Folder content missing after sync (Windows 7 x64)

[sysvatar]

Hello everyone!

It's my first time posting a thread so I hope I'm being clear enough (plenty of experience reading thought so I guess it's time to practice what I have seen so far :-D )

I work on a roaming profile environment (Windows 2008 R2). This is the issue: I recently moved (cut/paste) several folders from C: to the desktop, so their content could be saved as part of my profile (not a big deal, regular stuff). Had to restart my device (no errors involved) and after logging back I got a surprise: all the content from one of the folders in question is missing!

Just to be more specific, this is exactly what I did: select, cut and paste no more than 5 folders; just recalled that the one missing the content was renamed before restarting (all the content was still there before this point).

I know important things should NEVER be located in the desktop (my fault, sorry!), but have anyone seen this case before? I'll appreciate any help you could give me.

Regards from the Caribbean!

 

[mitchell65]

Hi sysvatar and welcome to the Forum.
I have never used a roaming profile o may not be much help but your post was getting a little near to the bottom of th epage and then might get a bit lost!
Forgive me for being naive but are you sure you have the actual folders on the desktop and not just a link to them on the C drive? have you tried renaming the one with the lost contents to it's old name? If they are the actual folders did they get moved or just copied, have you checked to see if they are still on the C drive? If the contents have got deleted you would have surely got a message "Do you want to delete etc". Have you checked the recycle bit?

 

[gregrocker]

If the folders were not backed up, then check the Properties tab on the missing content folder to see if there is a Previous Version to restore.

 

[sysvatar]

Hello mitchell65 and gregrocker, thanks for your so quick reply!
Addressing your concerns/suggestions:

mitchell65
I have never used a roaming profile o may not be much help --> It’s OK, I really appreciate your time on trying to help me.

Are you sure you have the actual folders on the desktop and not just a link to them on the C drive? --> Yes, I’m totally sure as I cut/paste the info. In fact, I was able to work with it after doing this; the problem occurred only with one folder after restarting (thus Sync’ing with the Server).

Have you tried renaming the one with the lost contents to it's old name? --> Yes, but did not work

If they are the actual folders did they get moved or just copied, have you checked to see if they are still on the C drive? --> They were moved; I searched on both my local and network drives with no success.

If the contents have got deleted you would have surely got a message "Do you want to delete etc". Have you checked the recycle bit? --> They were not deleted, at least not for an action I had done and no message informing anything was displayed either. In fact: there were several folders inside this particular one and they were all there before the restart; after the computer sync with the Server, only one folder remained inside and was also empty.

gregrocker
If the folders were not backed up, then check the Properties tab on the missing content folder to see if there is a Previous Version to restore. --> Thanks for this possible solution, but this was my finding: somehow the system restore was off for all my disks and no previous versions were available not only on this folder but on none of them. Maybe I turned it off or my network policies did, just can’t remember.

 

[gregrocker]

Maybe the files didn't copy. Have you looked in the original location? Have you also searched in the Start Search box using key words from the files to see if they dropped elsewhere.

There's nothing wrong with putting files on your desktop, but need to make sure they made it there and not somewhere else, or were blocked from copying by an elevated prompt you missed.

 

[Sir George]

Hello everyone!

It's my first time posting a thread so I hope I'm being clear enough (plenty of experience reading thought so I guess it's time to practice what I have seen so far :-D )

I work on a roaming profile environment (Windows 2008 R2). This is the issue: I recently moved (cut/paste) several folders from C: to the desktop, so their content could be saved as part of my profile (not a big deal, regular stuff). Had to restart my device (no errors involved) and after logging back I got a surprise: all the content from one of the folders in question is missing!

Just to be more specific, this is exactly what I did: select, cut and paste no more than 5 folders; just recalled that the one missing the content was renamed before restarting (all the content was still there before this point).

I know important things should NEVER be located in the desktop (my fault, sorry!), but have anyone seen this case before? I'll appreciate any help you could give me.

Regards from the Caribbean!

As a start, strange things happen with computers and for no apparent reason. With that said, I would try using Mythicsoft's "Agent Ransack". You can download it from the following site and it is free;

http://www.mythicsoft.com/

I have had a few occasions where a file went missing and "Agent Ransack" was able to locate it. On the other hand, not always.

HTH

 

[sysvatar]

gregrocker
I’m 100% sure the folders/files were successfully moved to the desktop: I was able to work with them before restarting/sync’ing my device.
I know it should be fine saving files in the desktop, but in roaming profile environments the desktop will sync only when you log off. That’s why I prefer other options, such as making a network folder available offline, because it will always be sync’ed. I’m sorry I had to remember this personal rule this way.

 

[sysvatar]

Sir George,

Thanks for your input! Even thought I've tried similar options (searchings) and even restoring lost/deleted files with recovery tools, I guess it would not hurt anyone giving your idea a try. I'll reply back with the result ASAP.

Thanks everyone!

 

[sysvatar]

Good morning!

Bad news: it did not work, but it really was worth the try. I was able to find a reference to a roaming local folder:
"C:\Users\sysvatar\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\it_details.lnk"; after checking the path it was referring to, I noticed that it still was pointing to the path on C:, the exact place the folder was located at before moving to the desktop.

It really does not make sense, but I'm starting to think that the OS tried keeping those specific files on that particular folder on the original location and, somehow, they disappeared on the sync'ing process. What's really funny is the fact that all other folder/files that were moved along with this folder and its content was preserved...

Any other thoughts? I would not like to give up