Data Recovery Issue - Folders showing, files notq

Lonz · 4 Sep 2015 at 13:44

My mother's laptop recently went the way of the Dodo and I said I'd try get her files off for her (mainly for family holiday photos etc).

I've bought a SATA to USB cable online and plugged it into my PC and it does seem to recognise it, showing up in My Computer. The strange thing is, when I open it up in My Computer, the folders will show.. I can browse all the way from "Users" to "Pictures", "Documents" etc, but as soon as I open the My Pictures folder it's showing as empty when I know it wasn't.

I've a feeling I'm missing something glaringly obvious but it's been a while since I did something like this. Any ideas?

Also worth adding that I've got "Show Hidden Folders" checked as well.

hughtrimble · 4 Sep 2015 at 13:52

Checked to see if any files are selected to be hidden?

Lonz · 4 Sep 2015 at 13:56

hughtrimble said:
Checked to see if any files are selected to be hidden?

Literally just edited by OP with this, but yes it's showing hidden files.

KIA · 4 Sep 2015 at 14:12

I'd use a Linux live CD to access the drive instead of Windows.

bledd · 4 Sep 2015 at 15:23

^Yes

Although I'd try the following too..

Install 'Treesize', you can use this to scan a drive and it'll tell you where the bulk of the files are, great for drilling down folders that you're not 100% sure of the structure.

edscdk · 4 Sep 2015 at 15:30

maybe someone moved documents / pictures folder?

search the drive for jpg files, see where they are..

might want to chkdsk it as well

Quartz · 4 Sep 2015 at 16:25

Lonz said:
I can browse all the way from "Users" to "Pictures", "Documents" etc, but as soon as I open the My Pictures folder it's showing as empty when I know it wasn't.

Have you tried Taking Ownership of the folder?

Lonz · 6 Sep 2015 at 21:01

Thanks for the responses!

I managed to find them but plugging them into an iMac and they showed up on there no problem at all. I'm guessing something to do with the filing system?