Help please - Major problem @ work, with lost word files - absolutely no trace, no temp files, no .wbk files!!!

Hi people,

We have lost 3 very important word files, with databases of lab materials, experimental info, work info and other things...

Now, I have extensively looked for it everywhere in the computer, including system restore to two previous dates, going back till March 27..

MS Word shows the links in the "recent" document list, but clicking on the file name, doesn't open the file, with a pop up box saying it cannot find the file.

I've used all possible "search" within windows, as well as used Recuva with deep scan mode.. but turned up nothing, not even a trace of the file or the temp file or not even a "not recoverable" entry in Recuva.. its completely just disappeared from the folder where it was.

It was last modified around April 10-15..

Any ideas? Also, the recycle bin shows there are 11 files inside (when clicking 'empty recycle bin') but when recycle bin is actually opened, there is nothing inside!! At least, nothing is visible!!! (Yes, I did enable hidden files to be shown....)

We are really lost as to how these files just disappeared without a trace.... Of course, we have asked lab members, but no one deleted them or anything like that!!!

Any suggestions, please?

Btw, system is running on Windows XP and with Word 2007...

Thanks a lot, cheers.

 

Always glad to try to help a Pink Floyd Fan. Do you have word set up to create a backup copy? It is off by default, it is one of the few tweaks I use with Word. It seems you have done all of the basic recovery procedures, and some advanced ones as well.
How to recover a lost file in Word 2007 or in Word 2003
Is the system hooked into a network? or Could the files have been accidentally moved to an external device such as USB drive?
Are you using the latest version of Recuva?
Recuva - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

Hope this helps, josea

 

Thanks for the message.. yes the system is on a network but the network backup did not include the folder where the documents where (this is because, there is a complicated and highly size limited network backup policy here at the Univ and department and we decided to keep certain folders out of that backup).

Just few minutes back, I tried to check with the free EASEUS recovery tool, to see if something comes up... but no, the files which we are looking for are not there.. but previous versions of the same word document (from last year for example) did show up... but then, the latest version which has disappeared doesn't show up at all!!!

As for moving to an external device, may be a possibility but none of the lab members say that they did... so apparently no one moved those files out of the computer!!!!

 

try the trial version of Tuneup Utilities 2011 which has a very handy retrieval tool thats worked for me on more than 1 occasion.

edit.
thinking about it it could be due to a system restore that the latest docs arent showing up. bit like altzimers, they remember years ago but cannot remember the present.

 

Never use System Restore to recover lost data. It restores registry files not data. It will not help you. What you need to do is download and create a Live CD like Knoppix or Ultimate Boot CD and use the file recovery software on there to see if your computer has marked them for deletion but not actually deleted them yet. Whatever you do, do not write any data to this computer. It will undoubtedly overwrite the files if they are marked for deletion.

Aside from using the live CDs or other free recovery tools out there, you can try Drive Savers or another restore company. It may cost you a lot of money but they can get your data back.

 

Thanks for the messages.. Tuneup Utilities didn't show anything new and neither did Ultimate Boot CD.. looks like the files have just completely disappeared without trace or its been "moved by someone" to an external drive or whatever!!!!! Its really amazing how those files could just vanish...... anyway, thanks once again.

 

What's interesting is that even if they were "moved", they should still be on the originating drive. Moving from drive to drive is done as a copy. This is very wierd, indeed!

 

edit out... sorry for double post!!

 

Well, that's also true.. and yes, its incredibly weird and I'm just utterly lost.. its happened before with my former lab, when my boss accidentally deleted a manuscript document (even from recycle bin) but I could manage to find some backup copies / temp files and we could manage to get back the document (although not fully, but most of the document, till the time the last backup was made.....).. Anyway!! I just don't know where those files went!!