I mapped a drive on my home network and some files disappeared in the original f

bksutherland

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Dec 21, 2012
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I mapped a drive to my laptop from my desktop to copy 1 folder from the mapped drive. When completed I found files missing from the original that i do not see on either laptop or desktop. Where did they go and how can i get them back?
 

MC_K7

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Try to run an undelete software on the desktop, there are many free ones.

As a safety precaution when making a big transfer it's always safer to make a copy instead of a move (a move could be either a drag & drop or cut & paste). Because with a move operation it can be destructive as the files are automatically removed from the previous location, but what if something goes wrong like one of the computer crashes during the transfer? You're almost certain to loose files then. With a copy operation, you can verify that all files were transferred successfully and manually delete them after.

But hopefully an undelete software could save the day for you.
 

Skippy27

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Nov 23, 2009
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There are a couple things here that need to be considered.

#1 If you opened the folder with the files copied as a shared folder, then it does not move them to recycle if you delete or move them.

#2 Is it possible the folder that they are at now has a different folder view setting that may have them hidden so when you look in that folder they are not appearing?

If #1 is the case then you will have to get some file recovery software to run on that computer.

If #2 is not the case then you did one of 2 things. You deleted them or you moved them. This could mean you moved them instead of copying them or you accidentally moved them to another folder within that folder. There simply is no other way about it as files dont just disappear (outside of disk issues). See my suggestion for #1.
 

bksutherland

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Dec 21, 2012
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Thx to all pls let me clarify .... i mapeed a drive on my pc from my laptop, the original folder had 5 subfolders and maybe 10 mostly PDF files.... i copied the files from 1 of the subfolders to the laptop...once done i see all the files in the subfolder on both pc and laptop....all the files in the main folder were gone i.e the PDFs...none of what i did or attempted to do had any bearing on the files in the main folder....
 

bksutherland

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Dec 21, 2012
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Suddenly the files re-appeared but they are semi-visible shaded so to speak... I copied them to a thumb and back into another folder and they open okay ... i still wonder where they went or if they did not go they were somehow there but unseen ...their ghostly appearance indicates something changed during the subfolder copy...i have not been drinking and I'm resonbly good with pc's ....i know there is a reason somewhere and still looking