Empty folders disappearing

@AndreTen
I went through the logs as much as I could (there were a lot of errors and warnings), but I was not capable of discerning if a log was related to this issue. I am not skilled enough, and I did not have time to search online for each entry meaning. If you have any pointer to guide me, please advise me.

@DreadLord
I agree with your reasoning. Something as strange as this is more likely to be user related. The argument of "I have been doing this for years and never made a mistake" may also be the reason why I could have done a mistake but couldn't notice it, clouded by the reassurance of the habit. I know in one reply I used the terms "I am sure", but yes I can't shake off this possibility.

What is strange is that I did not delete any non-empty folders. It is not like those folders were alphabetically set aside. This seems to require a more conscious action from myself.
And the two times it happened, it affected more than one sub folder at once in the main folder. So it would have required more than a few miss-clicks. This looks more like a script than an user.

This is why I posted this request here. I am still trying to figure out what in my behavior may cause this (and by behavior I also mean the software I installed and configured or interaction among them), but in the case where this is a Windows or hardware issue, there is no way I can logically come up with a solution. So even if it is unlikely, at least with the help of this forum we can rule out that possibility for sure.

AndreTen said:

Why don't you make your series schedule / notes /etc.. in a spreadsheet like Excel?

I am currently learning programming to automate the process.

The advantage of folders, or why I stuck with that system, is like this: The initial reason came from my bandwidth. It was not (still isn't) great for streaming in high quality, so I took the habit of downloading before watching. Also, I have periods when I don't have much time for leisure, so episodes stack up (or sometimes I am just in the mood of enjoying a season in one go). Also, I might keep some or all episodes. For all those reasons and then some, the need for folders was there. So just changing the folder's name was an easy fix.

That said, you are right, storing those information in one file would make more sense.

But the reason I posted here is because it is potentially a bug.

Hi.

Please forgive the tardiness of the reply.

I downloaded FolderChangesView v2.20. This is way better than the few control folders I created.

Regarding the folders' paths length, I downloaded and used TLPD v4.6.
Almost all files are below the 255 characters threshold.
There is one folder with most files exceeding 255 char (up to 306), all from a Torrent I downloaded recently but haven't processed yet. To be comprehensive, there are also 5 other (music) files exceeding the threshold by a few characters.
(I did not know there was an OS restriction about paths, I ll take into consideration in the future)

Regarding the nesting, the folders I commonly use are not that deep (still needs improvements).
I use a SSD for the operating system, a HDD for my everyday usage, and I recently bought an external HDD for collections and archives.
In the everyday drive, I have a folder "download" that receives everything new to be processed (downloaded or created). Each processed item is then moved into a sub folder inside "download" representing a category (e.g _games; _images; _music; _projects; _temp; _txt files; _videos). In other words, the more a file is processed, the deepest it gets; it also means the files I encounter first are the ones that need more processing.
Note: I use underscores to set a hierarchy within a level (or because I want an alphabetically lower name on top of others).
I think the deeper it gets is 5-6 levels, except for the archive folder (there are some nests dating back to years ago).

By the way, the folders in the TV Show folder are (almost all) named like this:
Drive:\_DL\_Videos\TV.Show.name.Sxx.Exx=+\
or, if sub categories:
Drive:\_DL\_Videos\_On Break\TV.Show.name.Sxx.Exx=+\
'=' means I am saving this show on the external HDD (if I am)
'+' means I currently have files inside this folder (probably because I am not up to date, sometimes I am keeping a specific episode because I like a specific scene)

Umaro

P.S Thank you all for putting up with this issue, even though we are not even sure it is one.

Understood. I can't thank you enough for your help on all levels. Thank you.

Update:
It happened again (in the past few hours).

I had FolderChangesView 2.2 recording changes in the Video folder, nothing was reported.
I had 4 control folders in a few places, all of them disappeared (in and outside the Video folder).
No way it was an user manipulation.

I have one script I used today. Ruby 2.4.4:
# Append current time to a text file
# Open file Append
fa = File.open("name.txt", "a")
# Get Time
t = Time.now
# Append text
fa.puts "#{t}"
# Close file
fa.close()
# Pause
print 'Press Enter to quit'
gets

Although I used it many times in the past month and nothing happened then.

Anyway, at least there is a record of this if someone one day experiences the same issue.