Files, gone. Pictures (which are files) gone. History is gone. I found this yesterday when I turned my computer on when I came home home from work. This morning (11/23/23) yesterdays history is gone.
Win 10 Home is the OS
Files, gone. Pictures (which are files) gone. History is gone. I found this yesterday when I turned my computer on when I came home home from work. This morning (11/23/23) yesterdays history is gone.
Win 10 Home is the OS
Dealing with something similar on Win 7. It looks like the profile was corrupted, but I may be able to copy old profile information back.
Can you navigate to your files in the user directory?
Does it boot up Ok and thescreen and keyboard still works ?
Boots up ok. Screen and mouse/keyboard are fine.
Desktop picture is gone.
The computer was showing a save point from yesterday, but it looks like that save point was after the file loss. No other save points were available.
There are still programs on the computer from before the file loss. Weird. I don't know how much hard drive space was in use before this happened.
Device name Bob
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7400 CPU @ 3.00GHz 3.00 GHz
Installed RAM 8.00 GB
Device ID 44D927F9-2FE2-4E92-94A0-B953A6C52ECC
Product ID 00325-80783-32190-AAOEM
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display
Edition Windows 10 Home
Version 22H2
Installed on 12/12/2020
OS build 19045.3693
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.19053.1000.0
I went to the Dell site and ran what I could for tests. Everything came back good.
I blame extraterrestrials.
You might try something like this (the basic version, which should be sufficient, is free): Recuva
I will give Recuva a try.
Thank you all.
PhotoRec is older and has an ugly interface but is phenomenal. It ignores the tables and looks for data that matches the "style" of the files you're looking for.
Do you have the same user name as before?
Is this an SSD or a regular spinning rust hdd?
Before you run any of the recovery software, have you run some file system checking software in "check only" mode? You probably don't want to write to that disk right now with anything before you start using recovery software.
Is all the installed software still available or just some of it?
Also, have a look for other accounts as WonkoTheSane mentioned to check if the missing files ended up in them.
Your description matches my current experience with the profile being corrupted. Programs installed to the user are not on the new desktop. Programs installed for "everyone" are. Desktop image and arrangement at default. All of my files were still in the folders for desktop, pictures, documents, etc. if I navigated to those user-specific folders.
How computer savvy are you? If you can wait until tomorrow, I'd be happy to hop onto a screen share and help you out. Today I can't due to the whole turkey day thing, ya know.
Yeah the fact that you can boot up and log in normally says this isn't disk failure and likely isn't any kind of filesystem damage, probably Windows profile corruption so all your files are still there but not accessible via the usual shortcuts. Try browsing through C:\Users\ and see if you find anything familiar. Best done while logged in as an administrator.
WonkoTheSane said:How computer savvy are you? If you can wait until tomorrow, I'd be happy to hop onto a screen share and help you out. Today I can't due to the whole turkey day thing, ya know.
Yes, do this! There are too many variables to flow chart out.
Agreed, sounds like profile corruption.
In any case, don't run anything at this point - no Recovery program, no "Restore" nothing.
If it is profile corruption, the files are all still there, you just have to copy them into the correct location again.
Anything you can run now can only do damage.
(I've had users reset their whole Computer to factory fresh because of small things like that).
Maybe a silly question, have you looked in the recycle bin?
Too late. I have tried a few things.
And another tidbit. When I started the computer today, the websites I saved yesterday are gone. Can anyone say "groundshog day"?
Well, I'm still happy to lend an extra set of eyes if you'd like. PMs work, or you can send it this username @ the googles mail.
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
Iwil take you up on your offer, and thank you for helping.
In for the update. Curious and good potential learnings here.
In reply to triumph7 :
I just looked in the recycle bin. What the heck? There are a bunch of files in there.
In reply to Noddaz :
Every time you delete a file it just moves to the recycle bin until you "empty" it. Look to see if your missing stuff is in there, if so you can recover it.
^Every time you delete a file through the Windows Explorer file browser (which includes the desktop and open/save file windows) unless you press Shift-Delete, that is...
In reply to GameboyRMH :
True, I stand corrected (and ammended).
A big shout out to Wonko the Sane for late night computer tech help! The files are still there but the profile was corrupt.
The back up is um... Backed up. Wonko, can I get another session to finish this? Yep, this is out of my comofort zone.
In reply to Noddaz :
No problem :) I'll ping you tonight if that's good? I'm teaching a night class until after 10, though.
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