Can't See Files on Hard Drive in Windows 7

[TreyWingbat]

One of my hard drives isn't showing any files. It's a drive full of just media files, and is connected via SATA to my computer. Connecting it via USB to another computer didn't make any of the files show up either. Windows 7 did state there was a slight problem with the drive recently, and I agreed to let it fix it (I had a similar message with another drive recently too - but that one's fine now). Initially I noticed problems when I couldn't play back some of the media files in Windows Media Player.

The drive letter shows up in Explorer, and it shows the amount of hard drive space used, but again, but none of the files are showing up. When I do select to show hidden files, a few folders do show up (and I think these were generated when I did the quick fix), but I can't access any of those. In Disk Management, it takes forever for the drives to show up when this bad drive is connected. In command prompt, when I run the "dir" command for this drive, none of the files show up either.

So it is strange that it is allowing me to access the drive somewhat, and is showing the amount of space used, but I can't see any of the files I want to on it. How would I go about fixing this?

 

[Ironsounds]

Right Click on "Computer" chose "Manage" under "Storage" click on "Disk Management" what information is shown for that drive? is the file system changed to"RAW" if so... you will need to get you drive "FAT" table reloaded from the drives backup "FAT"... or extract the files with a program to re-cover files with the proper "File System".

 

[TreyWingbat]

Under "Disk Management" (and this time, all my drives showed up quickly, including the faulty one), it shows Healthy (Active, Primary Partition). This is similar to what is shown for my other working drives. The name of the drive also shows up. But again, there are still no files appearing in Windows Explorer, even though it shows how much is used and how much is free (and it's accurate based on how many files I believe are in there).

In this past, when a drive failed on me, it wasn't accessible at all, and I knew it was gone. But here, all signs point to the drive still working well - I just can't see any files!

 

[Ironsounds]

hello... I ask agian... what file system is described under "Disk management"?

 

[TreyWingbat]

Sorry, it shows NTFS for the drive.

 

[TreyWingbat]

I did do a virus scan, and it found nothing. I haven't written anything to the drive. When I checked "Show Hidden Files" in Windows, it didn't show my files either.

Luckily, I do have 2 backups of this drive (as I do everything else), so I'm not overly worried (I definitely learned my lesson earlier when I had another drive fail).

But it is still strange that it shows it as healthy as data on it, but I can't see any files - never seen that before.

I will try using a recovery program and see how that goes. I guess there is nothing else to try at this point.

 

[TreyWingbat]

So I checked "Show hidden files and folders", as well as unchecked "Hide extensions for known files types" and "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)" in the Tools / Folder Options / View Tab in Windows Explorer, and I found all my files in one of the folders I wasn't seeing before. There were several folders that seemed to have been generated as a result of this hard drive issue, and one of them contained all my files.

I then brought them all back to the root folder, and I can access them, although at times, the drive is still giving me problems. And a few times, when trying to access the files, the BSOD came up, with a "Driver Power State Failure" message. I don't have any OS files on here, just media files, so what could be causing this?

 

[TreyWingbat]

This morning I got the BSOD with "Page Fault in Non Paged Area", although I wasn't using the drive this time (although it was connected), whereas last time, I was.

 

[TreyWingbat]

No, I didn't hide them accidentally, they were somehow put into some kind of "recovered" folder that was hidden.

But these BSODs continue... I've had to unplug the hard drives from the computer, and that is the only way the BSODs don't come up.

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... sounds like it time to re-format and re-load your OS... start clean and fresh after a problem involving a recovery.

 

[TreyWingbat]

I do have the data backed up twice, so I'm not too worry about lost data in this case. I do use an anti-virus tool too that regularly runs scans as well, so I'm not sure why all my files were put into a hidden folder.

Having stated this, I did use Windows Repair with the Windows 7 Installation Disc, and it seems like it may have fixed things, although it stated it found nothing wrong. I did have 2 different BSOD messages as stated above, and was trying to repair the boot.ini file, and the ntoskrnl.exe file, but maybe they got repaired when I ran the Repair Tool (knock on wood).

 

[VanSpector]

i encounter this error as well.. i follow some post like "going to organize, show hidden files and etc" but its doesn't work.. i figure it out when i search the files it seems to be there..

and i came up a solution...

i have a program named "WinDirStat".

if you don't have just google it and its free to download.

open "WinDirStat"

and scan the drive u have a problem with (e,g. Drive G

now u can see your files there... open the main folder its actually a "drive icon that has no name".

right click that drive and click open.

you will be directed to that folder.

select all and then cut.

and go to my computer

and open the said drive and paste there.

afterward, go backt WinDirStat and delete the empty drive icon. (its up to u if u want to delete or not.)


its works for me.. hopefully it works for you too..

 

[Hawkeye22]

If you are getting a lot of corrupt files you may also want to run memtest86+. Faulty or misconfigured ram can cause corrupt files as well as a host of other problems.

 

[Siva Reddy]

I too had some similar problem ! I tried many thing like "show hidden files/filders", search by file name, use `Recuva` recovery tool ... But none had worked for me.

Finally I tried "Check drive for file system errors" option and magically it did work for me.
Now I can view all my files.

 

[jackhoro91]

There are many reasons which may causes files to be hidden or lost on Windows computer hard drive. You will have to go through the possible reasons and solutions to troubleshoot the issue.

1. Most of the time, the files are hidden for some reason. You may try to show hidden files. You may try method below
http://goo.gl/nClNw5

2. You can see whether files are lost because that some program deleted them without notify you. you may recover them with some recovery program. you may follow this guide
http://goo.gl/Z85jj

3. Hard drive is infected by virus, which hides the files, you may try to show them through command line. In command window, enter attrib -h -r -s /s /d H:\*.* Take note that we assume the removeable drive is H:, if it's other drive letter, please change accordingly. e.g. if it's G:, then the commend will be attrib -h -r -s /s /d G:\*.* Press "Return" keyboard key to run the commend.

4. You may try to kill the virus with some anti virus software, Microsoft Security Essential will be useful.
http://goo.gl/rx1KFq

 

[tolpuddleman]

Did you accidentally hide them?
You could show them like this:
Start => Run => Type in “control folders” and press “OK” =>Click “View” and hook “Show hidden files and folders”=> Press “OK”

This was just what I was looking for too ! Thanks good buddy.

 

[Akshit Vaidya]

A friend of mine used my HDD to watch movies on a TV. Now whenever i connect my HDD to computer or a laptop, it indicates the data being present on the HDD but doesnt show any. There is only a .cm0013 file on HDD now. What to do ?

 

[sydykov]

Under "Disk Management" (and this time, all my drives showed up quickly, including the faulty one), it shows Healthy (Active, Primary Partition). This is similar to what is shown for my other working drives. The name of the drive also shows up. But again, there are still no files appearing in Windows Explorer, even though it shows how much is used and how much is free (and it's accurate based on how many files I believe are in there).

In this past, when a drive failed on me, it wasn't accessible at all, and I knew it was gone. But here, all signs point to the drive still working well - I just can't see any files!

old post - i know but maybe it will help someone.
I have had the same problem - and i found a solution You simply need to change the drive letter. After which win7 will popup "a new drive is connected" and the drive will be displayed and accessible.
steps - right click "computer", "manage", under storage "disk management" - select the volume that is not displaying change the drive letter (right click) "change drive letter or path" choose a letter and thats it!

 

[bootattoo]

A friend of mine used my HDD to watch movies on a TV. Now whenever i connect my HDD to computer or a laptop, it indicates the data being present on the HDD but doesnt show any. There is only a .cm0013 file on HDD now. What to do ?

This is what has happened to me!!
I have tried reassigning a letter, doesnt work!
Cant find where I can do anything with hidden files/ folders- HELP?
I have tried connected the external harddrive internally and running HDD regenerator which has come back with a few bad sectors. Scan and reparied again and now there is none.

All I want is to copy some of the data off and I can scrap the external HD after.

 

[john_ayrton]

Go to Organize > Folder and Search Options
In View Tab, Untick "Hide protected operating system files"

 

[ghiero13]

i encounter this error as well.. i follow some post like "going to organize, show hidden files and etc" but its doesn't work.. i figure it out when i search the files it seems to be there..

and i came up a solution...

i have a program named "WinDirStat".

if you don't have just google it and its free to download.

open "WinDirStat"

and scan the drive u have a problem with (e,g. Drive G

now u can see your files there... open the main folder its actually a "drive icon that has no name".

right click that drive and click open.

you will be directed to that folder.

select all and then cut.

and go to my computer

and open the said drive and paste there.

afterward, go backt WinDirStat and delete the empty drive icon. (its up to u if u want to delete or not.)


its works for me.. hopefully it works for you too..

Thanks for this suggestion! It really helped me God bless you!

 

[Rudi Kurniawan]

WinDirStat really works!!
Googling to download from sorceforge.net
after finished downloaded, run.
Click on the Drive you have a problem then open (ok)
It shows you all the folders completely with size.
Compare this folder with your windows explorer.
In windows explorer shows an icon (not a yellow folder) which not showing the size and could not be opened through windows explorer.
But in the WinDirStat, the folder appears in "the real folder" (yellow folder) with size has been "stolen". Right click and click 'Explore Here'.
It shows the all folder in this file on the windows exlplores look. Mine was all backup document from my Drive C.
Then I delete all these files (you can check through the same folder in the Drive C to make sure they are still there before you delete the back up files).
After that, all "stolen" space has come back.