Windows 10 lost everything.. TWICE! How can I get it all back?

[kdshamrock]

Windows 10 lost everything... TWICE!

My computer is 5 years old. I have withheld getting a new one because, apparently, we were all spoiled with Windows 7 and had no idea that the newest version of windows was going to be so terrible. Windows 8 sucked, but I was really hopeful for 10. So when I got the notification for the upgrade, I was fairly excited about it. The majority of my data was backed up, but I was assured that this wasn't going to be a problem during all of my research about the upgrade. "Upgrading to Windows 10 will not affect your data, programs or settings. It will not delete any data that you saved on the computer."

By this point, most of you already know that when you upgraded, everything looked different, and nothing was in the place where it was supposed to be. Unless you have an extreme genius most of don't, you probably had to go online and read a few forums and tips about recovering/finding your data that had been moved to a different folder in your files. It was a frustrating and long process, but I finally dug out and copied all documents and media, and then spent forever digging for and saving my bookmarks and personalizing my computer - a process which I was surprised at how much I needed to do (considering it wasn't supposed to affect my data or settings).

All this was said and done. Then, I got to work on new projects, documents, new media, etc. Now, please save any comments about backing up all data, because I do back up my files. However, I did not know that Windows 10 was going to update again and entirely DELETE all of my data, old and new. Only the newest and current important files went to a hard drive and were saved, but I still lost quite a bit. I upgraded the first time 3 weeks ago... and I now have to completely start over, all the while losing the newest data that is nowhere to be found on my laptop.

I would also like to point out that this is not a tech issue. I do not need to open my eyes and start looking in the right folder, because these folders simply no longer exist. The process I used to recover my files after the first upgrade no longer work. Without warning, my computer updated and deleted all old files. Nothing was saved (except for one random song, which made absolutely no sense!). I am at a total loss and don't see a way of recovering the lost files. Everywhere I've looked (from tips and forums from other lost and frustrated users) has resulted in dead ends. Even my system storage is almost entirely depleted because I there are no document or media files saved - in other words, I have more available space than I did after my first upgrade.

This has been an incredibly frustrating, long, and inconsistent process with the Windows 10 upgrade. I will still be needing a new computer, and I'm not sure that Windows can provide the software and security that I'll need. Honestly, I am seriously considering the switch from PC to mac. If you happen to have had the same problem (a second windows update and can't find the files) and have a solution, PLEASE hit me back! The simple fact that I have to go through all that work again is frustrating and far from reassuring me on the new direction of Microsoft Windows.

 

[ttsoldier]

Re: Windows 10 lost everything... TWICE!

Ok you lost your files. But you have a back up, don't you? Restore your back up.

If you need to get back deleted files you can try a program like GetDataBackNTFS

Sorry about your loss. I don't know how these things just never happen to me.....

 

[_Emi_]

Re: Windows 10 lost everything... TWICE!

Stop blaming on the OS only because you don't even know how to upgrade your OS....
I have updated many OS and you know how many files I have lost? zero... only when I delete Windows.old folder and I forgot to move some file on appdata or something, it's all I have lost. do I care about it? no.

in all your long and somehow ranting post with no valid information, you didn't even point out the most important fact "How did you upgrade?"
there are many methods, did you use windows update? did you use Media creation tool? did you use an ISO? did you use the MCT but making an external iso/usb?

It's funny how you say Windows 8 sucked, when probably you never upgraded if you were always on windows 7 since you don't seem to ever had upgraded from it, if you had so much trouble with 10.
Anyway Windows 8 worked better than 7 by miles, and windows 10 works better than 7 and 8 combined, so I am sure your "hate" on Windows 8 was based on nothing but your mind, with no real reasons.

anyway you got your backup, restore it and be happy and LEARN how to upgrade Windows so you don't lose files, I even clean install my Windows without losing files, it's hard to understand how someone can lose a file from an upgrade... unless you just did it wrong, uncheck "keep files" and did it on purpose to come and blame it on Windows 10.

 

[Richard Culverhouse]

I agree with _emi_ 100% lol.
OP: Windows doesn't delete files when updating itself (second part of your rant). Are you just making crap up to join the windows 10 hate brigade?! The default save location for some stuff these days is the cloud... Have you looked on OneDrive...?

 

[kdshamrock]

Re: Windows 10 lost everything... TWICE!

Thank you for your comment. As I said, the first Windows 10 upgrade (upgraded through windows with the reserved upgrade from Microsoft) worked fabulously. Files were kept in an old storage folder (not in Windows.old - that had every folder with no files in them), and restored. It took a long time to restore all of my settings, but it worked.

Then, out of nowhere (this is where you seem to have gotten lost in the first rant, so pay attention), a second Windows upgrade happened at about 3 a.m. nearly 3 weeks after the first upgrade. I set my updates to custom so that I am aware of updates and they do not update automatically. Now, there is still a file titled Windows.old, but it has nothing in it, and the place where I found my files the first time is no longer there.

As I said earlier, I have the majority of my files all backed up, but it is not something that I do daily, especially since the upgrade wasn't supposed to take place again. So new files were not backed up.

My hatred for Windows 8 came from my personal use testing it out (which is why I did not purchase a new laptop) as well as from the advice and personal use from friends who work in IT field professionally and purchased the newest version of Windows when it became available.

I was asking if someone else had a similar problem (again, the second upgrade that did not store the files) and knew a way to find them. Clearly, this has not been a problem for you, but my information is valid because it is the situation I am in. I am telling you what is going on with my PC, not your opinion on how I upgraded my PC "wrong" - although, after I backed up my files and hit "upgrade" from windows, there really wasn't much I could do about the process once it began. So if you've heard about this specific issue and know a new location where the files might have been magically stored, I would like to hear it.

 

[kdshamrock]

Nope not making crap up. Like I said, it didn't delete anything after the first upgrade, it just moved everything to a different folder - not Windows.old... I think it was in a buried User file that someone had mentioned in a forum, otherwise I would never have found it. But I restored all of that. It took forever, but worked. The second upgrade happened two days ago in the middle of the night. I had worked on several projects, one particularly the night before the upgrade, and did not back everything up immediately. Totally frustrating, and I'm wondering if someone else has gotten the second upgrade and if they knew where the files went. I love windows, and I overall like windows 10, but I was taken completely by surprise with this second update, and as such was unprepared for losing my most recent files that I thought could wait until the end of the week to get backed up. I've been frustrated about losing recent projects and having to restart them.

I know this issue of finding files and updating has not been a problem for some people. However, for others, it has been a process, else there would be no reason for forums explaining how locate the folders and fix the issues that arise (some of which microsoft has said they have no fix for yet).

I did check OneDrive, but there's nothing there. I use an external hard drive for storage, so the cloud isn't something I've utilized just yet, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Nounaga]

I have the same problem as well.
The second upgrade happened yesterday morning.

The first upgrade, a couple weeks ago, from 8.1 to 10 was successful.
Although I needed to do some set up such as installing applications, all my files were there. Windows 10 works faster than 8.1, I have enjoyed using 10.

But yesterday morning, I switched on my laptop, and my Windows seemed to be updating. There was even a message on the screen, saying "You've got all your files blah blah."

And, I found out most of my files have gone.

I looked at windows.old folder, Documents, Downloads, Network, etc, etc, but most folders are empty. My Desktop changed, too.

I use OneDrive and Google Drive. The second upgrade kept all the files in my OneDrive folder, but it must have deleted some files in my Google Drive.
When I switched on my laptop, my Google Drive synced, so those files are actually gone.

I tried Recuva, ShadowExploer, restore point create, and other things available on the Internet.

ShadowExploer tells me that the oldest data I could get is 30/11/2015. In the 30/11/2015 data, most folders I expected to see were empty. It looks like the second update did a clean install or something similar.

I know we all should back up our data and I do regularly. But, if Windows will often act funny like this then I can't trust the OS anymore.

 

[kdshamrock]

Nounaga,

I'm so sorry to hear about this, but I am slightly comforted that this didn't only happen to me.

Like you said, even my desktop changed, and it moved everything that was still saved into random folders! And when I plugged in my external hard drive to copy my files over (again), after a while, it stopped showing any folders in my hard drive! It said everything on it was empty! I panicked and went to a friend's laptop to see if my computer had somehow deleted my entire external hard drive, and saw that all of my folders are still there, they just appeared empty on my computer. So I don't know if it's a glitch in my computer and it just appears that the folders aren't there anymore, when they are, or what. It's something I don't know how to fix. It's not the biggest deal since I have most of my files backed up, but it does sway my confidence in Windows, and I'm worried about getting a new computer with the OS.

Another thing I discovered is that, even though it hasn't been 30 days since the upgrade, there is no way that I can go back to Windows 7 anymore since that 2nd upgrade deleted everything (I tried). So... I guess my computer is kind of stuck the way it is now.

So sorry about your computer! I haven't found anyone else with this specific issue, but I'm not sure anything can be done about it. It's awful, but thank you for making me not feel so crazy and alone with this tech issue. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out if I did something wrong.

Good luck, and I hope you're able to get all/some of your files back!!!!

*~kdshamrock~*

 

[Lee B]

I agree with _emi_ 100% lol.
OP: Windows doesn't delete files when updating itself (second part of your rant). Are you just making crap up to join the windows 10 hate brigade?! The default save location for some stuff these days is the cloud... Have you looked on OneDrive...?

As of now, on this board there are at least three threads, with a total of five different users, reporting exactly the same thing: all files deleted after a Win10 update. Maybe all these users were less careful than they should have been, but blaming the victim adds insult to injury. Win10 is working like a charm for many people, but producing a lot of hurt for others.

The one helpful idea in your message is to check OneDrive. If that doesn't help, I'd also comb every corner of the hard drive. It's probably worth checking Appearance and Personalization/Folder Options/View/ Advanced settings/ and check that Show hidden files, folders, and drives is on.,

 

[Julia Apatow]

I upgraded to Windows 10 about a month ago, and had a quick panic attack when my files were not in place but I found them after some searching and all was well. However, two weeks later I was surprised to see the Windows 10 loading screen yet again. After that second update, I was shocked to log into a blank desktop with absolutely no files (aside from the OneDrive files).
I have not found a solution to this, so I am missing documents, photos, music, and it is maddening.

 

[ajj3085]

Re: Windows 10 lost everything... TWICE!

I set my updates to custom so that I am aware of updates and they do not update automatically. Now, there is still a file titled Windows.old, but it has nothing in it, and the place where I found my files the first time is no longer there.

There's no such setting in Windows 10; updates install automatically, you can pick a time of day, but they will install.

 

[ajj3085]

I upgraded to Windows 10 about a month ago, and had a quick panic attack when my files were not in place but I found them after some searching and all was well. However, two weeks later I was surprised to see the Windows 10 loading screen yet again. After that second update, I was shocked to log into a blank desktop with absolutely no files (aside from the OneDrive files).
I have not found a solution to this, so I am missing documents, photos, music, and it is maddening.

In other threads I've read its because you're actually signing into a different account (your MS account instead of your local one, or visa versa). Logging into the correct account got their files back.

In any event, if you care about your files you need to back them up. If you don't care enough to have a daily backup, you don't care about losing a few days of files. Forget upgrades, drives fail pretty frequently, a virus can delete / encrypt them, your house could burn down. Its a lot easier to backup your files than protect anything else in your house you might care about, yet people don't do it for some reason.

 

[Sandy96789808]

Re: Windows 10 lost everything... TWICE!

Did anyone besides the ones talking down on you figure out a solution? The exact same thing happened to me today, one day it automatically does a system update before PC shuts down and I turn the PC on and everything important to me is gone including files made a second before closing down for the night.

 

[Dewg]

It does sound like a different account is being signed into. Try doing the following:

1) Think about a file name you've recently saved, let's say "Letter to Uncle Dave.docx"
2) Open a Command Prompt (Admin), by right clicking on your Start button in the lower left corner and choosing "Command Prompt (Admin)"
3) When the black box appears, type: dir "\*uncle dave*" /s

That will search your entire hard drive for any file that contains "uncle dave" in it. If it finds anything, it'll tell you where it found it. See if that helps locate any files you might be missing.

 

[Davoshyn]

Re: Windows 10 lost everything... TWICE!

Did you ever figure this out?

The same thing happened to me ("first" upgrade moved my files but I found them; unexpected "second" upgrade moved everything around again and apparently deleted files; win10 shows my backup folders on an external drive as empty when they're not).

I went back to win7, and I'm recovering from the backup, but I've wasted hours screwing around with win10, trying to find files, and trying to view files I know exist. And I'm tired of the patronizing comments from those who don't have any such problems. Yes, I know to look in users, and in windows.old (that's where my stuff was after the "first" upgrade), and know to "show hidden files," and so on and so forth. When I first plug in the external drive, if I'm quick enough I can view the files, but win10 says I can't access them; if I back out and go in again, the folder is "empty." I couldn't even use my backup to recover the files in win10. Colour me vastly irritated.

Anyhow, if anyone has found a solution, other than bailing from win10 until it's less buggy, I'd like to hear it.

 

[woody3545]

Same thing happened to me yesterday while downloading software for a card reader from a trusted source. I havent used my laptop much for the last couple months since I graduated college and the computer automatically started downloading lots of updates. I downloaded Windows 10 in August from Windows 7 and it has worked ok since. Tried everything mentioned above and nothing has worked. Tried to restore to a previous version but it only had a restore point from yesterday.

I managed to recover a few folders but nothing is really in them except for a few text files. All the media or pictures are gone. i had about 80gb left on my hard drive and its showing about 450gb now. All users files are empty. As mentioned previously by Richard Culverhouse, he said Windows 10 does not delete any files. Where did my files go then? I find it hard to believe they are gone forever. There must be somewhere on this thing where they are hidden.

Is there any service that can look for them?

 

[woody3545]

I have an update from earlier today. I downloaded Piriform Recuva after finding some youtube videos about it. It took 5 hours but it recovered 800,000 files from my hard drive. I recovered a few important video, picture, and other documents and they look like they work when I redownload them. Its going to take a long time to sort through all of them to save the stuff I want but at least they are not gone forever. I learned my lesson and will now be anal about backing up my data. I am still nervous about my computer updating in the future. I restored my computer to before the update so it needs to be once again downloaded so it should be interesting to see how it goes. Once I download all my important files this four year old Toshiba needs to be thrown in the trash

 

[RegorTheGreat]

You say Windows 10 doesn't delete your files. There is one instance in which it does, without warning you. If you run the upgrade and it stops because it needs more space, it will give you an option to use an external drive for more space to store the old Win7 files for rollback purposes. What it completely fails to tell you is that it will just wipe out all the data on the partition it is going to use to copy the files to.

Now I always backup things when doing anything like upgrading a system. I created backups of files and created images of my partitions...everything I would need in case something fubar'd. But, all that data was on the external drive I used for the 10GB of extra space it asked for. It wiped 2TB's of backup data for more than 10 systems as well as all my development work which contains images for building WDS deployments and scripts for enterprise level imaging. I really didn't not think M$ would do something so amateurish as to use the drive and do such a thing without warning! :angry:

 

[leonarosen]

Why do you feel the need to attack someone and blame them? I had the same problem. Before I updated, I read that your old files will be saved in windows.old Most computer owners need a safe way to update which they don't require advance knowledge to do. Mac does this. Windows does not.

So I backed up and there they were, in windows.old. So, no problem. Yes it took a while to copy and paste the files to the various folders they were in, Documents, etc etc. And I had my old data on the new drive. So, really all was better than ever. This was a week ago.

Last night I turned on my computer and all of my data was gone except some files I had made the previous night. Gone. Absolutely. From every possible source. I'm not a dummy so believe me when I say that...

The point is that sometimes when there is no solution to a problem, we attack the person who is having the problem because we don't have any real advise. There is no use in posting on a forum which is about helping people, by attacking them.

People post because they need a solution. Not to be told what they should have done. In this case, I can tell you for certain that there was no way to avoid this, nothing was spelled out in anything I have read about this random delete, it happened to me too. And there does not seem to be any way to fix it.

Either be kind and helpful or consider just not posting!

 

[emfin512]

Re: Windows 10 lost everything... TWICE!

Hi all,

it is somewhat in an odd way also nice to hear this has happened to other people. I haven't found a solution but I think it's good to get this problem out there so Windows can understand the distress of this total mess up.

I updated to Windows 10 on 3/15 like many, many others quick panic attack because all of my files were gone. I was able to copy, paste them from C drive with little issue. On 3/17 when I opened my computer in the AM a screen told me it was finishing updating. Odd but OK..so I waited and when it was done it was as if my computer time-traveled back to 3/15 everything from my bookmarks bar to the position of things saved on desktop (all things I did copy over after the upgrade wiped out stuff) were back where they were BUT all of my docs I had been working on from 3/15 to 3/17 were completely gone or back to the version they were on 3/15 none of my later edits were there. As a full-time grad student losing 2 days of work was HIGHLY distressing. Called Microsoft there were of no help so I just accepted it.

Fast forward, a week, I'd been gone on vacation...barely using my laptop and when I went on 3/25 to upload my vacation pics to my computer...every. single. one. of my photos had vanished. I've spent over 2 hrs on the phone and 2hrs at a Microsoft store to try to get help. They are keeping my computer for 3 days to try and recover my lost files. I will post again if they are successful. I also tried a recovery program...it found a whopping 31,000 photos (strangely not all of them were mine, some were though which was reassuring) and also all unorganized and some corrupted (half of the pic gray) AND it cost $40 to restore...seemed slightly sketchy so I'm going to see in the Microsoft store can help first and then try a recovery program, perhaps Piriform Recuva (thanks Woody). The store will be charging me $100-150 if successful.

I strongly echo leonarosen sentiment. I know NOW I should have backed up before I did the update..if you're even mildly tech savvy this is probably a no-brainier but backing up itself takes some computer knowledge to do so correctly and efficiently- not all of us are as fortunate to have. And Windows DID delete my files TWICE (or hide them somewhere we can’t get to)..I find it very odd that those on this forum and many I’ve interacted with on Microsoft can’t seem to believe that. That’s why this thread eases my mind a little bit. At least I’m not alone.