Pendrive folders are inaccessible/not showing

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

  1. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
       #1

    Pendrive folders are inaccessible/not showing


    Hi, this is very weird, an I've never seen this before.. but today I was working on a .psd file that was in my pendrive. I finished working on it, saved the changes, and took the pendrive to school. But when I opened the pendrive at school, 2 folders were missing (one being the one the .psd file was in).

    The pendrive is not corrupted though.. ..running Recuva doesn't even shows traces of this folder's contents, what is very weird ...(it's like Recuva thinks the folders were never erased at all, or like they never existed..).

    I've tried this unhide command:
    Code:
    Click "Start" Menu > "Run" > type "cmd" > type "attrib -h -r -s /s /d h:\*.* "
    and all it did was show the "System Volume Information" foder..

    But then I verified the Pendrive's used space, and compared with the size of the files shown inside of it:



    so it seems the hidden folders are still there...somewhere ..I just need to enable them somehow. Hope someone here has an idea for helping me with it. Thank you
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 7,351
    Windows 7 HP 64
       #2

    It may be hidden.
    Open Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Folder Options
    On View tab
    - Hidden files and folders - Show Hidden files and folders

    On Explorer, right click on the column (Name, Date, Type, etc) and choose to show Attributes

    As I have seen this happening due to virus, scan your drives with an antivirus.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #3

    What Megahertz07 said above is a conventional solution. If that does not work:

    Is it a virus affliction? If so why only two folders got hidden? I have no answer. I don't even know what is .psd file. Well, I see that it Adobe photoshop file ( learnt )

    Leaving aside the research on the file format and whether it is due to a virus infliction, try this.

    Download and install your Windows bit version of WinRAR.

    Run WinRAR and navigate to your pendrive in it. It should show all your folders and files in the pendrive. That includes even superhidden folders/files that wouldn't show anywhere else. If those folders really do exist on your pendrive, those will definitely show up in WinRAR.

    Open the folder and you should see the files in it. Open the .psd file and then save it to a different location. Check whether you can open the file saved in the different location. Once you have saved all the files in those two folders to a different location and convinced everything is beautiful, go to WinRAR again, right click on those two folders and in the Menu > Delete files.

    Let me know whether this worked. For now it is only my thought process .

    Of course, you have to run a virus check later to make sure you have no virus.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 714
    Win 7 Pro, SP1, x86, Win-11/Pro/64
       #4

    Look in your computer, (search) to see if maybe that file/folder got saved somewhere other than the Pendrive.

    Stuff happens! And over the past 37 years, I can't tell you how many times I thought I'd saved a file to one location and later found out that it went somewhere else. Arggg!

    Sometimes it may seem like the computer has a mind of its own, and does what IT wants and not what you want.

    just a thought

    TechnoMage
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Thank you all for the replies
    Megahertz07 said:
    It may be hidden.
    Open Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Folder Options
    On View tab
    - Hidden files and folders - Show Hidden files and folders

    On Explorer, right click on the column (Name, Date, Type, etc) and choose to show Attributes

    As I have seen this happening due to virus, scan your drives with an antivirus.
    Did that, but had no luck. Only the previous displayed files were shown. I checked for virus and spyware, and nothing was infecting the pc.

    jumanji said:
    Run WinRAR and navigate to your pendrive in it. It should show all your folders and files in the pendrive. That includes even superhidden folders/files that wouldn't show anywhere else. If those folders really do exist on your pendrive, those will definitely show up in WinRAR.
    Let me know whether this worked. For now it is only my thought process
    Tried that with no luck again. Winrar doesn't shows any new file or folder

    TechnoMage2016 said:
    Look in your computer, (search) to see if maybe that file/folder got saved somewhere other than the Pendrive.

    Stuff happens! And over the past 37 years, I can't tell you how many times I thought I'd saved a file to one location and later found out that it went somewhere else. Arggg!
    Good thought. I thought about that the moment I was back home actually. I searched everywhere with Everything (a search software that I recommend), but didn't had any luck finding the files or folders.. quite weird indeed.

    Now after your replies, I'm thinking more strongly that, in this case, the sector of the pendrive (usb flash drive) got deeply frozen somehow. Like this specific chuck of the flash drive died or something.. ..maybe it's not a digital problem, but a physical malfunction?
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 7,351
    Windows 7 HP 64
       #6

    I recently bought a USB flash drive that was defective.
    My suggestion is that you format your drive and then test it with H2testw.
    It will write and read till the drive is full.
    H2testw Download
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Megahertz07 said:
    I recently bought a USB flash drive that was defective.
    My suggestion is that you format your drive and then test it with H2testw.
    It will write and read till the drive is full.
    H2testw Download
    Yup, I think that's what is left to do now.
    The situation was different to me cause the flash drive didn't show any obvious sign of defect or corruption..

    Thank you, I'll download H2testw and do that.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 7,351
    Windows 7 HP 64
       #8

    There are many fake drives around the corner. I once had a 64G Pendrive. On Explorer it showed as 64G but was in fact 4G.
      My Computers


  9. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #9

    When WinRAR does not show your two folders , it is absolutely certain that those folders do not exist. Folders getting lost surely is a pointer to a fake drive.

    If it is a genuine drive ( I shall still give you the benefit of doubt) , go to the manufacturer's website and check whether there is any recovery software offered in Support and try that.

    ( You must always give full details of your pendrive, - manufacturer, Model, Capacity, whether it is a real branded pen drive or purchased cheaply from a footpath vendor, for how long you have been using etc., or else you are only taking us for a ride :) )
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #10

    jumanji said:
    When WinRAR does not show your two folders , it is absolutely certain that those folders do not exist. Folders getting lost surely is a pointer to a fake drive.

    If it is a genuine drive ( I shall still give you the benefit of doubt) , go to the manufacturer's website and check whether there is any recovery software offered in Support and try that.

    ( You must always give full details of your pendrive, - manufacturer, Model, Capacity, whether it is a real branded pen drive or purchased cheaply from a footpath vendor, for how long you have been using etc., or else you are only taking us for a ride :) )
    Sorry, it's a Markvision USB2 16GB RB2.MV original USB drive. By what I saw from your responses, the issue may have come from it's age, since it's a reasonably old usb drive (around 6 years old I think). I'm considering this issue as a signal that it's time to retire this drive (even though it's working apparently normally, but without the 2 missing folders and some GBs).
      My Computer


 
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:37.
Find Us