Yikes! Deleted My File Structure!

Knowledge_Gap wrote on 7/11/2003, 12:58 PM
Boy did I blow it! I just started learning Vegas. Spent two days capturing 16 half-hour tapes. Tape 13 didn't have audio on it for some reason that I haven't been able to figure out. Re-recorded Tape 13 in it's bin folder. Wouldn't take same file name as earlier. Went into Windows Explorer (XP) and changed some file names, deleted a few "unknowns" and cleaned things up a bit. Went back to Vegas and entire directory was gone. Went back to Windows and E: directory was gone. So E: drive says it has no files, but going to Properties of that drive shows 68 gig of video files. In other words, the files are there, but there seems to be no way to access them. What are my options? How do I erase the drive so the space is free to start over again? Any ideas?
Thanks very much!

Barry

barry_fuller@yahoo.com
Producer



Comments

sdgates wrote on 7/11/2003, 1:07 PM
Listen - don't sweat it. Your work is most likely still there but was probably inadvertantly dragged into another folder. This sort of thing happens all the time at the lawfirm I work in. I have even done it myself now and then. One accidental press of a mouse button while the mouse is being moved across the screen is all it takes.

What you need to do is to search for those missing directories by name. Or search for one of the files by name if that would be easier. You will soon locate what folder all your files are hiding out in!

Go back into Windows Explorer, click on the huge "Search" icon (which looks like a magnifying glass), set your search path (the search path is designated by "Look in:" in Windows Explorer on an XP computer). "All local drives" would probably be a good choice for search path. Then click the search button on that left-hand pane to set your computer off looking for those miscreant files!
dvdude wrote on 7/11/2003, 1:09 PM
Can you see the files in the recycle bin?

Andy
sdgates wrote on 7/11/2003, 1:12 PM
By the way, once you have found the location of the files, you need to make a note of where they were found and then click the large "Folders" icon to enable you to actually navigate to the location the folders moved to. You could drag them right off the search pane - but I prefer switching back to the tree view, going to their new location, and then dragging them back (folders, subfolders and files) to exactly where they should be.

Actually, I usually leave the search view up and, instead, open up a new Explorer window because I'm usually in too big of a hurry (or too lazy) to write the entire path down from the search window!