All my files missing but the folders are there

Hi, 2 weeks ago i had a server fitted to my little computer network to save files to etc - it has raid ( whatever that is - but I have today found out that it isnt what I thought ..anyway )
I moved most of my precious files ( am graphic designer ) of all my clients work etc onto the new fileserver. All moved nicely although it took a couple of days.
this weekend, my computer seemed to be acting strangely - so i thought i would run a trend housecall to check for any viruses that my checker may have missed - i could not get this to work at all for some reason. So I downloaded a trial version of Zone alarm pro and installed it on my 2 computers and had it o a virus and sspyware check of their stuff. On my white computer ( win xp ) it said i had a couple of instances of edonkey that it would quarantine and that there was some spyware to be removed - I usually run adaware every week to do that and also run avast all the time.

I ran the virus and spyware on my black computer ( win xp) and a little spyware there - but didnt seem to be anything major.
The computer was still getting more and more sluggish so I went to clean up the tmp and chk files and ~.** those files.

Today I have discovered that most of my files on my fileserver are gone - eeeeekkkk!!! the folders are there but the stuff inside them - jpegs, pdf's cdr files etc are all missing.

What have I done ... today ( being blonde ) i have uninstalled the Zone Alarm and it told me to leave the quarantine file and not delete it.

Have i deleted all my files somehow - and if so can i get them back..
please please can anyone advise. I had my IT guy come round to check but he was a bit stumped...
Cheers

 

First, (very basic and you probably have done it already) try going into safe mode and run a file search. it might be just hidden or moved. make sure you check on the "search hidden files and folders" option.
Second, if above step does not work, try using "System Restore" option of XP. It will get your system to a certain point (like Friday), and you might get your files back.
Also, make sure you have a backup system. Like tape drive or simple DVD burning. So that you can avoid this problem in future.

 

Thanks - yep Ive looked in hidden - not there. I suspect my files with spyware have been quarantined and renamed with a ~ by zone alarm and when I have gone to do a clean up' these have been deleted.

AM thinking of an undelete programme.

Didnt realise that when I was scanning my c drive for bugs it would also scan my z drive fileserver on another computer.

system restore is perhaps worth a try .....never used it

 

hi
after a bit more checking i have found that system restore and undelete progs do not work with files on my linux server so those options seem to be out - eeeekkkk!

any more ideas anyone...?

 

hi timw and thanks for your reply. we are still unable to get the files - our fileserver is a unix based one and not a windows one. our techies are having lotsa difficulty but said this hasnt happenend before so its anew one for them

aargggg!

 

So, the new appliance was a file server run by unix? What raid level was it?

See if this link helps:

http://recover.sourceforge.net/linux/

or

http://www.data-recovery-software.net/Linux_Recovery.shtml

or

http://linux.editme.com/how-do-i-undelete-files

 

hey
the machine was a 2x 300Gb thing used as a fileserver using linux/unix and wih Raid level 1.
our techy looked at the first 2 options you sent through and didnt work with a set up practice one he has going.
The fileserver was on our network as z : drive and when I ran Zone alarm on my computer to check for viruss and spyware I didnt thnk it would touch another of the computers on the network. It took about 20 mins to check ( there is 70Gb files on the fileserver ) and when Zone alarm said there was a bit of edonkey to quarantine and a few bits of spyware - i ageed to quarantine - i thought it worked with spyware like adaware in that it would remove the spyware and not an entire file. When it asked to quarantine I didnt see any file names that I would recognise as being my work such as .cdr
.pdf photosphop files etc and the quarantine took a few seconds. I would presume ( haha ) that to quarantine big files - maybe 10gb worth would take ages . So i really dont know. My techy seems to think that zone alarm has renamed the files with a ~ and later I ran a check to get rid of all the junk on my computer ie .tnp .chk ~*.* files so my techie reckons I have deleted all the quarantine files.......
he cannot find a way as yet to undelete them.... Im such a twit. Only had the server for 3 weeks , transferred all my stuff there and was led to believe that the back up disc was untouchable so that if one got stuffed the other one would be fine ie so no need for back ups .... my bad!!!

so now i realise i didnt need an exppensive server rather just a couple of cheap external hard drives to save my stuff to.. grrrrr

anyway. your suggestions are truly welcome and thanks for your time