Windows 10: moving my hard drive lost hundreds of files

So my previous computer windows 7 started having OS issues, and wouldn't boot properly. A friend of mine gave me one of their older computers after upgrading it to Windows 10. So I moved the old comps hard drives into the new one to back up everything before fixing the issues. However, after moving the hard drive, I found a few hundred pictures were missing. After some digging, I found that the folders had been placed into G:\Users\my user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Virtualized\C\Users\my user\Pictures. The big issue is that the pictures aren't there. My family is now missing about 8 years worth of pictures that have not been backed up elsewhere. Please help!

:)

 

External Hard Drive

Hi John,

We suggest that you try the troubleshooting steps below:

• Open your External Hard Drive file in File Explorer.
• Type the name of the file you want to search on the search box and click Enter.

The file will show up in Search Results and you will be able to move it to the correct folder.

Let us know if you need further help.

 

Was moving files to external drive, drive not recognized and lost all


After getting all back in working order, may I offer a safer-way suggestion? Instead of moving folders/files; copy them from source to target one group at a time, or one huge file at a time. If no error, do the next copy on your list. Test one or more AVI or MP4 files to ensure the probability that all is well. Then, delete the now-duplicated folders/files from the source hard-drive. I too have been "burned" now and then by a Move operation that went sour somewhere; the Biggies got copied now, "smallies" can be moved.

 

Was moving files to external drive, drive not recognized and lost all

Also for moving large files/folders, I like to use a file syncing program like FreeFileSync, even if I am just got to move the files once and not keep them synced.