1tb External Drive is missing (one) folder but is the largest folder.

[inkman996]

That info is almost definitely still there I would send it to Gilligan and let him look at it who knows he will probably figure it out and for a few bucks in shipping its worth it. There is some software out there that can recover files that have been deleted not %100 but damn good amount. That is another reason to quit writing on the drive just incase you write over the spot where the lost files were.

[Gilligan]

Yeah, you NEVER want to write to a drive that has missing files.

When regular programs (and OS's) "delete" files, all they really do is mark them available for writing.  But this software can find those files and dump them most of the time.  But if anything writes to that drive it can be overwriting those files that you desperately want to save.

Being an external HD makes this VERY nice... when it is an OS drive it's very bad and you end up losing a lot.

Though, I have formatted and installed windows on a system only to have the customer tell me "what about <this random folder that shouldn't have been where it was>?"  Ummm... Thanks for telling me that BEFORE I started.  This software recovered most of it.

[Dottonedan]

UPDATE.


I sent my external drive out to Gilligan for repair. It appears that thru skill, state of the art programs, and technology, Gilligan has been able to restore my missing folder with ease. 




It was accidently moved into my FONTS folder.


When I had it hear, I was afraid to do a search on it. I thought I was told to just unplug it and don't do anything with it for fear of writing over some files. When going back through the post, some said to do a search so you would have been right had I done that.




Why the other repair shop here in town could not find it (or told me that it was saved as a program file) that they could not open... is beyond me. Goes to show you, when some people don't know, they just give you a line of BS and send you on your way.

[Gilligan]

Yeah, I've been meaning to tell you to NOT use those guys for anything ever again.

Only thing I can think of that they MIGHT have gotten confused about in that regard is that INSIDE your backup there was a "link file" which is another name for "Shortcut" that was probably on your desktop that pointed to that folder.  So if they looked in your backup they could have searched and found that shortcut and some how thought that it was a single file (although only a 1k file with an extension of .lnk) that was some how what you "saved it to".... basically, they seem like they were pretty clueless.

That cunning, state of the art technology that you joked about was just that... I walked through each folder on your root, one by one till I found it.  I figured if you did drag and drop it on accident it would likely only be one level down (unless you had a tree open on the side and drug it in there... but that was phase 2 of my search).

Nothing wrong with being too careful when it comes to data integrity like that.

[inkman996]

Ok first since I suggested sending to gilligan being almost positive the data was still there gilligan has to share some of them art files!

Second a file is a file no matter what, you cannot turn a jpeg  into a program file it is still a damn jpeg. Only thing they might have thought was going on is that some externals have their own built in back up software but still at the end of the day the actual files are some where!

Fortunately it did not cost much to send to gilligan but in the future a simple search using a term you know exactly is in the missing folder will solve your problems.


Third why do you have your files on an external and call them a back up and not have the originals some where else? your quote UN quote back up was the actual only existing files, back them up! Slap a hard drive in your tower and mirror everything then back up to an external!

Oh yea the idiots you went to apparently do not know how to right click on a file or folder and read the damn properties! I am far far from computers guru but fundamentals sheesh is something any pc repair man should know.

[Frog]

UPDATE.
It was accidently moved into my FONTS folder.

Call me a Luddite in some technological areas, but, after inadvertently moving dozens if not hundreds of files and folders via drag and drop over the years,  I always try the simplest possible solution first, hence my suggestion.

Oh well, glad you got it worked out.

[blue moon]

Nothing wrong with being too careful when it comes to data integrity like that.

Since Dan has two left thumbs when it comes to fixing computers, not doing anything was EXACTLY the right move. Yes it did take a little longer to get it fixed, but in the end it worked! Had he tried something that he was not sure about it could have destroyed theh data.

Thanx Gilligan for helping out!

pierre

[Dottonedan]

Well,  all of my computer life, I've ran a MAC until I decided to skimp on price and go PC. So I never needed to know how to "fix" something. Granted, locating a moved folder is not equivalent to fixing something, but Pierre was calling me out on my lack of computer skills. I know it. I admit it. I got not computer skills. I am a computer user. Not a fixer. I run Photoshop. I don't know how to make code to create another program. Same thing.


I bought a PC for price. That's when it all started officer.

[blue moon]

Well,  all of my computer life, I've ran a MAC until I decided to skimp on price and go PC. So I never needed to know how to "fix" something. Granted, locating a moved folder is not equivalent to fixing something, but Pierre was calling me out on my lack of computer skills. I know it. I admit it. I got not computer skills. I am a computer user. Not a fixer. I run Photoshop. I don't know how to make code to create another program. Same thing.


I bought a PC for price. That's when it all started officer.

see, thing is, you were smart enough to listen and do what professionals like Gilligan said. That why you still have all your data!!!
I on the other hand, went in and dug around and lost it. Well, sort of lost it, it took hours of work and nice chunk of change to recover most of it, but I should have been smart enough to stop and think first!

pierre

[Gilligan]

Though just to point this out, this wasn't a PC problem... this was a Dan problem.  You could have accidentally dragged and dropped those files into a sub folder just as easy on a Mac as a PC... hell, being that Mac is so much more better and faster it could have happened just from you accidentally THINKING about moving those files.

[Dottonedan]

Though just to point this out, this wasn't a PC problem... this was a Dan problem.  You could have accidentally dragged and dropped those files into a sub folder just as easy on a Mac as a PC... hell, being that Mac is so much more better and faster it could have happened just from you accidentally THINKING about moving those files.

I thought I pointed that out clearly enough,

Granted, locating a moved folder is not equivalent to fixing something, but Pierre was calling me out on my lack of computer skills. I know it. I admit it. I got not computer skills. I am a computer user. Not a fixer.

but I digress.  Ya got me.

[Gilligan]

My main point was just to make sure any bystanders or fanboys didn't get the wrong impression, beating you up a little in the process was just a bonus for me.

[Dottonedan]

no worries.      just say'n.

[Chadwick]

Glad you got it sorted.
I figured it was more complicated than it turned out to be.
Like I said, sitting in front of it, not so hard to figure out.
Props to Gilligan.

'Fear not the wrench, but rather, the monkey turning it.'