What happened

[bcaray]

Sometime in the middle of the night the data fairy came and stole the "my documents" folder off of my storage card. It was there last night and gone this morning. Any idea what happened?

[Jacob]

Sounds more like a data theif!!!

Did you leave your door unlocked?

Wow... can't think of anything "normal' - do you have anything scheduled to happen on your PPC? Like a backup?

[bcaray]

Nothing was scheduled to happen. I honestly cannot even see HOW this is possible. I could see if the entire card was corrupted but it is only two folders. And they are just gone.

[bcaray]

Apparently the files are all still there because the disk space has not changed. The folder is gone in both the PocketPC file explorer and the Windows explorer using a CF reader. The files are there but the folder is missing. This keeps getting weirder.

[Kati Compton]

Apparently the files are all still there because the disk space has not changed. The folder is gone in both the PocketPC file explorer and the Windows explorer using a CF reader. The files are there but the folder is missing. This keeps getting weirder.

Okay - this may be COMPLETELY unhelpful, but it's what I would try next "just in case".

Open the CF card however you wish. Type in the path with the My Documents folder, and see if you can get "inside" it.

If this does not work, try from a DOS shell?

There's no reason why this would work, but it would be my instinct to at least try.

[bcaray]

I was unable to access the files either from the DOS shell or manually from the explorer path. I realize that these files are probably lost but I would like to know if there is any way that I can keep it from happening again.

[bcaray]

I downloaded flash format 2.5 and all of the files that were in the my documents folder show up as having an invalid cluster number. Can someone explain this?

[bcaray]

I ran chkdsk from the command prompt in Windows and apparently many of the files in the My Docs folder got cross-linked somehow. This apparently has created the problem that I am having, namely all of the files in this folder now do not match, size-wise, to what the file system remembers. Because they are now linked in this way all of the information is still there but it can't access it because it does not see it for what it is. I have absolutely no idea how this could have happened. Chkdsk tells me to run it again with the /f switch but it then claims that there is another program attempting to use the files. I suppose everything has gone to that big hard drive in the sky. I want to thank everyone for their help and quick responses.

[Steven Cedrone]

Not that this is going to help you now, but...

Every now and then, I copy the contents of my main CF card to my PC's hard drive.

Steve

[Kati Compton]

Chkdsk tells me to run it again with the /f switch but it then claims that there is another program attempting to use the files. I suppose everything has gone to that big hard drive in the sky. I want to thank everyone for their help and quick responses.

I'm sorry I don't have something better to suggest. If those files are critical, you may want to search for a very recent thread discussing potentially lost wedding pictures. I believe there was some recovery software suggested there. Maybe that would help.

[Janak Parekh]

As Kati points out, check this thread (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12383).

--janak