All data deleted from pc storage drive AND external storage drive

[Journey748]

PC was working fine yesterday. Got up this morning and fund the pc had rebooted...thought it was a MS update. Have a C:// drive on this and a large storage drive ...D://    I also had an external hard drive attached. I discovered that the c:// was in tact and functioning....internet ok BUT all but about 5 folders /files were deleted from BOTH Drives!!  There were a couple hundred I am sure….Can't get through to HP at all...…...virus related I suppose.....ANY idea what could have happened? I am afraid to a try to save anything … I lost a book I was writing etc and much work related stuff!  ANY IDEAS pls??

[WAWood]

@Journey748 

 I know this is distressing -- but take heart because it's not quite as bad as it seems.  Why" Because when files and folders disappear from your drives, they are not actually GONE; instead, they are partially hidden from Windows.  So, it no longer sees them.

It COULD very well have been an automatic Windows Update and there have been problems with some of them recently where folks found their personal folders and files suddenly missing.  Might have been what happened to you.

You will need to lay your hands on another external drive because you will need it to do data recovery of your existing drives.

Once you have that, do the following:
1) Download and install this utility on a working PC http://www.majorgeeks.com/news/story/recover_data_in_3_steps_with_minitool_power_data_recovery_free_...
2) Run the data recovery utility to see what can be retrieved from the old drive.

If that tool does not find what you need, an alternative is Recuva http://www.piriform.com/recuva

And, if that does not work well, the best tool out there is this one, but only the trial version is free http://www.file-recovery.com/

The in-depth recovery scans the better product do, especially with 1TB drives, will take HOURS.  So, it would be best to run those scans overnight and check on recovery status in the morning.

Good Luck

[Journey748]

Thank you so much for your reply. I ordered a new external HD and will follow your instructions when it arrives on Friday. Any way to STOP windows updates? I lost another pc not too long ago to a windows update problem!  That's when I got this new HP one and now it seems major problems with this one and updates. At this moment I desperately need my info as I am holding seminars etc. re: anxiety and the pandemic and had lots of info saved!

[WAWood]

@Journey748 

Answer -- not easily!  With Win10, MS removed all the previous easy methods.

Here are some things you can try:  https://www.windowscentral.com/how-stop-updates-installing-automatically-windows-10

Good Luck

[bigfoxy]

my problem similar but worse.

I could not get off my screen a blank attachment.

i. turned off computer, restarted and everything is gone, files, music, photos, etc.

everything but recycle bin.

[Journey748]

PS...I idid buy the recovery software and it brought back many files, but unfortunately NOT any of the ones I really needed 😞  In some instances the folder was there but the  proper info within the folder was not there or it was corrupted. GOOD software to have on hand, however.

[WAWood]

@bigfoxy 

Don't hijack other folk's threads -- it's rude!  Start your own thread for your own problem.

[WAWood]

@Journey748 

Unfortunately, they generally can not recover everything. But it's good to see you got SOME of it back, at least.

IF you keep the external drive connected all the time, then have it turned off when you aren't using it.  This will prevent any startup issues from corrupting the file system on the drive.

[Journey748]

Once again, thank you for your invaluable info! I am a bit confused about this reply.....Do you mean keep the external drive connected all the time and turn the PC off at night when not using it OR disconnecting the external drive when not using it? It's a bit confusing....Thank you in advance for your answer.  

[WAWood]

@Journey748 

Sorry for the confusion -- I meant disconnect the external drive when not using it, or simply turn it off.

I have three external drives connected to my desktop and they are all turned off except when I am using them.