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Folder is unavailable/moved or deleted error when opening a file.

Anonymous
2023-09-25T15:45:14+00:00

I am an artist who creates digital art on my machine, running windows 10. I keep the images and work in progress files for my work in a folder called "comics" on my computer's hard disc drive (I have a :c that's an SSD for running windows, and a HDD drive for storing files.)

Today, when trying to access the folder, I noticed that I got a "[folder path] is unavailable." error. On trying to access the properties of the file to see if it was a security issue, I couldn't access them as it said that the file could not be reached.

I can see the preview thumbnails of all the files in the folder through windows explorer's search functionality, however I can't open them as it gives the same error that they may have been moved or deleted. I've checked the recycle bin and they are not present there.

Is this a hard disk issue? What should I do? I can't afford a backup drive, and I'm worried that I may have several important files that I've changed since my last restore point.

thank you.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. EmilyS726 227K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-09-25T16:23:17+00:00

    Hello, this is Emily.

    Is this just for some files or all files on the D drive?

    It can be moved accidentally. That can happen when you accidentally clicked on a file or folder and then dragged it to another folder.. That happened to me sometimes.

    Can you type cmd in the search on the taskbar and hit enter to launch command prompt, and let's run some search using command instead.

    When command prompt is launched, type

    D: (hit enter key)

    Now, type

    dir filename.doc /s /p (hit enter key)

    Please replace the filename.doc with the actual filename and its file type.

    If it finds the file, it should return the location. In command prompt, folder is referred to as directory. See if you can then use the directory information, and go to File explorere to find that folder.

    Let me know how it goes.

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