Folders Show Empty After Restoring Backup Files From CD/ROM
Oct 16, 2012
I backed up all of my data files over to a CD/ROM before restoring my Windows 7 PC due to a hard drive failure.
After successfully restoring the Windows 7 PC, I also restored my backed up files from the CD/ROM using HP RecoveryMgr, which was included as part of the backup process. Then I see all folders show "This folder is empty", even though the folder "Properties" show that the folder is not empty and contains files being backed up during the restore.
How can I make the files in the restored folders visible/accessible again?
I had to use the Dell Back up and Restore to rebuild my OS and , except for all my email history, address book, profile and bookmarks, I seem to be up and running again. I want to back up to a WD MY Book 1tb external on a regular basis so I don't loose all my programs and profile.
I followed the easy instructions I found here on the Forum for a full system backup and watched the green bar progress to 10-15% complete and left the room. When I returned hours later the screen said "improper shut down" or something similar. When I rebooted there was a backup folder on my external but folder properties indicated it was completely empty.
The next day I tried to create a System Image Bup (Shadow Copy?) and the green bar progressed normally but, when I returned to the PC, the black dos screen said unable to find some file to boot. Again, folders were created but they were empty.
Does Windows 7 BU and restore normally restart the computer after creating a backup file? If so, can I prevent this so I can see where the program is breaking down?
I did create a System Repair disk on a DVD and it seems to have created that okay. The file is almost 300mb so I hope that means it will work if I ever need it.
I do know this new MY Book is a lot more complicated than my other Seagate external and seems to want to format and name files for me?
I was using my desktop like normal then an error came up saying that there was a hdd failure, and that i needed to scan for errors. all my files disappeared and only this error would come up. There would be hundreds of the same msg spamed on my screen. I scaned my hdd for errors using my Bios/Advanced options and no errors came up. I decided to take out the hdd and put it into my External Hdd bay to hook up to my laptop to extract the data off it.When i hooked it up to my laptop it showed up empty. I went into folder options and clicked on show hidden files and folders. Everything came up but it was grey/transparent. I then copied the files to another hdd for backup.
Then i formatted the hdd and put on a fresh new OS. Id like to mention i have a second internal drive that i use for backups but it wasnt backed up recently when this issue happen so i had to take out the main drive and use it as an external to back up onto another external drive.so then when i click on my second internal drive after the reinstall of the new OS it shows empty i have to go in and show hidden files and folders.. now they show again transparent. also i plug in my external to get the recent back up and all those files are still transparent when i move them to my desktop that is freshly OS installed they are still grey/transparent and i have to keep the show hidden files and folders to view them.. so its all my music, pics, documents etc they are all greyed out..i tried to copy my backup IE favs into my new IE browser and they wont show up because they are hiden it shows it copied to the favs folder but in ie i cannot view them if that makes any sense.
Backstory: My computer decides to crash on me while browsing some site, and it failed to startup after that. After many tries of getting it to work through system restore/system repair, it still would not load up. I then see an advanced option of restoring to the system default, with an option of saving all personal data such as files and documents. After this successful reinstall, I have a huge folder (190 gigs!) worth of my old files sitting in a folder named 'Backup' in the C: drive, all on a fresh version of Windows 7 (ie: default programs and icons like internet explorer). I have tried running Windows' Backup and Restore application, but the aforementioned backup drive does not show up. Is it possible to transfer everything back?
tl;dr: restored old comp to system default, (with an option to save personal files/programs, all in a new folder C:/Backup) but can't figure out how to move/replace this system default back to my old setup.
The hard drive failed on my friend's Win 7 laptop. I replaced the hard drive, now I am in the process of recovering documents that he had backed up on an external hard drive. He was using Windows Backup.When I start the application in restore mode and direct it to the external hard drive, it shows a backup done on Jan 2. But when I browse through the backup folders using Windows Backup, it does not show any of his recent files. I went ahead and restored the folders, but the most recent files in the restored user folders are only from mid November
I'm trying to restore files from a Vista backup into 7, but, once they're restored I can't find them.
It only affects files that were in the various 'my documents', 'my downloads' etc folders on my Vista install - files from other partitions etc restore fine.
It seems as if the files are definitely being restored somewhere, because if I restore them again I get 'would you like to overwrite these files' dialogs. I've tried searching for the filenames after they're restored but they don't appear. I think maybe it's possible that 7 is restoring them under a different user (although my user name on 7 is the same as it was on Vista).
located in my documents/downloads I open the folder and it comes up empty. If I rename it to some other name, its contents show up actually, strange thing. Also, if I open the folder the long way, that is cusersmyusermy documentsdownloads it opens fine, even i don't change the folder name, I think the error is in the registry, used Revo Uninstaller to uninstall facemoods and it messed up the registry to a state that pc became useless, had to backup registry, but seems it never recovered from it.
I'm trying to restore files from a Vista backup into 7, but, once they're restored I can't find them.
It only affects files that were in the various 'my documents', 'my downloads' etc folders on my Vista install - files from other partitions etc restore fine.
It seems as if the files are definitely being restored somewhere, because if I restore them again I get 'would you like to overwrite these files' dialogs. I've tried searching for the filenames after they're restored but they don't appear. I think maybe it's possible that 7 is restoring them under a different user (although my user name on 7 is the same as it was on Vista).
Yesterday night I was in my friends house and he seriously needed help. Hope you genius people help him. All his folders, file and shortcuts show as LNK file in Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. I tried scanning his PC with avast!, MalwareBytes, Hitman Pro 3.5 and SAS, but the result was the same. How did it come up? My friend was chatting with his uncle in Skype, he asked him to download 3 pictures, the pictures where names as LNK file, my friend opened the file and after that all his programs, files and shortcut was defaulted to (file name).LNK. He wasted $35 to renew his windows, and he doesn't wants to format either. So is there any way to revert to normal state rather than formatting or system restoring?
I currently use Vista Ultimate. I am preparing to move to Windows 7. Is it possible to restore files from Vista Backup and Restore Center to Windows 7 after a clean install?
The one he has is a 32 bit with Windows 7 and Mcafee Antivirus. There are some free aplications such as a cd/dvd cover software that he installed on his old laptop with Vista that worked ok. On the newer one they seem to install but theres no Desktop icon that he requests and in All Programs the folder is there but shows as empty. In uninstall or change the files are there. I thought it may be User Account control so i suggested he disables it and try to download again but its still the same. He also tried to install trials of other things with the same result. I installed the applications he wants on my Vista with no problems so i immagine the problem is with Windows 7 security somehow.
Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.1OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium , Service Pack 1, 64 bitProcessor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU900 @ 2.20GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 23 Stepping 10Processor Count: 1RAM: 1915 MbGraphics Card: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family, 6 MbHard Drives: C: Total - 227676 MB, Free - 207087 MB; Motherboard: TOSHIBA, Portable PC, Base Board Version, Base Board Serial Number
I have a couple of Windows 7 machines that have suddenly had several empty folders appear in the root directory of the c drive.
The odd part about it, they are all labelled <computername>.1234 or four to five seemingly random numbers. They aren't a jumble of hex numbers that I'd expect from Windows Update in XP (which is pretty much the only thing google has spat out for me on this issue). I'm trying to find out if this is a virus or what sort of software might be creating these folders. I did a full MBAM of the system, as well as a full GMER scan, and gave it a shot with TDSSKiller as well a Sophos AV and they have all found nothing. I also took a look using process explorer and autoruns and I didn't find anything suspicious as far as I could tell so I don't think it's malicious. I just want to figure out what could be creating them, or if anyone had heard of this issue.
A client brought in a Dell laptop with a missing driver. A tech downloaded a driver onto a flash drive. I'm not sure of where the driver came from. When the flash drive was put into the computer it started loading something and the tech pulled it out and restarted the unit. After reboot the tech noticed that the start menu was empty. Typical of a hidden files infection. After a second reboot the unit goes straight to startup repair. I pulled the HDD out of the unit and hooked it up to another computer with an enclosure. The drive reads as 99.9% free space. All of the the folders are there but they all show as empty (0 bytes). The recovery partition is intact and the drive passes Dell diags. Any ideas on recovering the data? I'm sure I could just restore it but the client needs the data.
I'm having a very strange issue after I did a boot time virus scan in Avast to remove a virus. Avast seems to have removed the virus just fine, however I can't get Windows to show directories or files any more.If I open Windows Explorer and go to C:Users it says the folder is empty. However if I right click and select properties, it calculates the folder as 10.8 GB. I can still log in fine and run software etc. This problem isn't just in the C:Users folder. My library directories show empty and I was immediately afraid I lost all of my pictures because searching for *.jpg on my system yields no results. However, I remembered the exact path to one of the file names and sure enough it opened the picture. For example when I enter the exact address in Windows Explorer:C:UsersMyUserNamePictures2011MyPic.jpg it opens.But if I list C:UsersMyUserNamePictures2011 it says "folder is empty". One more thing to mention is that I tried browsing files through the command prompt. Whenever I try to do a directory listing with the dir command I get the error: Volume in drive C has no label. Volume Serial Number is 2AEE-FDC8. File not found. However, I can still cd into existing directories that I know exist. I just can't list the directories or files. Unfortunately I upgraded to Windows 7 SP1 right after this happened because I thought it might fix the problem. Now I can't do a system restore to the point where my computer wasn't having this problem.
im currently Networking a HTPC with my main rig, now i can pass info from one machine to the other but it will only see the Windows 7 HDD in the main rig..??, is there no way i can access the Vista HDD..??, or does it have to be the same OS to network..??
i tried to add a shortcut to the vista HDD into the user account on Windows 7, but upon opening it on the HTPC all folders are empty..??
I really need help on this so I will try to include as much detail so you guys don't get confused at what I'm talking about.I was clearing up space on my hard drive and deleting stuff that I don't need.I came across C:Windows.oldwindows folder and saw that it was about 13 gigabytes - and seeing that it's from windows.old, I deleted the windows folder contained there. After deleting C:Windows.oldwindows ,I find out that my C:Windows.oldusers folder is empty, how is this possible?
Is there a real benefit in removing empty and unused folders? because i tried an application called Remove Empty Directories and removed a lot of empty folders (after a system image backup), but i don't see any real improvement.
how I can restore a backup I made in Linux? Before I installed mac os x on my pc, I made a backup of everything on my hard drive via Linux but I had one error of copying a file. When I successfully installed mac os x, I installed Windows 7 on my other partition also successful. But then I deleted everything on that partition and just pasted my backup there => now windows won't boot. Has anybody got a solution so I won't lose all my settings and programs?
Sandy did damage my computer, either the MB or the CPU (Intel i5-760) is fried. At this point, it is not known, if my drives bit the dust as well. There are backups on the external drive, both Windows and Macrium images.The system being built has different MB and Intel i5-3350P CPU. This is an "unplanned" system hardware update and no preparation had been made for the Windows 7 drive for the migration.
May have a virus or had a virus due to a possible lapse of McAfee virus scan. Have a Dell (dec 2009 Desktop) with a Window 7 OS and Office 2007 Software. I did a restore to an earlier date hoping to restore settings but it didn't change.resently in my document folder are a first level of folders, when I pass my mouse over the folder it indicates that there empty, but I bought an external drive and when i moved the folders to the drive and read the drive / viewed the folders on another one of my computers they are complete and contents are visible. If I open excel or word and open a recent document it opens and if I look at the properties it points to the folders that otherwise show to be empty. Might be a separate problem but the same cause of the problem, when i view my yahoo mail and click a document for download, I select document download and I see nothing after that.
My computer had a nasty virus which I think have since removed. The only problem is none of the programs in my program files are available. The folders are empty.I am at a bit of a loss here.If I search, I can find the programs so I know they are there somewhere!I am almost to the point where I want to scrub the hard drive and start from scratch. If I do this, how can I backup my program files that I have?Is there a way to drop them onto a back up hard drive, then just move them to the new fresh O.S.
I used Glary Utilities empty folders finder and found a whole bunch of empty folders. I was wondering can I just delete all of them or should I just leave them where they are?
I have been using my laptop for over 1 year and I have not changed anything recently. My problem is that when I go into my email program all the folders are empty. This has happened twice within the last 2 weeks. They were not empty when I closed the program. They were no where near full. My server is BTinternet. I do not leave messages on the server. I am using windows live mail. I also use Mailwasher, but have done so since I started the account.
I'm trying to find a free software that can scan,find and delete any empty/unwanted files folders,etc from Windows 7.I thought it might have been Toolwiz Care.I can't remember what it was.I know its one thats readily available from various sites like download and other well known freebie software sites.
I had to reload Windows 7, and made a backup copy of my hard-disk before restore. When I reloaded the backup files, most went well, but some of the .pst files took an extra effort. BUT 7 years of personal folders were nowhere to be found! The backup file is about 58 zipped folders of 200 MB. How can I look up for my personal folders in this backup? Adress book, sent items and some other folders I have recovered, but all my saved e-mails (sent and received) are lost or at least disappeared.
My laptop was stolen recently. However, I was lucky to have a back up (old, really old) that I can use to recover at least some of my data.I now have a new laptop and I restored the backup on it. However, I created a user name different from the two that are on the backup. If I now create the two users, will they automatically be linked to the files that were restored? Alternatively, is there a way to link all files to the new username?
