Solved Help Needed : invisible user folder

[Golden]

G'day,

I'm in need of some help. I'm not enirely sure how this happened, but one of my data folders appears to have become invisible.

The folder in question is called General_Backup and resides on a RAID1 mechanical drive:



Here you can see that when I attempt to create a folder of the same name, that Windows warns me that the folder already exists - but for some reason its not visible in Explorer:



I have checked to make sure that Show hidden files, folders and drives is checked:



In an elevated cmd window, the folder is also invisible:



IRST did not report any errors, but I'm currently running a verify just to be sure:



So, it appears that on G: there are only 2 folders:

\Colin-PC = 52.1GB
\Shared_Folder = 15.7GB

This totals ~67GB, but you can see that 515GB is shown as used:



I'm a bit stumped. The folder obviously exists, but I cannot see or access it. Can anyone offer any suggestions for recovering this folder?

Thanks,
Golden

 

[wanchoo]

Most strange. But when you see it in the command window you can copy it and move it elsewhere. You may be able to see it in the new location.

PS: I hope you still remember the DOS commands.

 

[Golden]

Hi Wanchoo,

I cannot see it in the cmd window - the folder General_Backup is invisible in both Explorer and the cmd window.

Regards,
Golden

 

[richc46]

Ah Maybe I can help my friend. I think this just might
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/394-hidden-files-folders-show-hide.html?ltr=H

 

[Squirt]

Try Hiren's BootCD 10.4. click on menu, Browsers, ERD Explorer. Search for your file right click-properties, then you just unhide the folder that might help you.

 

[Golden]

Thanks Rich. I turned off Show Hidden, and then turned it back ON again, but the folder still does not show up

 

[richc46]

To get them back try backup and restore.

 

[Golden]

Thanks Squirt. I'll try that once IRST has finished verifying the RAID1 and if nothing more obvious springs to mind.

 

[Squirt]

Download from this link.
INFO

 

[Golden]

Interesting......I took FULL CONTROL of this folder, and see the following, so I know the folder exists..........

 

[wanchoo]

Hi Golden,

I suppose not visible in search either. Try and boot from a Linux Ubuntu CD to check if it is visible in the Ubuntu environment. If it is then perhaps it can be moved elsewhere.

Amarnath Wanchoo

 

[Golden]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try some of those tommorrow. For now, I'm going to leave the RAID1 to self-verify overnight.........I have a suspicion it could be that, but we will see. Perhaps a chkdsk might point to a disk problem. Correct, Search does not find the folder.

Rich, unfortunately I'm between backups so there isn't anything to restore.......tonight was my "copy the RAID1 backup to my external USB". Its only when I went to look at it, that i noticed it had dissapeared on me.

 

[Golden]

Well, the RAID1 has verified without any problems, but the folder still remains invisible. If anyone has some other suggestions before I go the Linux/Hirens route, it would be very welcome.

Thanks,
Golden

 

[Golden]

Booted from Debian Live, and can see the folder and am copying it to an external USB drive.

 

[wanchoo]

Hi Golden,

Why not cut and paste or now as already copied delete from its original place. Then when in Windows environment copy and paste in its original location to check out if it remains visible or vanishes again.

Best,

Amarnath Wanchoo

 

[lehnerus2000]

Are you using Windows Backup?

 

[Golden]

Hi,

Lenerus : I use a ROBOCOPY script to mirror my working folders to a RAID1 backup on G:, and also to external USB drives Y: and Z:. Unfortunately they were out of sync, so I couldn't go back from the externals to the RAID1.

Wanchoo: Yes, thats what I was going to do, but because I don't know what caused this dissapearance in the first place, I prefer to format and re-establish the RAID1 from scratch again to ensure there aren't any gremlins on the hardware side.

I've also modified my ROBOCOPY backup script so it writes externally immediately after writing to RAID1 - usually I ran this as a seperate item.

Regards,
Golden

 

[lehnerus2000]

I only asked, because IIRC, Windows Backup makes its internal HDD backups invisible to Windows Explorer (maybe that only applies W2K8 Server).

 

[Golden]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've recovered the folder using a Debian Live boot. Solved.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Live Linux CD

A Live Linux CD is a handy tool for dealing with Windows, when it becomes recalcitrant.