Files disappeared from downloads

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Choose where you want to search below Search Search the Community. Search the community and support articles Windows Windows 7 Search Community member. Hi, just looking for some hints.

My friend is having a funny issue I was not able to explain. She has Windows 7 and is used to download all her stuff into her Downloads folder. And it suddenly disappeared as she says after visiting some new site.

Apparently the folder was several Gb and she cannot find anything that was inside. Search does not find neither the folder nor the content. Nothing in the bin either.

I assume that if it was somehow deleted it would be too big to go to bin and would just delete altogether. But she is pretty sure she did not delete anything and nobody else has access to her PC. How could this happen? Any ideas? Just trying to determine possible problem to avoid it in the future. Could some malware from some web simply delete the location into which a file is being downloaded?

Thanks for any ideas, Lena. This thread is locked. You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread. So to relocate or to get those back in your preferred drive, here you need to follow the given steps:. Here you are going to see those files which you might have thought were lost during the windows updation procedure. However, you will be required to perform some manual instruction given on your screen for getting those files in their original format.

Due to this new user account, it seems to you that your folders disappeared during the updation process in your system. But actually your files and folders have not gone anywhere as they still exist in your old user account. So to get all of them, you are only required to switch your user account to the old one.

And for doing this, you can follow the given steps:. After switching to your old user account, here you are going to find all your files and folders which you had believed to be lost. This is another way to locate the files and folders disappeared during the process of windows updation. Here you can assume that your drive letters might have gone changed due to some reason while your operating system was updating.

So to get back your data at your desired location, you are required to search different hard drives installed in your computer. For example, you may have saved all your files and folders in the C drive before the process of windows updation.

But during the process, the drive letters might have changed which eventually shift your previously stored data in the other drive. So for displaying all those files and folders, here you need to fix your hard drive which you can easily do by following the given steps:.

Now after the completion of this hard drive scanning process, the disappeared files and folders will be restored on their previous locations. So for changing index option, you have to follow the given instructions:.

This is one of the most trusted software which helps in providing practical solutions to the people where they can recover their hidden files and folders.

I found it in my setup folder where I keep the installation files for the apps on my computer. Good to know even if it is thirty five years or so late. Maybe some of them are still on my computer and nobody knows where Microsoft put them. It will find ,as its name implies, Everything even deleted files. It has many other options for searching. Hope this will help.

I never had any idea there was any danger. After reading this article, I emptied the Download folder into another folder. Actually, I should take some time and move those files into more appropriate folders. Since my old Win 7 machines run with a standard user for everyone and an admin user for me, downloading a file while logged in as admin made it difficult for other users, either on the machine or on the network, to find these files.

Problem solved! I believe it to be number 1 on the list above. But whatever or wherever it is located, I have never lost a file that I downloaded. And, as Leo suggests, if it is an important download, I move it to a separate, distinct folder and back it up! Makes typing these entries into various open and save dialog boxes MUCH easier. Some programs have their own default Downloads folder which is can be changed inside the program.

You can move the Downloads or any folder using Windows File Explorer. This article explains how to move the My Documents folder but it works for any folder.

I moved Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music, and Videos inside the OneDrive folder so all my personal files are synchronized on the cloud and are on all of my computers. I have two Download folders. Other files in my Download folders are installation files for various programs. Never know if I might need or want it.

Everything else I download goes into the appropriate folder. When I set up a new machine, I can often bring over the dozens of programs that the old one used; and in some cases I can use the same setup files used in the original machine.

Image backups are pretty big, and sooner or later you run out of space for the old ones…. Eventually you do, yes, but you get to choose how large a window of recoverability you want or need. This may seem simplistic but I have never deleted any downloads. I was never sure what to delete. Any ideas on how to proceed? Some you might keep move to a different folder others you might delete.

Most browsers, as lew b noted, most browsers have a setting for where to download files, and even to ask where to download them. I have the same problem but with my mobile.