Windows 7 File Explorer Deleted My Files

I wanted to consolidate data from other disks that I had so I could use those disks to convert an existing W7 installation into a RAID array. So I hooked up additional 2 x 500GB disks that contained files and previous installations of Windows and a 1TB drive to copy the files I wanted to keep. These two 500GB other disks were used for Vista in the past and both had been used as primary hard disks (ie they both had independent OS's installed).

After booting up, I proceeded to browse through the disks and decided what I wanted to keep and what I didn't want to keep. I had to change permissions here and there to get access to the old Vista directories etc. All well and good so far.

I have C: (W7 installation), G: (old Vista disk) and F: (another old Vista disk). For all other installs including the W7, I used the same username. For convenience sake, lets call my username billgates.

So, C:, G: and F: all had directories USERS/billgates directories. Following this so far?

When I browsed to F:\users\billgates, I was seeing files from that directory plus files from c:\users\billgates even though the location in windows explorer was saying f:\users\billgates

Without analysing this too much, I went on to delete directories and files that I didn't want from my G: and F: drives only to find that it had also deleted directories by the same name from my C: drive!!

Anyone else had this problem?

richc46 said:

If you want to get it back, the OS has a feature back up and restore, to restore personal doucments. Type those words in search to get started.

- thanks for your feedback.

Under "backup and restore" I have "There are no backups saved on the current backup location......"

I didn't use the system backup to save the files from G: and F:

I had also emptied the recycled bins, so no luck there

I just ran an undelete program, and unable to find the directory that I want from the USERS directory on my C:drive. This is a very strange problem indeed!

Recuva: It found some of my files, which is great! This app has been bookmarked for future reference, thanks for mentioning it :)

As for the "Libraries" link - yes, I'm thinking this could be the cause of the issue, although I am not sure if W7 automatically associates media directories from other hard disks with the libraries tab. If it does, then it might not always be desirable to do this for this exact reason. The strange think is, the path in the address bar never once showed C:\..... etc

For now, I am still unsure how this happened.

Many thanks for your help!