Author Topic: Very scary! I just completely lost a bunch of files [FALSE ALARM!] (Read 11442 times)

superboyac · « **on:** January 07, 2010, 12:06 AM »

This is very scary and has never happened to me before, at least since I've had XP.
I was moving some picture files around and Directory Opus froze. So I forced it to close and when I restarted DOPus, all those files I had moved were gone. I can't believe it. Not in the recycle bin; just gone. Why would they be in the recycle bin? I didn't delete them; I moved them. if anyone has suggestions for how to recover them, I'd be grateful. I've never experienced anything like this.

4wd · « **Reply #1 on:** January 07, 2010, 12:32 AM »

Use some file recovery software and scan the drive for them.

The main thing is DO NOT ALLOW any more write operations on the drive in question.

If this happens to be the default system drive then your chances of recovering the files in their entirety have plummeted a fair bit - a very good reason why you don't keep your data on the system partition/drive.

eg. Recuva - download the portable build and extract it to a flash drive and then run. Recover to a separate drive, (not the one you're recovering from).
PhotoRec - very good also.

If it was your system drive they were on, turn off the computer, go to another computer and download UBCD4Win CD ISO, burn it and then boot your computer off of it and use the file recovery tools on it to scan for them.

EDIT: I should mention that depending on the size of the drive/partition this could take a very long time - I've spent 4+ hours waiting for a scan of a drive before the software presented a list of files that could be recovered.

Oh yeah, and the obvious recovery method - restore from the backup you had

f0dder · « **Reply #2 on:** January 07, 2010, 03:42 AM »

Sounds like DOpus are doing it's move operations in some dodgy way, like apple's finder? That, or...

You accidentally moved files elsewhere than you thought.
You've got some nasty NTFS corruption going on - haven't seen lost files like that, though.

mouser · « **Reply #3 on:** January 07, 2010, 03:46 AM »

You accidentally moved files elsewhere than you thought.

agreed -- make sure you search the disk for them.. i've had diropus move to the folder above and below the one i intended before when using drag+drop.

Curt · « **Reply #4 on:** January 07, 2010, 04:05 AM »

I once had a similar accident, but with the standard Explorer, not a third party program. I finally found my files hidden (literally). So, also try "show hidden files and folders" and "show system files".

tanis424 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 07, 2010, 04:44 AM »

What's showing in the Opus log ? Normally it would show you where the files went.

VictorM · « **Reply #6 on:** January 07, 2010, 04:58 AM »

did you recover them? it might be useful to flag the incident to Opus as well...

MerleOne · « **Reply #7 on:** January 07, 2010, 06:28 AM »

Easeus Data Recover Wizard Pro is just given away today : http://www.easeus.com/giveaways/drw/

superboyac · « **Reply #8 on:** January 07, 2010, 08:29 AM »

What's showing in the Opus log ? Normally it would show you where the files went.
-tanis424 (January 07, 2010, 04:44 AM)

Oh SNAP! My bad...false alarm! Everything is fine. I forgot where I moved the files. I was thinking it was in one directory and they were in another. Sorry everyone for freaking out. Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #9 on:** January 07, 2010, 08:40 AM »

Glad that all's well.
4wd's comment about back-up is something to consider.
Nothing like a near miss to make one review practices.

f0dder · « **Reply #10 on:** January 07, 2010, 09:53 AM »

I forgot where I moved the files.
-superboyac (January 07, 2010, 08:29 AM)

MerleOne · « **Reply #11 on:** January 07, 2010, 10:02 AM »

Oh SNAP! My bad...false alarm! Everything is fine. I forgot where I moved the files. I was thinking it was in one directory and they were in another. Sorry everyone for freaking out. Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.
-superboyac (January 07, 2010, 08:29 AM)

I think you may be ready for "Search Everything", a free search tool that indexes all your online HDD and quickly find where files are. Go to www. voidtools.com

[I think this works fine for NTFS partitions only ?]

f0dder · « **Reply #12 on:** January 07, 2010, 10:07 AM »

[I think this works fine for NTFS partitions only ?]
-MerleOne (January 07, 2010, 10:02 AM)

Yep, it works by directly reading the MFT, which is why it is so fast - and requires admin privs. The app should really be rewritten to admin-priv service and LUA-priv GUI...

4wd · « **Reply #13 on:** January 07, 2010, 04:32 PM »

Actually, when I was initially writing my post the very first line I had was:

"And you've search your entire system?"

But then I removed it because it seemed like I would have been stating the very obvious.

superboyac · « **Reply #14 on:** January 07, 2010, 06:36 PM »

Actually, when I was initially writing my post the very first line I had was:

"And you've search your entire system?"

But then I removed it because it seemed like I would have been stating the very obvious.
-4wd (January 07, 2010, 04:32 PM)

Actually, what I did first was use Everything to see where it was. But maybe I wasn't looking for the right word or something. honestly, it was just a major brain fart.

4wd · « **Reply #15 on:** January 07, 2010, 06:53 PM »

Ah, then you could have entered ch: and seen all changes in the last hour, (providing you're using a later alpha version of course).

mwb1100 · « **Reply #16 on:** January 08, 2010, 02:44 AM »

[I think this works fine for NTFS partitions only ?]
-MerleOne (January 07, 2010, 10:02 AM)
Yep, it works by directly reading the MFT, which is why it is so fast - and requires admin privs. The app should really be rewritten to admin-priv service and LUA-priv GUI...
-f0dder (January 07, 2010, 10:07 AM)

Yes! - I'm aware of 3 search programs of this sort: the voidtools one, FindOnClick by 2BrightSparks, and Search-GT. None of them use a service to avoid the problems of running as non-admin. They could also take advantage of accessing the service on remote machines to get a big boost for searching networked machines too.

The only drawback I know of is that a service can't be run portably (in the sense that it must be installed). But it's certainly possible to write an executable that can run as a service or not. There's some complexity here, but I think it's a feature that many, many users would appreciate.

tanis424 · « **Reply #17 on:** January 08, 2010, 03:10 AM »

Actually, what I did first was use Everything to see where it was. But maybe I wasn't looking for the right word or something. honestly, it was just a major brain fart.
-superboyac (January 07, 2010, 06:36 PM)

Like I said earlier in the thread, the Opus log would have told you where the files had been moved, saving you the hassle of searching for them.

f0dder · « **Reply #18 on:** January 08, 2010, 05:24 AM »

The only drawback I know of is that a service can't be run portably (in the sense that it must be installed).
-mwb1100 (January 08, 2010, 02:44 AM)

Dunno if that's such a big disadvantage - do you usually have admin access the places you need to run portable stuff?

superboyac · « **Reply #19 on:** January 08, 2010, 11:56 AM »

Actually, what I did first was use Everything to see where it was. But maybe I wasn't looking for the right word or something. honestly, it was just a major brain fart.
-superboyac (January 07, 2010, 06:36 PM)

Like I said earlier in the thread, the Opus log would have told you where the files had been moved, saving you the hassle of searching for them.
-tanis424 (January 08, 2010, 03:10 AM)

Like I said, my brain stopped working for a while there! I thought I lost it, I didn't think I had moved it. The Dopus log is great, though.