Files vanished from external hard drive

[Ronnie123]

Hello, Using Windows XP,
If I open Windows Movie Maker or Quicktime and click on list of recently played videos, they will open and play. But when I open the external hard drive, it shows no files...blank...nada. Power failure might have been the reason. Tried disconecting, reconecting, power down, power back up...no change. WTF?

 

[Ronnie123]

Found my problem!!! Copied and pasted this article. Recovering data from a hard drive: First you must un-hide your folders so you can view them.
This is performed on the computer that the USB external drives is plugged into.

1.Go to the Start menu at the bottom left corner.
2.Choose My Computer.
3.Go to the menu at the top and choose Tools, then choose Folder options. If you cannot see the menu press that ALT key on the keyboard.

4.Choose View from the tabs at the top.
5.Scroll down the list and find the Hidden files and folders section. Choose to show hidden files and folders.
6.Then press Apply and then OK.

 

[Ronnie123]

Thanks. As of now, I can access the files from the external hard drive. Everything seems back to normal except that the Folder Thumbnails look washed out. But they open just fine. I'll try your recovery suggestion. Thanks again.

 

[Guitarmodes]

Try running CHKDSK. A corrupt file will make files in your main folder vanish.
You can run a virus checker over the drive. You may see the files being scanned that you cannot normally see.

Guitarmodes