Can't see files in external HDD and they're not hidden!

Status
Not open for further replies.

neotsunami

Distinguished
Oct 24, 2010
1
0
18,510
I have a pretty bizarre problem with my 350GB AData Hard Drive, FAT format. I'm using Windows 7 (which apparently is known to have problems with USB HDDs). Okay, so here's the story:

Yeterday my HDD was working fine. I was moving files and folders around in it, copying things from my PC to it and so forth. I put my computer to sleep and then unplugged my HDD to take it to my office. When I plugged in at my office computer the HDD wasn't labeled and it only showed a single 2GB file called "USBC8T+à.". I tried scanning my drive with an antivirus and it said the drive wasn't accessible. So I brought it back home, thinking it was a problem with my office PC. But the damage was already done, my home computer also only showed the 2GB file.

I clicked on Properties->Tools->Check Now... only clicked on the "Automatically fix file system errors" checkbox and when it was finished it said that nothing was wrong. After that I ran it again but now I clicked both checkboxes, searching and fixing for bad sectors. While that was running my computer decided it was a good idea to have one of it's most annoying and sporadic errors happen...it shut down out of nothing, interrupting the scan. When I restarted it and checked my drive it didn't show the 2GB file anymore. Add to that that when I tried running the error-checking tool again it just closed and didn't say anything. Also, if I just click on Properties, it shows that I have 220GB of used space and about 70GB of free space, So my files are still there. I clicked on Show Hidden Files and Folders and it only shows 5 files: Recycle Bin, Recycle Bin.BIN, System Volume Information, FOUND.000, and FOUND.001 (none of which I have ANY idea what they are and what the files they contain mean).

I then plugged my drive to my other home computer which is running on XP. Tried the error-checking tool again, checking both checkboxes and again it didn't show any problems. After that I ran EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard Professional 4.3.6, and after 7 hours it showed that it found about 1061GB of data to recover. More than three times what my HDD's capacity is! Plus, I honestly didn't understand a thing of what it had found because the folders and files were not called the same and they were simply TOO many. And since it'a a TB of data to recover, I obviously have no space ANYWHERE on any computer to recover that data to. So now I'm running PC Inspector File Recovery 4.0 to see if it has a more understandable solution. Thing is, it'll take 4000+ minutes to finish scanning my drive.

Is there any other explanation or solution for this!? Has this happened to anyone else? Or should I just resign and format my drive and just lose all my files?
 
Solution
Hey man.. the same thing happened to me..so i surfed around the net and this solved my problem.... all credit goes to the guy who answered my question

1. click start>>run>>type in "cmd"
2. type the location of your flash drive.. e.g. "d:", "e:", "f:", etc..
3. type "dir /ah"
*you will now see the files/folders with hidden attributes
4. type "attrib [name of file/folder] -r -a -s -h"
*if you're going to unhide files, you should type the whole name plus the extension (format).. example "attrib party.jpg -r -a -s -h"
**if you have folders with 6 characters and above, type the first 6 characters then "~1".. example for folder named "birthday"
"attrib birthd~1 -r -a -s -h"
5. you should repeatedly type dir /ah after unhiding some...

whirlpooldemons

Distinguished
Dec 21, 2011
1
0
18,510
There is an alternative method through which you can make the device to view its contents. All you need to do is to:

Click on the start button.
Go to to My computer option.
Then organize to the option.
Go to folder and search options.
Click on View Tab.
Uncheck the Hide empty drives in computer folder.
Click Ok.
 

Harhal

Honorable
Mar 17, 2013
2
0
10,510
I Faced the same problem with my external harddrive.
After going to numerous post on net could not find a solution. Then tried some work around myself and got solution to viewing your files and recovering them.

A very simple and straight forward ways.
For this you need to have winrar installed.
Start winrar
click up sign next to address bar
keep clicking the sign till you reach My computer and all drives are visible below.
Then click on the hard drive where you face this problem.
you would see folders and files all related to system.
you need to click on the first item in the list with Hard drive icon.
all you content would be there.

you can then create arches of the files on your PC.
And then extract the files from the archives.

 

Hone Mendaki

Honorable
Apr 4, 2013
5
0
10,510


 

Ian Mathew

Honorable
Apr 10, 2013
2
0
10,520
Hey man.. the same thing happened to me..so i surfed around the net and this solved my problem.... all credit goes to the guy who answered my question

1. click start>>run>>type in "cmd"
2. type the location of your flash drive.. e.g. "d:", "e:", "f:", etc..
3. type "dir /ah"
*you will now see the files/folders with hidden attributes
4. type "attrib [name of file/folder] -r -a -s -h"
*if you're going to unhide files, you should type the whole name plus the extension (format).. example "attrib party.jpg -r -a -s -h"
**if you have folders with 6 characters and above, type the first 6 characters then "~1".. example for folder named "birthday"
"attrib birthd~1 -r -a -s -h"
5. you should repeatedly type dir /ah after unhiding some files/folders so you'll know if they're now working or not..
6. now check you flash drive.. it should be there..
 
Solution

Joe Ouma

Honorable
Dec 11, 2013
1
0
10,510
This worked like magic, Thanks Ian

1. click start>>run>>type in "cmd"
2. type the location of your flash drive.. e.g. "d:", "e:", "f:", etc..
3. type "dir /ah"
*you will now see the files/folders with hidden attributes
4. type "attrib [name of file/folder] -r -a -s -h"
*if you're going to unhide files, you should type the whole name plus the extension (format).. example "attrib party.jpg -r -a -s -h"
**if you have folders with 6 characters and above, type the first 6 characters then "~1".. example for folder named "birthday"
"attrib birthd~1 -r -a -s -h"
5. you should repeatedly type dir /ah after unhiding some files/folders so you'll know if they're now working or not..
6. now check you flash drive.. it should be there..[/quotemsg]

 

Al Chuaz

Honorable
Dec 21, 2013
11
0
10,510


That didn't work for me. :( Here is the message I got when I tried it:


Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Chuaz>e:

E:\>dir /ah
Volume in drive E has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 1AFC-2847

Directory of E:\

File Not Found

E:\>
 

Imaan

Reputable
May 25, 2014
2
0
4,510



Hi Whirlpool

I found your solution to be the easiest and it solved my problem although you might not have explained it so well.
Here are the steps to follow to make the files visible:
1. Click on "Start" and select "Control Panel"
2. Open "Folder Options"
3. Click on the "View" tab
4. Tick or select " Show hidden files, folders and drives"
5. Click on "Apply"
6. Click on "Ok"
All the invisible folders should now be visible
 

Imaan

Reputable
May 25, 2014
2
0
4,510



Hi there, I found your solution to be the easiest and it solved my problem, although you did not explain very well.
Here is the step by step way to make the invisible files visible:
1. Click on "Start"
2. Select "Control Panel"
3. Open "Folder Options"
4.Click on the "View" tab
5. Tick/select the"Show hidden files, folder and drives"
6. Click on "Apply"
7. Click on "Ok"

All the hidden folders and files should now be visible.
 

Laurane

Reputable
Jun 25, 2014
2
0
4,510


 

Laurane

Reputable
Jun 25, 2014
2
0
4,510
Thank you so much Imaan! Your instructions were so clear and it worked for me!! I was devastated that I had lost all my hard work... and then I tried your recommendation. Thank you for sharing!
:)
 

Rakesh Halder

Reputable
Aug 13, 2014
1
0
4,510


Thank you for your solution.....
 

pv29

Reputable
Aug 17, 2014
1
0
4,510
oh thanks so much for the solution Ian. so properly explained.

Priya




 

jmwagwabi

Reputable
Sep 9, 2014
2
0
4,510


 

Anurag Kumar

Reputable
Nov 16, 2014
1
0
4,510


Hey bro, many thanks you solved my proble. thanks again.
 

Raffaela Sacha

Reputable
Jun 30, 2015
3
0
4,510


 

Raffaela Sacha

Reputable
Jun 30, 2015
3
0
4,510
I also find this same problem with my sd card in camera , it shows a file named " USBC@->.... etc " i've worked out everything above but it failed i couldn't view those files anyway . Plese help me to find a soln....
 

QVMaster

Distinguished
Jul 24, 2015
1
0
18,510
Hi, I searched and did all suggested way and failed :( that was so crazy but finally I decided to shutdown computer (the hard drive can't be remove safe and I saw message about that is in use), remove external hard and attach it to other USB port, Amazing my files came back, I don't know what was happen but I decide to share it maybe help someone. Other thing I want to suggest (maybe not so related to this question) is a great tool that names is Windows Directory Statistic, As I not prefer to use most of this tools but it seems to be great and I think is rectification of windows lake about folder sizes and you will have wide and integrate sight of you drive space, You can download it from here
 

Prajwal Premsagar

Reputable
Aug 14, 2015
1
0
4,510
sometimes viruse will convert the file folders as OS files

first control panel folder options
then sect view options

NOW IMPORTANT *****

look here and uncheck the point - Hide protected operating system files(recommended)

now all files folders will come up


now change the attribute of each one and remove hide option.
or else install software attribute changer and select all file folder and change hide attribute of all at once.
 

RevTimTom

Reputable
Sep 28, 2015
1
0
4,510
I found that if you go:
~My computer
~Organize
~Folder and search options
~View
~Tick the box " show hidden files, folders, and drives"
~Untick the box "hide protected operating system files"
~apply
~ ok


Then you will be able to see the folders even though they are slightly see through. Make new folders and move the files into the new folders that you created.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.