Account Added - Shortcuts, folders and files disappeared - HELP!!!

[Khaotic]

I added a user account (admin rights) and activated the guest account.

After doing so numerous shortcuts and a very important folder disappeared
from the main administrator's desktop!

It didn't show up on either of the new accounts either.

This is boggling my mind.

The disappearance of the shortcuts, folders and files doesn't seem to have
shrunk the amount of space available on my hard drive (i.e. there's no more
space if they were deleted), but I can't find them anywhere on the hard
drive or in the recycle bin.

In one particular folder I had numerous subfolders, some with many .mp3
files.

That particular folder was probably close to 500MB or so ... now POOF!

I've tried using system restore to no avail.

Recycle bin ... nothing there either.

I got rid of both the guest account and the other account I created hoping
maybe that would make the missing folder and files show up ... nope.

What am I missing here????

I've also unhide everything that was marked as hidden ... no luck.

Any chance the folder and its files could have been put in a temp file or
somehow backed up???

Any and all help is greatly needed!!!!!!

Reply to post and feel free to e-mail me direct at (e-mail address removed)

 

[Khaotic]

Thanks for the info, but nope ... the .mp3 files don't show up using that
method either.

It's as if the file folder I created on the desktop prior to creating the
additional account was backed up, but it didn't show backup.

The file folder in question shows up under documents and settings under the
folders of the account I created then deactivatived. The folder was labeled
"recent" and I found it when I looked under hidden folders, but it doesn't
have any contents and is 0KB. Just a "ghost" of its former self.

It's as if XP made a copy of the file to put into the newly created account
and didn't get the job done ... in doing so it wiped out the original.

I don't know what's the deal. The fact that the space available on the hard
drive hasn't changed makes me think the folder and its contents were backed
up somehow into a folder as some sort of archive file or something. I don't
know anything about this possibility or anything about how XP duplicates
folders from the original admininistrator account to a newly created
administrator account. That's where I think the hiccup that ate the folder
and its contents happen.

Again, helppppppppp!!!!


Hi

Can't you find any of those mp3 files with a search in WE for *.mp3? If the
space on the hard disk hasn't disappeared they should be there somewhere.
Try the following from a C:\ command prompt - just in case the attributes
have changed for some reason:

dir /a/s *.mp3

Will

 

[Malke]

Thanks for the info, but nope ... the .mp3 files don't show up using
that method either.

It's as if the file folder I created on the desktop prior to creating
the additional account was backed up, but it didn't show backup.

The file folder in question shows up under documents and settings
under the
folders of the account I created then deactivatived. The folder was
labeled "recent" and I found it when I looked under hidden folders,
but it doesn't
have any contents and is 0KB. Just a "ghost" of its former self.

It's as if XP made a copy of the file to put into the newly created
account and didn't get the job done ... in doing so it wiped out the
original.

Hi

Can't you find any of those mp3 files with a search in WE for *.mp3?
If the space on the hard disk hasn't disappeared they should be there
somewhere. Try the following from a C:\ command prompt - just in case
the attributes have changed for some reason:

dir /a/s *.mp3

(various snippages)

Most mysterious. At this point, you might try some data recovery
software. Don't download/install it to the hard drive with the problem!
I use Ontrack's Easy Recovery Pro, but I'm sure there are others.
Depending on how important these files are to you, you might want to
check with a local computer repair shop (not a CompUSA or Best Buy) and
see if they can do software recovery. Of course, there is always
DriverSavers (www.drivesavers.com), a premier heavy-duty data recovery
firm, but they aren't inexpensive.

Good luck,

Malke