Folder shows as being a file

domclarke · 11-25-2005, 04:49 PM

Hi everyone,

I did a backup of some files on my sandisk 1GB usb drive.I had several folders. Let's say I had the folder "Pictures" in which I had sub-folders named 2005,2004,2003 etc and in those subfolders, some pictures... Now I want to restore those pictures and in the directory "Pictures" I see files named 2003,2004 and 2005. Those files should be folders but they show as being files and they have no extension and have a size of 16K. I tried some file recovery software with no success...Anyone has an idea on how to fix this???

Thanks for your time

Dominic

**please** · 11-26-2005, 07:36 AM

@ domclarke
Welcome to TSF

That doesn't sound good

. I don't know for sure but you can try formatting the flash drive again and hope it behaves nicely. I don't know how to recover from such a thing. It seems that once these things start going bad, they stay bad. Good thing they are inexpensive. I would not trust the one you have even if it functions correctly after reformatting. I hope you didn't lose any critical data. I would also never trust these drives completely...always have a backup of the data that you put on one of these and don't use them for long-term data storage, only for transporting data.

Keep us posted with your progress.

domclarke · 11-26-2005, 07:57 AM

Hello,

thanks for the tips. I'll try reformatting it.What's weird is that the sandisk cruzer is brand new and it is the first time I am using it.I plugged it in, did a quick format and then transfered some files. I hope it's not already damaged.

**please** · 11-26-2005, 11:17 AM

@ domclarke
The Sandisk Cruzer is known as one of the better flash drives available and since yours is brand new, there may be something else amiss. I don't know tons about flash drives so do not take my advice for absolute fact.

Just a thought, is there a chance that when your 'transfered files' that you merely transfered a shortcut to the target file? I did this before, so it is possible. Did you see the file transfer take place in a little pop-up wondow and if the files were large, the transfer rate for the Cruzer is about 10-12mb/s so do the math...how long should it take? Was it too fast? Did you check after the first transfer to the Cruzer was done to see if the files transfered properly and were just lost later?

**leroys1000** · 11-26-2005, 12:19 PM

What did you use to do the backup?
Some backup programs make an image file.
You will need to use the backup program to restore it.

domclarke · 11-28-2005, 12:40 PM

@please : I don't think I only did a shortcut, it took a while to transfer. The files were there immediatly after I transfered them.I double-checked on another computer to verify if the files were OK. The data on the sandisk was a backup of my files before I formatted my computer.After the format, some folders became files.

@leroys2000: I simply used Windows explorer with "Cut and paste" with a couple of folders I needed.

Thanks again.

11-25-2005, 04:49 PM	#1 (permalink)
domclarke Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 3 OS: WinXp	Folder shows as being a file Hi everyone, I did a backup of some files on my sandisk 1GB usb drive.I had several folders. Let's say I had the folder "Pictures" in which I had sub-folders named 2005,2004,2003 etc and in those subfolders, some pictures... Now I want to restore those pictures and in the directory "Pictures" I see files named 2003,2004 and 2005. Those files should be folders but they show as being files and they have no extension and have a size of 16K. I tried some file recovery software with no success...Anyone has an idea on how to fix this??? Thanks for your time Dominic Last edited by domclarke; 11-25-2005 at 04:50 PM.

11-26-2005, 07:36 AM	#2 (permalink)
please Tech Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,185 OS: WinXP SP2	@ domclarke Welcome to TSF That doesn't sound good . I don't know for sure but you can try formatting the flash drive again and hope it behaves nicely. I don't know how to recover from such a thing. It seems that once these things start going bad, they stay bad. Good thing they are inexpensive. I would not trust the one you have even if it functions correctly after reformatting. I hope you didn't lose any critical data. I would also never trust these drives completely...always have a backup of the data that you put on one of these and don't use them for long-term data storage, only for transporting data. Keep us posted with your progress. __________________ P4P800E-D:~:P4 3.0C@3.75GHz:~:Zal7000AlCu:~:OCZ4001024ELDCPER2-K@250MHz 2.5-3-3-7 WinXP SP2>2X160GB Samsung SATA ICH5R RAID1:~:2x80GB Samsung SATA Promise RAID0 ATI A-I-W X800XT~SB Audigy2 ZS~2X BenQ1620~Antec SLK3700AMB~Antec SmartPower2.0 500W

11-26-2005, 11:17 AM	#4 (permalink)
please Tech Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,185 OS: WinXP SP2	@ domclarke The Sandisk Cruzer is known as one of the better flash drives available and since yours is brand new, there may be something else amiss. I don't know tons about flash drives so do not take my advice for absolute fact. Just a thought, is there a chance that when your 'transfered files' that you merely transfered a shortcut to the target file? I did this before, so it is possible. Did you see the file transfer take place in a little pop-up wondow and if the files were large, the transfer rate for the Cruzer is about 10-12mb/s so do the math...how long should it take? Was it too fast? Did you check after the first transfer to the Cruzer was done to see if the files transfered properly and were just lost later? __________________ P4P800E-D:~:P4 3.0C@3.75GHz:~:Zal7000AlCu:~:OCZ4001024ELDCPER2-K@250MHz 2.5-3-3-7 WinXP SP2>2X160GB Samsung SATA ICH5R RAID1:~:2x80GB Samsung SATA Promise RAID0 ATI A-I-W X800XT~SB Audigy2 ZS~2X BenQ1620~Antec SLK3700AMB~Antec SmartPower2.0 500W Last edited by please; 11-26-2005 at 11:18 AM.

11-26-2005, 07:57 AM	#3 (permalink)
domclarke Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 3 OS: WinXp	Hello, thanks for the tips. I'll try reformatting it.What's weird is that the sandisk cruzer is brand new and it is the first time I am using it.I plugged it in, did a quick format and then transfered some files. I hope it's not already damaged.

11-26-2005, 12:19 PM	#5 (permalink)
leroys1000 Tech Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 770 OS: Windows XP	What did you use to do the backup? Some backup programs make an image file. You will need to use the backup program to restore it.

11-28-2005, 12:40 PM	#6 (permalink)
domclarke Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 3 OS: WinXp	@please : I don't think I only did a shortcut, it took a while to transfer. The files were there immediatly after I transfered them.I double-checked on another computer to verify if the files were OK. The data on the sandisk was a backup of my files before I formatted my computer.After the format, some folders became files. @leroys2000: I simply used Windows explorer with "Cut and paste" with a couple of folders I needed. Thanks again.