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Did you check for malware? Because sudden loss of files is usually a sign of infection...
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mortrau

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Unfortunately it is on a Surface Pro 7 and have been on the road for a month without a portable backup so no real way to pull the HD ):&nbsp;
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Scott - sorry I missed your comment, but yes, I did run AV detailed scan and Bitdefender found nothing nor did Microsoft Defender. Malware was my first thought but never have seen any flag that this occurred nor any popup asking for $$$<br>&nbsp;
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You will need a bootable winPE system on a USB drive with a recovery solution on it...<br>Here is one...<br><a href="https://www.easeus.com/resource/bootable-data-recovery-software.html" rel="ugc">https://www.easeus.com/resource/bootable-data-recovery-software.html</a><br>And another<br><a href="https://www.boot-disk.com/index.html" rel="ugc">https://www.boot-disk.com/index.html</a><br>You will need to create any of this on a different PC or you risk over writing any data you want to recover.<br>For the future, if you create a gmail account you get 15 GB of cloud storage for backups...<br><br><br>
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You could download a copy of Recuva from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva" rel="ugc"><strong></strong></a><strong><a href="https://filehippo.com/download_recuva-portable/" rel="ugc">https://filehippo.com/download_recuva-portable/</a>&nbsp;</strong> and extract and put the files on a USB drive and run that to undelete files/folders from the HD.<br><br>
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to recover you files you will need a NEW disk (external) to recover the files to and only when you are done you can put them back onto the existing disk<br />
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you wouldn't be using a temporary profile would you? check c:\users or run<br />
echo %userprofile% from a cmd prompt
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Senior Network Systems Specialist

Peter Hutchison

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<p>with no warning most personal directories disappeared from Windows 10. No backup existed on portable nor did they appear in recycle bin. what is a recommended commercial file recovery program that is not a scam?</p>
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with no warning most personal directories disappeared from Windows 10. No backup existed on portable nor did they appear in recycle bin. what is a recommended commercial file recovery program that is not a scam?

deleted folder recovery in windows 10

Windows 10 is a personal computer operating system featuring the "universal application architecture" (UAP); apps can be designed to run across multiple devices with nearly identical code, including PCs, tablets, smartphones, embedded systems, Xbox One, Surface Hub and HoloLens. Windows 10 also includes a virtual desktop system, a window and desktop management feature called Task View, the Microsoft Edge web browser, support for fingerprint and face recognition login, voice-based search (Cortana), new security features for enterprise environments, and DirectX 12 and WDDM 2.0 to improve the operating system's graphics capabilities for games.