Need some help - folder unrecognizable

[Extraterrestrial]

well, let's get straight to the point. I have a 640 GB hdd and i use it only for storing files so I keep it away from my pc and when i want some of its files, i just plug it in and copy or play whatever i want. Today, i had this strange problem, a 20 GB folder which contains lots of files and subfolders is suddenly empty and shows ( folder is empty ) when hovering the mouse over it. I tried enabling (show hidden files from folder options) and nothing showed up. The good news is that i remember the titles of some of my stuff stored in there so i just searched for them using ( everything software ) and not using the regular windows search tool and all files are just there ( sound and working ) but it never shows in the main folder using windows explorer.

What the hell is wrong with my folder? need some help here--solutions solutions solutions, I can't stand losing all those very important files. If it helps, i missed up and deleted the system volume information folder content of this partition but I'm not sure if this is or isn't the cause of this problem because i didn't check right away.

[shoulder]

Can you see the folder with another explorer like for example Total Commander?

[anon]

Or dir /A:DHS.

[Master Razor]

System Volume Information is related to System Restore and it could not of caused this (unless your files are actually deleted). As anon said try the dir command and see if it works. Try this as well, if what annon suggested fails: dir/ads/s and see what it gives you.
This is actually a problem because if your files were hidden and/or considered as system, it should show up in your properties window AND show up in explorer when you untick hide hidden files and system files.

[Extraterrestrial]

Can you see the folder with another explorer like for example Total Commander?

No, it's still invisible.

---------- Post added at 12:52 ---------- Previous post was at 12:51 ----------

Or dir /AHS.

What's that?

[saebrtooth]

if you yourself have not played with the attributes, or some unknown proggy that changed them and your Windows explorer can see hiiden and system files then maybe its corrupted due to a copy failure or worse virus, but maybe just the first one.

goto start
cmd (right click and run as admin)
chkdsk /f "drive:"

if that doesnt work then try
chkdsk /r "drive:"

substitute "drive:" with your drive letter ie "e:", and no quotes

[anon]

No, it's still invisible.

"This is really fucked." -- Randy Saaf

What's that?

A cmd command to show all hidden and system files and directories inside another one.

[Master Razor]

Get a linux live cd (for example knoppix, ubuntu etc) and boot from cd. Go to to your external drive and see if the content is there. If not, the hdd is probably corrupted.

[Extraterrestrial]

Problem solved using testdisk- 6.12 software.

Picture of the recovery process:



This piece of software is the best, unbeatable!

[Master Razor]

Photorec is used for the recovery of deleted files/folders. Testdisk is for recovery of deleted partitions, faulty partition tables and boundaries etc.
I suggest you make some tests on that hdd before putting any kind of data on it (again). The cause may also be from an improper format or an unexpected unplug.
Glad you managed to help yourself.