Folder Refuses to Display ???

[BuckSkin]

I have a 2TB "Data" HDD/Drive and an identical backup HDD/Drive

The folder structure and contents of both HDDs/Drives is identical.

For the last couple days, the main top folder in the backup drive refuses to show up in Explorer; just as if it doesn't exist.

There are some 500-plus GB and many subfolders of data contained within this now invisible folder.

I have tried to find the problem and make this folder visible again to no avail.

Just to see what would happen, I attempted to create a new folder with the exact same name as the one that has disappeared and I get the "already exists" notification.

What can I do to make this folder and all of it's subfolders visible again ?

Thanks for reading and all help is appreciated.


More information: I typed the missing folder's path and name in the address bar and it displayed all of it's subfolders; double-clicking any of the subfolders would display their contents; yet, the missing main/top folder still remains invisible.

The main/top folder never displays in the folder tree and when I managed to get the subfolders to display on the Explorer page, they never displayed in the tree.

I even disconnected the HDD, waited a bit, and reconnected and the weird behavior is still there.

 

[BuckSkin]

I may have stumbled upon a fix; I will see if it is permanent.

In a Command Line, I typed (no quotes): "attrib -h -r -s /s /d x:\*.*" with the letter "x:" being the drive letter that I wanted to repair.

HOWEVER --- it has now picked up another annoyance; that HDD/drive now displays a folder "$RECYCLE.BIN" in the Root AND also in the top folder.

Also, it now displays a folder "System Volume Information" in the top folder.

Did some portion of the command I used cause these weird new folders to display ?

Were they there all along and I just could not see them ?

 

[RolandJS]

Yes, they were and always will be there, they belong to Windows. Don't worry, very likely, they will return to their former invisible selves, probably after a few ReStarts and cold power-ups.

 

[BuckSkin]

Yes, they were and always will be there, they belong to Windows. Don't worry, very likely, they will return to their former invisible selves, probably after a few ReStarts and cold power-ups.

Thanks.

I wonder if some portion of the command I used may have caused those folders to become visible.

 

[wither 2]

I wonder if he has "show hidden files and folders" enabled in the Windows Explorer options.

 

[BuckSkin]

I wonder if he has "show hidden files and folders" enabled in the Windows Explorer options.

Good idea but it must not have any bearing on the folders in question.

"Show Hidden Files and Folders" had been enabled for years without these folders being visible.

After they became visible, I tried disabling "Show Hidden....." and they still remained visible.

 

[wither 2]

I guess it's because they're not Windows "protected" files/folders. I don't know why other files and folders are hidden sometimes but I've had to use that option many times over the years.

 

[RoWin7]

What happens if you type the ENTIRE path in the address bar, i.e. including the parent folder?
Is that backup HD just data, or does it have the OS or programs on it too?
What are you using to copy the data over?