external drive showing empty Documents folders

[Windcaid]

This has happened a couple of times now. Backed up a clients old hard drive from a Win 7 system to an external drive. However, when then plugging it into a Win 10 system for recovery of the files, all the folders in the Documents folders are there, but no files. The space however has been taken up so I guess they are there somewhere. Tried taking ownership etc but no joy there. Anyone else experienced this? Solution would be greatly appreciated. When checking back on the original HDD (after installing in an external USB caddy) the files are all there.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Windcaid.

Basically the issue when backing up a system drive is connected with proper permissions so your guess with taking ownership of the drive was a good one. However since it didn't work, you could try changing the following folder options: open Windows Explorer -> tools -> folder options -> view. There you should select "show hidden files, folders and drives" and unmark "hide protected operating system files (recommended)", to see if that will make the files show up.

If that doesn't work you could try accessing the drive via a data recovery program, to see if you'd be able to recover it this way: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1644496/lost-data-recovery.html & http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm.

Another option would be accessing the drive via Ubuntu Live USB/DVD, to see if that OS would be able to see the files.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how it goes.
Boogieman_WD