Disappearing folder

[tsurikov]

Hi all,

I'm hoping you can help with a perplexing, and annoying problem...

I have a 80 GB Seagate IDE hard drive (3.5"), bought last year, installed in an external USB enclosure. It works great, and I regularly use it for backing up and transferring data.

The problem is that, all too often, a folder will disappear from the root level. By "disappear" I mean that if I view the root level contents in Windows Explorer, the folder is not there. Here's what gets me, though: I can get to the folder without any problems if I type in the folder's name in the Address Bar, or if I change to that directory from the Command Prompt.

Example: I open my drive - F: - from Windows Explorer. I create a folder called "Bill" there. I can see the icon. I then copy some files from C:\ to F:\Bill using the Command Prompt and xcopy. A few minutes later, I open Drive F: and "Bill" is not there. If I type in "F:\Bill" into the Address Bar, I see all the contents of that folder and can use them. Same if I do "f:" and "cd bill" in Command Prompt.

???? Anyone else see this? It's really annoying because if I forget the name of a folder I can no longer get to its data to copy or delete them (hence wasting disk space in the long run).

Thanks!
--Michael

 

[wolluf]

do they stay disappeared?

selection refreshing from view does not good?

 

[tsurikov]

Yes, the folder remains "disappeared" - that's the whole point. Refreshing doesn't help either...

 

[wolluf]

Have you tried the drive connected to another machine (to see if same thing happens, or not)?

what filestore type (fat32/ntfs)?

have you run chkdsk on this external drive (may have a filestore corruption going on)?

 

[kjv1611]

Are these folders' "hidden" attributes somehow being set to true, to where they are now hidden folders?

To check, make sure that you can see hidden files and folders:
In Windows Explorer, go to Tools->Options, choose "view" tab, and make sure "view hidden files and folders" is selected, and click "ok" button. Then, you should be able to see any hidden files, in case that is what is happening.