File disappeared/deleted for no clear reason

[needhelp4382]

My problem is simple: a game file that was in a folder in my Documents folder disappeared or was deleted by something. I just went to play the game yesterday and the launcher told me the file was missing. I’m pretty much certain I didn’t accidentally delete it, and there’s no reason this file should be any more likely to disappear than any other kind of file. My computer runs without any apparent problems and this is the first time something weird has happened on it. There is no evidence of malware. Windows Defender can’t find anything. I’d install something better like BitDefender but last time I installed it it deleted a bunch of files, incorrectly identified as infected, that I didn’t want it to delete, without asking me.

I installed Recoverit and it found the missing file, actually two copies of it, no idea why there’s a second deleted copy. Since it couldn’t find where the file was originally located, it lists both copies as being in “C:\Lost Location.” I did a test and manually deleted a different game file of the same type. When I ran Recoverit again it found the manually deleted file but correctly identified where it had been located prior to deletion. So I’m guessing the “C:\Lost Location” thing suggests something weird happened to make the first game file disappear for no clear reason, and that it probably didn’t go missing because I accidentally deleted it and didn’t notice.

I’m not sure on what day the file went missing because it had been a while since I’d played the game. I checked the Windows update history and noticed two recent updates on 2/14/2023:

Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5022834)

KB5022729 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5, 4.8 and 4.8.1 for Windows 10 Version 22H2

I know some people have reported files going missing after a Windows update so I’m wondering if that could’ve caused this problem.

Just to be clear my concern isn’t retrieving the file that went missing, because it was no problem getting another copy. My concern is this happening again to a file I can’t replace. So I want to know why this would’ve happened and if I need to worry about further data loss.

Does anyone know why this might have happened or how I can figure out what happened?

Here are my specs, but I’m not sure how relevant hardware is to this problem:

Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
RTX 4090
i9-13900K
Installed Physical Memory 64.0 GB

[veeg]

Hello

Download and run and then post.

https://www.ccleaner.com/speccy

To post: CCleaner Support Community

[needhelp4382]

My real name comes up in the Speccy output more than once. I’d rather not post it. Do I have to?

[Bruce]

sometimes we just never know why a computer does what it does when it bites us on the bum.
that is why we backup - to more then one target device, across more than one backup set, stored in more than one location.

out of curiosity, was the deleted file found in the Recycle Bin?
if so, the OS probably deleted it.
if not, maybe is was somehow moved to the folder it was found in.

[needhelp4382]

sometimes we just never know why a computer does what it does when it bites us on the bum.
that is why we backup - to more then one target device, across more than one backup set, stored in more than one location.

out of curiosity, was the deleted file found in the Recycle Bin?
if so, the OS probably deleted it.
if not, maybe is was somehow moved to the folder it was found in.

Thanks for posting

The file that went missing was only identified by Recoverit as being in “C:\Lost Location.” That isn’t a real folder or anything, it’s just how Recoverit classifies files that have somehow lost their location information. As far as I can tell Recoverit will only say something is in “C:\Lost Location” if it’s considered a deleted file as far as the OS is concerned.

I wonder if others here have had experiences of a single file just disappearing like this. It would give me more peace of mind to know that this does sometimes happen on computers for no clear reason even when nothing is wrong with them.

[Rustys]

Yes, it does sometimes happen.

Reasons for
Hardware failure
Security software seeing it as a risk
third part repair programs
third party cleaning programs
other users

probably other reason that it happens just cannot think of them at the moment.

[needhelp4382]

Yes, it does sometimes happen.

Reasons for
Hardware failure
Security software seeing it as a risk
third part repair programs
third party cleaning programs
other users

probably other reason that it happens just cannot think of them at the moment.

With respect to hardware failure, I was thinking that would tend to make more stuff disappear than just a single file. At least that’s what I’m hoping because this PC is pretty new.

[Bruce]

sadly, more stuff may well have disappeared, you just haven’t used the software, or a function of that software, that would need them yet!!!

[needhelp4382]

sadly, more stuff may well have disappeared, you just haven’t used the software, or a function of that software, that would need them yet!!!

That could be the case. But there just doesn’t seem to be the kind of conspicuous dysfunction you’d normally encounter with a dying SSD. When I had one of those there were lots of weird slowdowns, failures of the computer to even boot, things like that.

[Rustys]

As far as the hardware goes that might be true then this may be a fluke and or the game updating and not properly saving the file.

So many different reasons and or combinations of reasons.

You are looking for a specific reason to why which cannot be provided at this juncture.

[Bruce]

and just to reiterate, computers do weird we sometimes can’t explain, it’s why backups so still important.

[needhelp4382]

As far as the hardware goes that might be true then this may be a fluke and or the game updating and not properly saving the file.

So many different reasons and or combinations of reasons.

You are looking for a specific reason to why which cannot be provided at this juncture.

and just to reiterate, computers do weird we sometimes can’t explain, it’s why backups so still important.

I guess one thing to still consider is the possibility that malware is to blame. Is Windows Defender good enough that a clean scan from it is sufficient to rule out a virus going around deleting my files?

[Bruce]

in my books - absolutely - Defender has been the sole trusted AV program on all my PC’s for at least 6-8 years.

it ranks as good, or better, than the paid-for guys in all the independent tests I’ve seen.
for example; Test antivirus software for Windows 10 - December 2022 | AV-TEST
the protection level is right up there, the performance drops it a little.

and here; Comparison - AV-Comparatives

[Rustys]

Anything else we can do to assist with this?

[needhelp4382]

Anything else we can do to assist with this?

Does anyone know of anything else I can try to check my PC for problems that might have caused the file disappearance? If not then I suppose there’s nothing more to be done, other than backup my computer. Also thanks everyone for the help so far.