Data files deleted from My Documents, but file structure is intact

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G

Guest

I have a user who had all of their data files deleted from their My Documents
directory, but all of the directories are still intact. I don't know which
exact files were deleted and which were left, but I do know that image files,
all MS Office data files, her Outlook email data files were among those
deleted. The user did not try to delete any of the files on purpose and did
not delete the profile or change the profile or its location. The user
doesn't know exactly when it happened so I can't blame a specific MS update
or third-party software program.

This is an XP SP2 machine that is current on patches and has current Norton
Security/Firewall, XP Firewall enabled, and a few different
anti-adware/spyware programs. None of them have found any sign of a
virus/trojan/worm with multiple scans. Data files were not affected on any
other directory or drive in the machine. A test image was placed back in one
of the affected directories and nothing has happened to it since this one
event.

When a file recovery program is run you can see the deleted files, but when
the recovery process tries to retrieve them (to a different drive) the
process fails and error messages about the boot log are displayed. System
restore is enabled but when trying to go back to a restore point, the machine
reboots in the middle of the process and will not complete.

Any ideas on specific things that would/could cause this, how to prevent it
from happening again, and restoring the files?

TIA,
Benjamin
 
What file recovery program did you use..?
Have you tried running an OEM diagnostic utility on the HDD..?
Did you run chkdsk to see any errors or chkdsk /f from the command prompt on
the problem drive/partition..?
Cheers
j;-j
 
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