Am I Tripping Or Are My Files Disappearing & Relocating

BruhthaKuga said:

It seems that after I do a clean install I find missing files and folders, obviously I am not talking about the C: drive which is a SSD on which I keep only the Windows installation and apps.

I have an eighty GB HDD on which I keep basic drivers, hardware and software PDF manuals and other files related to the PC. I also relocated the Desktop, Favorites , and Links there. I also have a 500GB drive that ejects to be used as an external USB HDD on other PCs that I have relocated, My Pictures, My Music, My Videos to.

On both of these other drive I have seen files and folders become MIA, I know that I didn't delete them, anyone else have had this problem with Windows 7?

First... do I understand correctly that you're locating Shell folders (My...) on a removable drive?

WOW.... You're real lucky you haven't crashed that system yet. Win7 has a real bad time with broken hardlinks.

This might also account for some of the magic folder activity you're seeing.

BruhthaKuga said:

CommonTater said:

First... do I understand correctly that you're locating Shell folders (My...) on a removable drive?

WOW.... You're real lucky you haven't crashed that system yet. Win7 has a real bad time with broken hardlinks.

This might also account for some of the magic folder activity you're seeing.

The 500GB HDD is an internal drive and is connected by sata when it is in this PC but there is a button that ejects it where it can be used by an esata or USB cable, it does not show as a removable drive in Library. The 80GB drive is also an internal drive and does not show as a removable drive.

Please explain what a "Broken Hardlink" is?

A hardlink is like a shortcut on steroids. Essentially the connection between the link and it's target is so complete that you can open and save files through the hardlink.

The more dangrous fact here is that these are Shell Folders (My Pictures, My Documents, etc) These are folders Windows stupidly actually needs to run correctly and it will create them in default locations if they are absent. It even forces you to have these folders, if you want them or not, by treating them as default save locations... What folder does the "Save" dialog begin in when you click "Save Picture" in Explorer... Where does it start when you create a new Text file, etc...

When you take out that drive you are breaking the connection between the Hardlink and it's target... Since it's a shell folder Windows will try to re-create it... OOPS, can't create a folder in thin air!

I made a mistake, my first try at Win7, when relocating these folders to my Data drive and ended up with no access to my desktop at all. All I got was a "Server Failed to Start" error and the only thing that worked was the Winkey+R to launch a run dialog...

So when you remove the 500gb drive is there any chance the system can be turned on without it?

I don't really know where you guys left off...but I have experienced whole folders disappearing on me! I'm using Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit and my other laptop is Win Vista Business 32 bit. I have experienced both operating systems losing full folders. I lost a 'Personal' folder from My Documents and I lost a 'My Movies' from my Documents folder. I never deleted them...why would I?...It took me forever to build up!!!
SOMEONE HELP!!!! I don't know where all these files have disappeared to!!!