I recently ran into an issue with windows 10 and had to revert to the windows 7 build. In doing so all of my recent files have disappeared. I think the files are hidden somewhere because the used space on my hard drive has remained the same. I've also tried an undelete program and even the deep scan feature couldnt find the files. Is anyone aware of any issues with accessing files created in windows 10 from an old windows 7 build?
I've had issues restoring deleted files immediately after, but files from months ago are found with a deep scan.
As to the possibility that the files still are on the drive, maybe try a different search engine than the built-in Windows search indexing. I personally use the Everything search engine to find files. It sometimes misses files protected by System, so it may not find your files if they're in a system directory, but it does a great job finding files that Windows indexing misses.
If you really want a fool proof way to find your files, fire up a Linux OS and search from that. I often run Ubuntu off a flash drive in its Try Ubuntu mode to make changes to Windows that otherwise would be prevented by Windows' permissions. Ubuntu has a pretty user friendly search interface, but you will need to mount your Windows drive to search.
Try Ubuntu before you install it | Ubuntu
Mounting Windows Partitions
Finding Files
NOTE: Linux is no longer a "foolproof way" of viewing Windows filesystems! Why?
Because Win10 comes with Fast Startup ENABLED -- and then when you shut down Win10, the filesystems remain MOUNTED! This prevents any Linux distro from then remounting the same filesystems. If you try that, you will get an error message about the Windows filesystem.
You have to disable Fast Startup (which is NOT the same as Fast Boot) in order to mount the Windows filesystems from Linux.
Thanks for the information. I've never had that issue myself, but I can see how it might happen. My lack of issues might be because I typically boot into Ubuntu by using the Advanced Startup Options to choose the flash drive containing the Ubuntu installation files, and I believe the advanced startup options negate the fast startup when the system reboots.
Quote
