File Explorer Displaying Wrong Properties Info for Certain Folders

wrecklesstechn0 · 01 Jun 2018

Hi! This is my first thread post.

I'm very concerned about this problem which I know little about. I am an avid mp3 collector and massively download files onto a 4TB external drive. The last time I checked a folder's properties to see how many files it contained, it read "140" when I knew there were over 15,000 files in there.

It does the same thing for all of the other folders (subgenres) within the main folder (electronic music). Other folders located in the same folder as my (electronic music) folder have been unaffected, and I'm thinking it is because I have not accessed them as recently as the (electronic music) folder. So something happened today or in the last couple days - all I've done is download music from SoulSeek as I've done for years, and sort it into folders on my external drive using File Explorer.

I was about to backup my files from this hard drive onto another drive - but now I'm afraid that if there is corruption, it could spread onto the other drive. I want to find a solution first before I make a horrible mistake, as I've been known to do because I'm often very technologically reckless and naive.

That's it in a nutshell - please help! Thank you.

Bree · 01 Jun 2018

wrecklesstechn0 said:

Hi! This is my first thread post.

I'm very concerned about this problem .... The last time I checked a folder's properties to see how many files it contained, it read "140" when I knew there were over 15,000 files in there.

Welcome to TenForums @wrecklesstechn0

The thing you have to remember about File Explorer is that it will only list in Properties the files and folders you have permission for. You can easily demonstrate this if you have more than one user account on your PC. Look in C:\Users at the properties of the user folder for another user account, it will say 0 files.

I suspect that over time you have added to this collection from a number of different accounts and/or using a number of different PCs. It's most likely to be the permissions, but if you want to be sure there's no corruption then open a Command Prompt (Admin) and run (using the appropriate drive letter instead of 'G:') the command;
CHKDSK /F G:

(on a 4TB drive it may take a while to run)

wrecklesstechn0 · 01 Jun 2018

Thanks for the reply Bree.

There is not more than one user account on my PC. In the folder "Users" there is my main account with my registered username, and a folder named "Public". Public contains 25 files and my folder contains over 12,000.

I have been using my 4TB drive (external drive #1) with this computer only for about 3 months, and the problem started just a couple days ago. I have only ever used this hard drive with one other computer, and originally all of the files on it came from an older hard drive (external drive #0).

I plugged in my other 4TB hard drive (external drive #2) to check the properties of the same folders, and sure enough, there was the same problem, so I figured it must be a problem with File Explorer, not the drive, which, for now, is a relief, as long as the problem doesn't get worse or irreversible.

About the CHKDSK /F G: I tried doing as you said, and the prompt asked me if I wanted to "Dismount Volume" of the drive (external drive #1) in order to proceed. I looked in to this using web search and found no information exactly pertinent to my specific situation and so I refuse to proceed on my own.

Having said all of that, do you have any further ideas about both:
A. User Permissions
B. Check Disk

spunk · 03 Jun 2018

Check Disk cannot run on a disk when it's mounted, so you have to type Y for Yes to Unmount the drive. If the drive is not the Boot drive with Windows on it. This is normal and won't harm the drive.
If you are running Check Disk on the C: drive with Windows on it, you have to type a Y for Yes and restart the computer so that Check Disk can run outside of Windows.