500GB of data missing

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mouks

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Last night I noticed My Movie folder missing from my drive. When I search for the folder or files inside and click on the search result I get the dead shotcut link error msg.

I check my recycle bin.. Nothing
I'm unable to use System Restore because it was turned off :(.
I also tried the check disk option but it did not fix anything.

Could this be the cause off a virus? I use avast free addition with auto update enabled. My free disk space indicates that the files are still somewhere on the drive. Any suggestions on to locate them. A week or so back I retrieved files from a formatted drive by using recovery software. I don't have the free space to try use this method again.
 
Is there anything you can think of that you might have done that could have caused this? It doesn't sound like a filesystem issue on face value, but I'm just asking...
 
The PC is used as Media server and everyone @ home has access to it.. Only God knows what's going on at home when I'm at work:erm:
 
Seems someone does not agree with your porn tastes and wiped it :erm:
 
mouks said:
The PC is used as Media server and everyone @ home has access to it.. Only God knows what's going on at home when I'm at work:erm:
Click to expand...
Linux or Windows? Not that I know what may be causing this, but I think that might help someone point you in the right direction :)
 
Get discgetor, it's freeware, works great, if it is still on your hdd,you will recover it.And fairly easy to use.
 
greenbean32 said:
Get discgetor, it's freeware, works great, if it is still on your hdd,you will recover it.And fairly easy to use.
Click to expand...

Thanx will give it a go.. Do I need additional space to recover data?

Edit: You need additional free space.. So this will not work:(
 
Last edited:
Okay Let me get this straight,
The folder is missing but your free space is still the same?, in this case im pretty sure its a virus, at work here we have a virus on the file server that’s hides everything, bloody annoying, turn on your hidden files and check if you can’t locate the folder, if you can locate it you will notice you cant change the attributes, but I’ll explain that chapter if this is indeed the case

If its not a virus and you can’t locate the folder, do a full scan disk and check if it does not come back with any errors

If there are no errors, have you actually done a scan for the files, sometimes clients just accidently drag and drop folders into different folders without noticing.
 
Lament said:
Okay Let me get this straight,
The folder is missing but your free space is still the same?, in this case im pretty sure its a virus, at work here we have a virus on the file server that’s hides everything, bloody annoying, turn on your hidden files and check if you can’t locate the folder, if you can locate it you will notice you cant change the attributes, but I’ll explain that chapter if this is indeed the case

If its not a virus and you can’t locate the folder, do a full scan disk and check if it does not come back with any errors

If there are no errors, have you actually done a scan for the files, sometimes clients just accidently drag and drop folders into different folders without noticing.
Click to expand...

The Drag and Drop thing was the first thing I suspected but would've been able to find the folder when searching for it..
I will turn on hidden Folders and search again..
 
I asked someone at home to switch on the PC. I gonna log in remotely and check the hidden folders now.....
 
mouks said:
The PC is used as Media server and everyone @ home has access to it.. Only God knows what's going on at home when I'm at work:erm:
Click to expand...

yoh yoh yoh ...dangerous that :p but with the permissions setup right you technically should never have any issues.
Good luck dude. . .
 
Have you done a search for *.avi/*.mkv on the entire system? Maybe someone had a mousefart and moved it somewhere.
 
mouks said:
I turned on Hidden files and folders and Found the Folder :o. The Folder was moved to a different folder... By accident or virus I don't now. If it was by accident than why didn't the files show up when I searched for them.....
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=15367&d=1342790142
Click to expand...

If your hidden files&folders was turned of, and the folder was hidden then it would not have showed up via the search.
Glad you found it!!
If its a virus, your wont be able remove it from "hidden", there's a trick to it, but just let me know if this is the case
Virus or no virus, install MSE
 
I'm suspecting its a virus. I use a small script file to generate a text file of all the data stored inside the folder and it saves the text file to the same folder. If the the folder was moved by accident how did the text file end up in a different folder? I think should format and do a clean install just to be safe.
Thanks for the help..
 
mouks said:
I turned on Hidden files and folders and Found the Folder :o. The Folder was moved to a different folder... By accident or virus I don't now. If it was by accident than why didn't the files show up when I searched for them.....
Click to expand...

Kids used to miss-drag & drop a lot on my PC when they were younger.
 
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