Question Weird issue with missing files on computer

[dragonfly22588]

Ok, I should preface this with I'm fairly knowledgeable about certain computer issues but not others. Can someone explain to me why is it a lot of folders that I know I have saved stuff in appear to be empty? About 1 year ago I built myself a new computer, I transferred everything over mostly by saving it on a USB and then dragging the file to the desktop of my computer. The files appeared and were accessible. For the longest time I noticed this icon on the folders which at one point indicated saving things to somewhere (I think but can't remember clearly) I think it mentioned my storage capacity was near but I didn't want to pay for more. After some time that icon stopped showing up but months later (now) it seems that in almost every folder I have the older stuff is like gone. Like the folder is there but the contents are empty. Some folders will appear empty but there are files in there I can't access.

I am really hoping I can get this back. I have no idea what happened and hope it's some strange cloud thing that I just have to check but I have no clue what to do and I can't seem to determine the cause. I am so confused by this if it is. I know for sure all these documents were what I thought saved on my PC hard drive and I know I didn't accidentally delete them. Please help as there are some important docs. Thanks.

 

[Lafong]

Do you knowingly use any "cloud" services AT ALL?

 

[dragonfly22588]

Ok yes I think I inadvertently signed up for Microsoft One Drive through some digging around. If that's the case I'm assuming that could explain missing items because when I go it says I've reached capacity and I do remember now seeing little green and red clouds next to folders. This was never my intention to put it in the cloud so how do I ensure it's not saved to the cloud?

 

[Lafong]

My first inclination would be to ensure that it IS saved to the cloud.

If it is, the presumably you can retrieve it back to your own hard drive.

And then quite possibly do whatever is necessary to get One Drive entirely out of your life.

I'm sure it can be turned off, but I deliberately know NOTHING about One Drive other than I don't want it.

 

[Ralston18]

Another suggestion: avoid drag and drop / Move.

All too easy to be "off a bit" and the files end up somewhere else. Or get corrupted in transit.

Do through backups first to ensure the the files are available away from their current host PC. Verify that the backups are recoverable and readable.

Then use Copy & Paste. Ensure that the pasted files are where you wanted them to be. And again, readable.