Recuva finds deleted images but doesnt provide the option to recover them

Recuva
1

Hello everyone,

A little backstory first:

I have been using this method (https://www.instructables.com/id/simple-folder-locker/) to lock a folder with three subfolders on my external harddrive. Those three subfolders were filled with pictures important to me. I have been using the locker quite a few times, and it worked everytime. Today, I used the locker on a different PC than my own. I didnt unlock the folder when I unplugged the harddrive from said PC, got it back on my own PC and unlocked the folder, only to find that the three subfolders and their contents were gone.

I have been using Recuva to try and get those images back. The scan shows the correct number of images found, but when the scan completes, in the window where i would be able to recover files, it says 0 files found on the bottom and the list is empty aswell. Im trying again with the program DMDE, the scan isnt completed yet.

Does anybody have an idea where the files could have gone? I searched the recycle bin on the other pc, but it didnt show up there (might still be hidden due to the locker), so I have no idea where to search.

EDIT: I just used advanced mode search and it gave me this: d4d0375ecb.png

The filter i searched with is for images, so technically it should recognize these files. Does this have to do with the locker?

EDIT2: After another search with deep scan enabled it did find 23 pictures i could restore, but what about the other 168k ish? Why did it find those 23 but not the rest?

2

I wouldn't use any filter parameters. The scan won't take any longer (it always does a full scan before applying filters) and you can filter later without rescanning. I have found many pics with the most peculiar names, I don't know why.

It would be handy to know how thses files were deleted, if in fact they were. The thread you linked to suggested checking Show Hidden Files, so you could do that. If they went to the recycler first they may well have been renamed, but they would still have the same extension.

3

I have been using **** and its working great for me. It appears I will get all my files back. The thread can be deleted/locked. I have no idea why Recuva didnt work out, but this is just another example of not just giving up when one thing fails.