OK, so something strange happened. I popped my laptop open and windows 10 had been upgraded (from previous version of windows 10). I put in my PIN and the desktop loaded, only it was the default windows 10 desktop without all my shortcuts, backgrounds, etc. Thinking that the upgrade put a bunch of stuff to default I used it as normal, moved some videos from and SD card to my desktop. Watched the gopro videos of my kids on spring break then the computer asked to restart again. Thing rebooted, but this time all my previous shortcuts, etc, are there but the files I moved over aren't there. Trying to find them. Any help is appreciated.
Thank you
You may not have signed in with your Admin acct. Check that the videos you off-loaded from the SD card aren't in the Public Desktop folder. Go to the Action Center/All Settings/Accounts and check which acct you're signed in on. If it's the msn related acct, then it's on the Admin acct which is why your shortcuts are there. If you signed in before with the local account, your 'Manage my Microsoft account' will not be there. If it is, make sure the PIN is related to that account or add it to that account by hitting 'Sign-in options' in L column.
Next time you sign in, make sure the msn acct is under your picture above the log-in box. If not, you're signing in with a Local Acct.
Worse comes to worse, if you know the name of the video, enter part of the name in the Search box of This PC and see if the results come up. If they do, R-click and hit 'open containing folder'. Good Luck.
Thanks for the quick reply Mr. Geek. I double checked and the public desktop is empty and I logged into my MS account/Admin account each time. Actually it's the only user on the PC. Doing searches for the files isn't turning anything up. I don't know the exact file name but am using what I recalled along with wildcards and am coming up empty.
"I don't know the exact file name but am using what I recalled along with wildcards and am coming up empty."
The best way to search is by media type. Let's say the videos were mp4 or flv. Enter that in the search terms and anything with that in the name or file type will show up. See attachment for search of mp4 files/names. Folder location is specified in column.
In the future, NEVER save files to the desktop. I transfer pictures from SD cards all the time. I drag them into the Downloads folder for editing and then move to Pictures sub folders when finished, NEVER straight to desktop.
I've seen people put their their thesis .doc and lose ALL the work to an unforeseen event. Put them in an appropriate folder under This PC (in your case, say, Videos) and if you want fast access, either type the name in search or R-click the file and 'Send to' Desktop (create shortcut)'. Good Luck.
If worst comes to worst, you may need to revert back to your previous Windows 10
Start
Settings
Update & Recovery
Recovery
Return to Previous Build
It's possible your files didn't transfer over during upgrade. Reverting will bring you back to the way the computer was before the upgrade
"It's possible your files didn't transfer over during upgrade."
The videos he moved from the card to the plain desktop were AFTER the upgrade. So reverting will not help. I'm curious, as I've seen others with this problem and few suggestions for resolution.
Thanks for all the input but nothing has worked. I even scanned the whole drive with Recuvabut didn't find anything. Strange, as I thought I would at least find a trace. Unless anyone else has a suggestion I think I am out of luck.
I'm just a little baffled on how files magically deleted themselves. It's weird
