Files disappeared from memory stick

I worked on some documents on my memory stick and then most of the files on it disappeared. The system shows these stats for the stick:

capacity 59.6GB, used 51GB, free 8.58GB

That seems approximately correct. However, While some folders appear to contain everything they are supposed to, other folders that should contain files are empty. And when I select all of the folders instead of the entire memory stick, it shows only 17GB used. So 34GB of files are missing.

What I've tried:

Based on my online research, I tried several things.

On the chance that the files had become hidden, I executed this command:
```
attrib –h –r –s /s /d g:*.* 
```
That had no effect.
On the chance that malware was involved, I installed Malwarebytes and scanned the system. It found some infected files and deleted them, but I still have the problem. It's possible the infections were coincidental. Based on my activity, the infected files could have been there when the stick was still behaving normally.
I checked the Recycle Bin and found nothing there.

What can I do to find or recover the missing files?

Mezgeen Dosky

Posted 2015-10-14T10:01:51.020

Reputation: 19

what is your problem? where did you used the code (attrib...)? Why virus-removal tag is relevant? – Máté Juhász – 2015-10-14T10:58:45.660

1dear Mate Juhasz,I worked on some doc files in my memory stick. then I opened the memory, some folders look empty but I am sure they contain files. I googled the problem, some people suggest the attrib code to solve the problem, but it doesnot work for me. – Mezgeen Dosky – 2015-10-14T11:04:04.893

Can you post all of the informations (or links to screenshots), that you're seeing (stick capacity, used/free space, info by directory, etc.)? Is there more than one partition? Is the virus removal tag because you think (or have read) that the issue could be malware? – fixer1234 – 2015-10-14T11:32:27.593

capacity 59.6 GB , used 51GB , free 8.58GB – Mezgeen Dosky – 2015-10-14T11:35:02.527

may be malware! how can I know it is malware and how can I delete. which is the best free software to remove the malware. – Mezgeen Dosky – 2015-10-14T11:41:35.243

Assuming you have some anti-virus program on your machine, virtually all can run a scan on demand. Just have it scan the stick. A lot of good info here. So 51GB is used, and that sounds about right to you, but all you see is empty folders? Check the trash can (if everything got deleted and it is all there, it will still take up the space but not show up).

– fixer1234 – 2015-10-14T12:00:40.273

thanks for your fruitful comment. I wanted to mention nothing happen to some folders, they are working properly, but some other folders look empty. that is why this is strange to me. what do you mean by check the trash can , is it recycle bin?? – Mezgeen Dosky – 2015-10-14T12:09:32.873

Yeah, the recycle bin. – fixer1234 – 2015-10-14T12:10:22.030

I checked everywhere but nothing found!!. As I sent you the used volume is 51GB but when I selected the whole folders, the capacity is only 17GB. This means 34GB disappeared. I really donot know what to do!!!!! I installed Malwarebytes and scanned the system. it found some infected files and deleted, but I still have the problem. – Mezgeen Dosky – 2015-10-14T18:11:14.537

Is it the capacity that shows 17GB, or the space used by the folders? If it's used space, then 34GB of files have disappeared. If it's capacity, it would point to something like the stick being partitioned or starting to fail. – fixer1234 – 2015-10-14T20:47:06.717

FYI, if you "address" a comment to a specific user, like @fixer1234, they will receive an alert to your posting. Otherwise, nobody will be aware of it unless they stumble across it. You will always be alerted to all posts on your own thread without the need for addressing them to you. BTW, addressing only works to users who are already involved in the specific question or answer post. – fixer1234 – 2015-10-14T21:17:59.403

as I said capacity is 59.6 GB , used 51GB , free 8.58GB . when I open the memory stick and I select all folders and right click and properties the space used by the folders is 17GB. and yes 34GB has disappeared. I really donot know what to do !!! thanks for your help – Mezgeen Dosky – 2015-10-14T21:18:11.273

well done, it is a great job from you. – Mezgeen Dosky – 2015-10-14T21:32:47.287

Answers

There are 2 imperfections in the command you'd shown.

As the find pattern is *.* it will affect only to files that contains an extension (or folders that contains a dot). Use * pattern instead, that will match possible files that does not have a file extension.
The path syntax is wrong, you missed to add a backslash.

This is the proper command to unhide files:

Attrib –H –R –S /S /D "G:\*"

ElektroStudios

Posted 2015-10-14T10:01:51.020

Reputation: 1 282

@MezgeenDosky: By not working "as well" do you mean it works but not as good as, or it doesn't work also? – fixer1234 – 2015-10-14T11:17:38.893

no no, it does not work because after that nothing change to the empty folders!! – Mezgeen Dosky – 2015-10-14T11:26:10.977

If the command above dont shows an error message then operation has succed, that means your folders are empty. – ElektroStudios – 2015-10-14T12:09:38.910

On Windows *.* does match file (or dir) with no dot (for extension). Only on Unix is this an issue (and on Unix you may also have the leading-dot-hidden issue). – dave_thompson_085 – 2015-10-16T06:27:24.530

You probably (but not necessarily) have a bad drive. You should copy your files off asap. If you randomly get errors on certain files mentioning the wrong disk being in the drive then your drive will very soon become read-only and later die completely. The best way to copy a ton of files is using ROBOCOPY. Open a new command window (you can use Win+Rand type cmd in the Run... box) and then run these commands:

cd %USERPROFILE%\documents
mkdir dump
robocopy /mir /r:2 X:\ dump

replacing X: with you drives path. After a while of copying you will have all of your non-corrupt files in a folder called dump in your documents. r:2 is important because robocopy will retry a failed copy one million times before giving up by default, which means over a year with the standard 30 second delay.

SilentVoid

Posted 2015-10-14T10:01:51.020

Reputation: 247

Just to clarify, the new folder should be on a different drive or memory stick. It would be a good idea to stop writing to this memory stick. If the problem is that the stick is starting to fail, it may be possible to recover "missing" files via a low-level scraping with a program like Recuva. But any new writing to the stick is likely to over-write any recoverable files. – fixer1234 – 2015-10-15T03:11:27.843

thanks for your comments but I did not understant how to do "make a new folder in you're documents, and in the new files parent shift+right click and select open command prompt. Then run this command:" thanks for more explanation. – Mezgeen Dosky – 2015-10-15T14:34:38.197

@MezgeenDosky I clarified the answer some. – SilentVoid – 2015-10-15T15:19:42.477

Thanks for your comments. I would like to tell you I used this code chkdsk /x /f h: to find the corrupted files and folders. during the process I see " the corruption was found " for the empty folders. What I have to do now to bring back the corrupted files and folders as arranged in my memory . thanks for your help – Mezgeen Dosky – 2015-10-21T21:52:28.037

@mezgeen dosky use file recovery software. If you don't have personal preference on this I recommend TestDisk. – SilentVoid – 2015-10-22T14:40:26.263

@ Fixer1234 and CryptoMin Could you please tell me Recuva recovers data with files names and directory structure?? if not which recovery software do that thanks alot for your help in this matter. – Mezgeen Dosky – 2015-10-28T12:45:38.933