

marnifisher · 20th May 2006

If any one can help on this one I would so grateful. I suddenly have lost a handful of files that are very important, they basically just disappeared. When searching for them I can find a shortcut link to the files, but no files themselves. They aren't in the trash, I tried a system restore, no luck. I then tried a recovery program but all of the .doc documents it found can not be viewed, something weird with the encoding. I paid for a tech support call only to waste my money.

I'm not sure if a virus got them or what but I need to recover them

rsinfo · 20th May 2006

Well marnifisher, sorry about those lost files.

I see that you have taken a number of steps already to recover those files. When did you notice the lost files & where were they stored ? Could it be possible that you dragged them off to a different hard disk/USB drive/network drive ? Did you do anything with the drive (like run chkdsk,defrag, any other util) ?

**PeteC** · 20th May 2006

marnifisher - Welcome to the Board

Can you give any more detail as to how you suddenly lost a bunch of files - what were you doing or what had you done prior to the files disappearing?

Were all the files in one folder - does the folder still exist?

Have you by any chance inadvertently given them the Hidden attribute? In Windows Explorer > Tools > Folder Options > View and check 'Show hidden files and folders' - any luck?

System Restore will not help you - that only restores System files, etc, not any personal documents. Hopefully that has not jeopardised your chances of recovering the files - if they still exist.

Which file recovery software did you use? Give this freeware one a try ....

File Recovery

I know this may be water under the bridge right now, but it is essential to backup your data, preferably to an external source - CD/DVD or an external drive or to another internal hard drive.

**PeteC** · 20th May 2006

rsinfo - was typing/thinking while you posted

James Martin · 20th May 2006

Maybe a desktop search program would be helpful. I like Copernic myself.