Hello, everybody. I am trying to figure out what to do to recover data which seems to have vanished from the d: partition after I ran a free AVG PC Tuneup which included a DEFRAG.
A folder containing lots of sub-folders and somewhere between 2-4 GB of data I had just spent months recovering from two other drives (! yes!) and reorganizing, disappeared, or was found missing shortly after I ran the free AVG PC tuneup. I know I didn't delete it.
In an effort to find it, I searched the partition with keywords to try to locate it, and to locate sub-files I knew the names of. Nothing.
I then searched EVERY other folder on that partition, manually, to see if it had been accidentally slid into it. No, it hadn't.
I then used RECUVA free data recovery software, and dredged up ALL files on both c: and d: that had ever been deleted and deposited them ALL onto an external HITACHI drive. I searched ALL those files manually, not a single remote trace of the missing folder or its contents. These searches took place within 3-4 days of the AVG free defrag. Also I had recently used a document from that folder, just before the defrag, so I know it was there. I know I didn't delete it.
I then used free Disk Investigator software, and surprise, surprise, it located the missing FOLDER including its PATH on the d: partition where it was supposed to be, but where it was now missing. Here are two print-screens showing the folder:
In that print-screen, you will see highlighted in red:
"188: D:\HCC\"
-- that's the MISSING FOLDER! HCC on the D: partition, where it disappeared from. The rest of the path in the print-screens refers to subfolders, i.e.:
188: D:\HCC\0001 - HCC grid notes in typed form - A1 - Lenovo -- that's most of the name of a subfolder.
Below that, at 189: we can see the rest of that subfolder's name, A1 - Lenovo - HD2\ -- basically, it refers to the name I gave a drive that I had recovered data from. This is then followed by the name of one of countless documents contained in it.
The folder HCC contains hundreds of sub-folders, some of which in turn contain hundreds of sub-folders. It took me MONTHS to organize it after recovering data from in fact a virus-attacked drive, plus an older drive that had crashed and had to be recovered as well. And it cost me a bundle I couldn't afford to spend. So, here we go again!
Moreover, this never showed up in Recuva. Recuva NEVER found the "HCC" folder on the D: partition, or anything in it, nor any documents out of it. Not a trace. I was delighted that there was no trace, because it made me think, it's not gone, it's in here somewhere, I just have to find it!
It makes me think that AVG PC Tuneup grabbed my "HCC" folder and shoved it into a hole of some kind, making it invisible! I don't know what else to say, I'm not a tekkie, I have no clue what I am looking at. I am describing it here in the hope someone can kindly help me figure it out, and how to get it back, complete with my folder structure.
The problem is this. [a] I don't understand the implications of the discovery of this folder and path made by Disk Invesigator. What does it mean? Does it mean the folder is still HERE, INTACT, somewhere in my D: partition, but just invisible? Or, has it been shredded by AVG PC Tuneup defrag? Or has it been shredded by normal usage of the disk in the days up until I realized the folder was missing?
Moreover, I have no clue how to actually USE Disk Investigator to RECOVER the folder, I am not even sure it's capable of doing so, and I might destroy the folder in trying to tinker with it. The help file in Disk Investigator is totally vague, and the program itself is very esoteric if you are not a tekkie.
And, I am no tekkie, I have no clue what kind of measure is required to RECOVER my HCC FOLDER intact with all of its sub-folder structure and documents, which represents months of "recovery" work from two different crashed hard drives.
Could someone please tell me WHAT kind of service, at the most economical price, could recover my HCC folder and its structure and contents, that seems to have become "invisible" on my d: partition.
I don't know what to do any more. All help and advice will be appreciated.
P.S. No replies. Not EVEN the guy who invented Disk Investigator. I sent him this forum link, no answer. Apparently he doesn't even know how to get files back with his own system. I've tried it repeatedly for hours on end, and there is no apparent way to recover anything that is found using Disk Investigator. After you hit the button "Locate them" re the files it finds, NOTHING HAPPENS.
Anyway, hot tip: don't use AVG free PC TuneUp, it may destroy GIGS of your files while proceeding to De-Frag your system by surprise.
A MIRACLE HAS OCCURRED: WINDOWS CHKDSK automatically coughed up my missing folder this morning, plus a few others I didn't know were gone. The HCC folder had 7 gigs of files in it, not the 2-4 I had thought!
CHKDSK had run a few times after the AVG PC Tuneup, but until now it had not restored any files. I didn't even know CHKDSK was capable of that. It was weeks ago that the folder vanished. I cried. And I think I will cry again, now that it's back!
I was just about to go spend a small fortune on technical recovery. I have been spared!
WARNING: don't use AVG PC Tuneup, from the AVG antivirus people! I do, however, still use their antivirus software, which works fine. But I will never run their PC Tuneup again.
I will also always BACK UP everything before attempting any kind of defrag, as it was apparently during the AVG PC Tuneup defrag that my folders disappeared off the d: drive.
HAPPY ENDING!
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Topic: Major Folder vanishes after AVG PC DEFRAG
