[Windows Central Question]

My hard drive shows 20 more GB of space but everything is gone that I used or saved on the computer. I did not back up everything since the info I read said I would not loose this information.

Is there any way to retrieve it or roll back the hard drive to Windows 7 and retrieve the data I lost?

[vipme]

If you performed a upgrade to Windows 10, or a custom install of Windows 10 on the same partition as the previous Windows installation without doing a clean install, then you will have a C:\Windows.old folder in your new installation afterwards. The Windows.old folder contains a copy of the previous Windows installation, and can be quite large in Be sure to copy any files that you may want out of the Windows.old folder before you delete it. Once deleted, they are gone.

If you delete the Windows.old folder, you will no longer be able to go back to a previous version of Windows.

[Ken Pappas]

I did the upgrade and see a folder, Windows.old but all the folders are empty and I hve not touched any of them? Where are my files? Very angry right now if this upgrade wipped them all out.

[David Beach1]

In the exact same boat as Ken Pappas (above). Except, if my files have been deleted, I'm gonna burn this boat to the ground!!
Upgraded from 7 to 10 last night. Sat down just now to do some work.
Where's my work?
Where's the last two years of photographs that I use in my daily work - to make a living?
Where's my novel that I've spent the last two years writing?
If backing these things up was so important..., why wasn't that ever mentioned in the installer app?
I NEED ANSWERS NOW

[David Beach1]

Blow out the match!
Files have been found
Located in: Nerwork/...

scared the bejeezers out of me

[David Beach1]

Ken, I was right there with you buddy.
After several failed searches, I finally found all my files located in Network/
Like a said, the search function was not returning any results (don't know why not).

I'm a home user with no servers (that I know of), so I don't know what network or directory this is referring to?!?
But I looked and there they were. Take a look and see. If they aren't there then, I don't know.
I sure wish you the best

[Rising Mos]

People: Backup important files :) a memory stick costs a couple of dollars. You should expect your whole computer to burn any day and be ok with it (data wise).

Yes, windows 10 upgrade shouldn't do this and it is not an excuse for it. Please go to the feedback app and write your story there. Give feedback.

Also, there are free online storage. You can use OneDrive. Although I know some will not want to put some files in the cloud.

[Karim Sumar]

Yes I had the same problem. It was my daughter's laptop. I appear to have lost my music files, word documents, photos. I was using W8 which I could not stand. I upgraded from W8->W10 (using MS Link from their page). The process took about 1.5 hours but all was well. What I will say is I was most impressed with the interface and the black tile contrast to icons looks appealing.

Anyway the the next day I started Windows 10, it said "Windows is updating...." and took a few minutes. Then horrors, I appear to lost everything including Word, Excel, Music, Docs... After booting another time, I finally got it all back....phew! I really don't know what happened!

I am a bit concerned about the stability of W10 and should you be lucky to get your files back, please back up your data. There are teething problems which Microsoft don't want to admit. With respect there billions of people around the world, so it is a challenge for Microsoft.

Thank God, I have all my files back and program back. If W10 updates again, please give it time, then re-start again. Hope that helps. Sorry I don't have a magical solution but just patience. You are not alone in the lost Bermuda file syndrome!

For those anxious to upgrade, I suggest you might want to wait a bit, until Microsoft have sorted the fix. This is why they are delaying the upgrade to everyone in waves!

Has anyone experienced this "Lost and Found " file syndrome?

[Jim Ibrahimi]

Hey guys i had the same issue, but luckily i found all my pics and stuff in:
this pc > local disk (c) > users > public

[Sunstorming]

Backing up is always important and should be done regularly just for cases like this.

When a hard drive fails, what do you do? Yell cause Samsung or whoever made the drive didn't tell you it could fail and you should have a backup?

[Rising Mos]

Yes I had the same problem. It was my daughter's laptop. I appear to have lost my music files, word documents, photos. I was using W8 which I could not stand. I upgraded from W8->W10 (using MS Link from their page). The process took about 1.5 hours but all was well. What I will say is I was most impressed with the interface and the black tile contrast to icons looks appealing.

Anyway the the next day I started Windows 10, it said "Windows is updating...." and took a few minutes. Then horrors, I appear to lost everything including Word, Excel, Music, Docs... After booting another time, I finally got it all back....phew! I really don't know what happened!

I am a bit concerned about the stability of W10 and should you be lucky to get your files back, please back up your data. There are teething problems which Microsoft don't want to admit. With respect there billions of people around the world, so it is a challenge for Microsoft.

Thank God, I have all my files back and program back. If W10 updates again, please give it time, then re-start again. Hope that helps. Sorry I don't have a magical solution but just patience. You are not alone in the lost Bermuda file syndrome!

For those anxious to upgrade, I suggest you might want to wait a bit, until Microsoft have sorted the fix. This is why they are delaying the upgrade to everyone in waves!

Has anyone experienced this "Lost and Found " file syndrome?

Microsoft can only track and fix the bugs that they know about. They have been pretty open about bugs if you followed the last year.

Please use the feedback app to inform them about problems that you encounter. That is the best way.

Regarding waiting: You are better off not upgrading if you would think that waiting will fix all the possible problems on tens of millions of hardware and software configuration upgraded. The best option is to backup and upgrade. Major upgrades from older version always have risks. And in general, backup is a good strategy.

[Christopher Machin]

Recently my fiance upgraded to windows 10. After she installed it and ran it yes we had everything missing(not a big issue since I figured it would return) however during the night she uploaded a ton of pictures from her camera from a recent trip onto the computer. Now the pictures are gone and I can't find them but everything else has been restored. Does anyone have an answer for this conundrum?

[gwbrad]

Hi i had the same problem but i found all my stuff on c/users/myname
also this morning both my laptop and tower had lost all the settings and
on my laptop lost everything out of the start menu plus some icons of the desktop
are missing. everything is still on the computers but i have to search for
them in c drive.

[itsme24u]

Same here. Every time I login it creates a new user account and then deletes all of my documents, photos, bookmarks, program settings, etc...

Will definitely be going back to previous version, this is totally unacceptable. MS still cannot get things right, WOW. Rush this junk to market.

Mine disappeared after a restart.

STAY AWAY PEOPLE, YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOURS WILL BE DELETED.

[heickelrrx]

Same here. Every time I login it creates a new user account and then deletes all of my documents, photos, bookmarks, program settings, etc...

Will definitely be going back to previous version, this is totally unacceptable. MS still cannot get things right, WOW. Rush this junk to market.

Mine disappeared after a restart.

STAY AWAY PEOPLE, YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOURS WILL BE DELETED.

Your files didn't gone but your account data did.you still be able to access your old account data folder and migrate everything.

Just a little tips 4 everyone when you just instal windows. Go to file explorer, then right click folder called document,music,video,picture. Then go to their properties and location tab. Create new folder on another partition and select the new created folder. That way you'll not lose any file even when the OS has problem while keep most application default save location on that folder

[itsme24u]

No they are gone. Trust me I looked in the windows old folder and every other username folder, I am not a noob windows user. The DOCUMENTS are GONE, even used Recuva and Mini Tool Power Data Recovery, scanned my whole drive and all excel and word files are corrupted that it scanned and found, the file names are different too.

Do you work for Microsoft? Sounds to me like you are trying to protect them. I just read about an update bootloop problem.

Stay away people.

[jmshub]

People: Backup important files :) a memory stick costs a couple of dollars. You should expect your whole computer to burn any day and be ok with it (data wise).

Yes, windows 10 upgrade shouldn't do this and it is not an excuse for it. Please go to the feedback app and write your story there. Give feedback.

Also, there are free online storage. You can use OneDrive. Although I know some will not want to put some files in the cloud.

This. This times a thousand. If your files live on one PC and nowhere else, you are always one minor issue away from total catastrophe. Your PC could get stolen, lost, damaged, a virus could wipe your drive, your house could burn down, a hard drive failure, or good old fashioned user error. Between myriad cloud storage solutions and the low cost of ridiculously large USB drives or spare hard drives, you have no excuse to not have your files backed up somewhere.

[heickelrrx]

No they are gone. Trust me I looked in the windows old folder and every other username folder, I am not a noob windows user. The DOCUMENTS are GONE, even used Recuva and Mini Tool Power Data Recovery, scanned my whole drive and all excel and word files are corrupted that it scanned and found, the file names are different too.

Do you work for Microsoft? Sounds to me like you are trying to protect them. I just read about an update bootloop problem.

Stay away people.

The thing is my file isn't gone. I have 6 windows devices here and nothing had such trouble.

My only guess is your files are hidden somewhere.

Or

During setup you choose to don't keep anything instead keep my application and files.

Or

Your harddrive messed up
Even if the data is completely formated. Those 2 tools able to recover the files. I have experimenting to put a file, format the partition, put another files and reformat again. Can recover tose 2 files


And for I'm working at MS I don't mind working there after graduate. But I'm a student right now. And saying that thing really rude

And you claim you're not Noob windows user but not backing up files before upgrading even when MS already told you so hmm intresting

[Mike Jones39]

I created this account to say that before you lose your **** be sure to log off and be sure you select YOUR actual user account:)

[Nasta Sie]

Hi I just encounter this issue. If you can't find your files anywhere (including windows.old folder). Try 'shadow explorer' app, since the deleted files (by the crazy Windows 10 update) will still be kept temporarily until it will be overwriten in the near future, so don't waste any time to get your precious files back. Just simply browse through the folders with your files with this shadow explorer app, and export them back to your computer. I hope this helps.

[SMMA]

pls let me know how you recovered your data because i have searched windows.old and all the folders in that are also empty.

[Clayton Foss]

network/???

[Clayton Foss]

K... (how I fell with this so far)

for those still having issues finding them... here is the file path i found despite opting out of one drive (thanks windows)

network (accept or turn on public sharing or whatever it is if it asks)> :Your computer name:> Users> :your name/user:> OneDrive>Documents

[Clayton Foss]

Im no noob either, bs is changing way too much. search didnt even work... i had given up. but keep looking
I found my files in.
network (accept or turn on public sharing or whatever it is if it asks)> :Your computer name:> Users> :your name/user:> OneDrive>Documents

there were a few others to search through, but try that and i believe youll figure it out

[Maricel Lorenzo]

All my files are lost after upgrading my Windows 8.1 into windows 10. I searched in local disk C and everywhere and I can't find it. I don't know what am I going to do. The files are very important to me. I am using that at work. How can I recover it? I hope you can help me. Thank u.