If the files and folders in your external hard disk or flash drive have turned into shortcuts or are hidden, here is one solution to recover your data. Operating system used – Windows 7.
- Install good antivirus and scan entire computer including the flash drive/external hard disk.
- Go to Control Panel, Folder Options, select VIEW tab, select “Show hidden files, folders and drives” and uncheck “Hide protected operating system files (recommended)” now click APPLY
- Open command prompt (press Win+R, type cmd, press enter), assuming ‘G:‘ as the letter of affected drive, enter this command-
attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:\*.*
replace ‘g:’ with other drive letter if needed.
You can check your flash drive/external hard disk, the data should be visible. You can restore the original folder options.
Thanks. This method work on me. My external disk now working normally.
thanks man this really works very much thank you
help me how can i get my hidden data on my flash disc
WOW..THANK YOU VERY MUCH..IT REALLY WORKS
it really works gr8 thanx alooot
thaks a lot, it worked.. 🙂
Wow it really done very well! Thanks a lot
thanks, it worked. KUDO’SSS
you are a genuis..thanks alooot
thank you
Thank you very much!!!!!!!!!!! It worked
it really worked well ..thanks
nice one!
thanks sir….it’s working super….
Thank You,
Thanks for your windows comment…. once again thanks
thank you sir i recovered all the data from the 1 tb external usb disk, I lost all hopes but it worked tremendously
thank you
thank you
i can see hidden files bt hw to un hide them
you should enter the command given in point no. 3 in the command prompt, replace the drive letter “g:” if its not the same..
Thanks it really works and helped me alot, Thanks again
thanks a lot
thnks a lot
THANKS
hey bro… thanks a ton… u saved my 450 gb data… thanks a lot..
thanks a lot it did really works..
thanks a lot 😀 😀 😀 i am really happy my data is recovered
TREMENDOUS POST…Thanks and God Bless…
you r so great sirr thank u
Oh boy, you just saved my life. Much thanks. Much appreciation. Much love.
thank u so much.done
Yes it helped, I thought my date was lost until a frend refered me here…
Thanks a lot! from Mexico city.
thanks a lot 🙂
thank you
thank you so much dude it really works 🙂
i have some hidden files inside the disk ! ( eg ( I:)/new folder )
wat should i do in cmd ?tell the parameter ! ?
enter this command in cmd
attrib -h -r -s /s /d i:\*.*
Thanks you so much…this is great!
Wow..its worked.thanks a lot..
Thanks a tonnnnn.
Thanks Dear One 🙂
Thanks a lot buddy…… u saved a TB of data.. Keep up the good work 🙂
hi……
TREMENDOUS POST…Thanks and God Bless…
It iz good!
Thank you Shubham. You’re a life saver.!
thanks………it works….!!!!!
I have tried this method before and was able to recover my data but now when I try it today it says Acess Denied – H:\ System Volume Information. Please Assist…
Thanks a TONNNN!! Nothing was working for me …only your solution worked… 🙂
Clever little bugger. Works wonders
THANKS a LOTTTTTTTTTTTT dear ummmmuhhhhh
you are a genuis..thanks alooot
Thanks alot
thanks a lot it works
Thanx a Lot Dude Muuuuaaahhh 😀 🙂
Thanks a lot..i have retrived all my files
thanks much! your a Monsterrific!!!!
thanks thanks and thanks
thanks a lot dude.
Wow… Thanks a lot dude you helped me a lot… You saved my hell lot of work… You Rock.. !!
What can I say… thank you..and thank you…and thank you again….for your great help…may the good God will bless you with more knowledge to share…carry on…thanks…
Carl
Thanks so much for this post. it really helped
thank you soo much. it also worked for me
thanks,it works
thank u very much…….
many thanks
You deserve BIG THANNNKSSSSS (Y)
Thanks 🙂
thank you . helped me a lot 🙂
thank you, thank you, thank you ……… I’m so happy right now.
Thank dear
Incredibe, it worked. I lost hope but i got it back here. You are a genius
thanks a lot.
Very useful post
thank u very much its worked
You are god man…you saved my day…I was about to format my 2TB hard disk,,because I was not able to see hidden files….Thanks a ton bro
Woooowwwww it workedd,, thanx a lottttttttttttttttt yaaa,,,, go ahead with ur work..
Superb…………………
Thank you somuch (Y)
hi! thank you so much for the clear and simple instructions. it worked perfectly! really appreciate you post! thanks!
Thank you so much man, You saved me!
working perfectly thanks for this useful tips
Thankyou very much its great help…
Thanks. It worked
outstanding! thanks a lot.
Allahamdullah, Very Very Very NIce , it saved lot of time and efforts.
Arshi Osmani Abahsain Finance Manager
thanks heaps!!! worked a treat!! 🙂
alhamdulillah masha allah u r great bro
it works.. thanks…
genius!
Thanks a lot .
Thank you Bro !!! I was searching for this command from long time.
thank a lot. it works
Thank you so much! It works.
You’re the best I love you
I appreciate you people! It works
thanks alot!
thanks alot 🙂
wow its done ….thnx for ur support
That was awesome.. Thanks a lot
you’re said we have to uncheck the ” hide protected operating system files” option. isn’t that dangerous?
No. You can change back to previous settings after recovering your data.
Tnx it works
Great tutorial!
thanks dude you really saved my life :))))
Thank you Very much !!! it really woked !
thank u very much it is the best method of what i had tried!!!!!!!!!!fantastic
thanks a ton!
Aww i just dont know how to thank you. u r a genius. thank you so so so so much. i was about to loose my world cuz all my documents were gone. Jeesh! you r serious. thank u.
MY brother thank you very much, it work properly
same…tnx
Thank you so much. It worked perfectly!
Thank u i warks fine
Thanks alot.
thanku thank u soooo much
thanks!
thanks for dis incredible secrets
God Bless u
thanks man.
it works
am grateful…it really works
Thanks alot
thanks.works perfectly.
Great infooooooooooooooooo ….. Thanks
Thanks buddy
Thank you so much! Huge help to me.
You are the boss in writing codes!
I had been troubled for long,imagine!
Great one!!!
Thank you! it’s working!…
Thanks a lot! Now it’s working! You’re great!
Thanks a lot 🙂
it works
thx….
thank you. you just saved my day.
thnx mate
Thanks a lot
thanks for the info. 🙂
Great thank s for you man
Dude, you are a life saver. I am really thankful. You saved my form a huge hustle.
thanks dude
Thanks a lot…,,, its now working…
thanks a lot got it
Thank you so much!.. I would never do this by myself
Thank you very much … it worked well….
thank you 100% work
thanx…. it worked
Thanks alot Dude worked for me ^_^
Thank you so much for such great help 🙂
thank you
Thanks it worked!
Ditto all replies above!!!!
this one also enter the name of the drive for example d: and then press enter… the write
attrib -s -h -r -a /s /d and enter….its the same
It works …I cant Express in words…………..tons n tons of thanks …luvyaaaa…
Thank You!!!!
thank you bigg bosss
Thank you so much from Manila
Thank you it worked
its not working.my file on flash drive are totally erased
Try any data recovery software
recovery software, i recommend ‘recuva’, just search for it and it doesnt need any installation. Thanks
it was really great i was able to retrieved important documents which i though were lost. thanks Kudos….
Thanks buddy nice job ty
thanks really worked….. but is there any grave outcome of the above mentioned code????
No. You can change the settings back to as they were.
thank you sir i recovered all the data from the external usb disk, I lost all hopes but it worked tremendously
Wow… You are a good Samaritan. God be with you always.
thanks..it worked..:)
waaau…you helped me so much. it works….I love u so much. Thanks…..it worked. thanks again.
Dan
THANK YOU VERY MUCH BOSS INDEED IT WORK FOR ME .THANKS ALLOT
Thanks it sorted out my worry too.
wowwy, it worked! I thought I had to format my current flash drives like what I’ve did in the previous one. gosh, I was almost give up. god bless, yay.
Thanks a lot………………………………
Reaaaallly Worked!!! thanks a lot.. you’re an angel. 🙂
thanks so much i am very grateful it works
whre can i find that folder options?? thanks
Please read the instructions again.
thanks for the info sharing..it’s work..nice! thumbs up!
thank you very much its working, very much appreciated.
I cannot see the word win which is supposed to be pressed plus R before typing cmd
Windows button plus R, or just search for command prompt
Thanks! It works!
Thank you for your valuable advice. it works
Thankssssssssssssssssssssssssssss its wooooooooooooooooooooork thankssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
this is like wooooooooooooow!!!!!!!!!!!… a miracle…. thanks a lot
Thanks working great my flash drive has retrieved all the docs & folders
thanks this works.!!
tnx no 1
Can you help?! I have tried this numerous times to recover some files on my usb and it doesn’t seem to be working. With all the other comments saying how grateful people are, I get the feeling its me and I just need a little bit of direction.
Where did you get stuck?
Thank you very much i gate my document now!
Repeat step 3 two to four times untill my lost files were recovered on my usb.GREAT:) thanks:0
THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH! WORKED LIKE MAGIC! 🙂 YOU’RE A LIFE SAVER
thank u
Thanks a lot. oooooh
oooohh great thanks a lot .
Thanks aloooooooooooooooooooooot
You save my day. Thanks for this tip. Really helps
Thanks a lot…it works…..
Rajiinth
Amesegnalehu – its Amharic, meaning Thanks,
GUD INFO
Thanks! It works!
Thank you Very much…Really It works for me.
its working thanks bro
Thank a million dude. You saved me
your great and it perfectly solved my problem thank you alot. Help out to format a write protected flash drive. thank you
thank you so much.
thanks a lot you’ve saved my ass 😀
thank you and god bless
wow!!!!!!!!!!! that was really cool.it works perfectly
Nice one, great job
yap it worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yes it worked…but some folders r still hide…….pls help
AH U R GENIUS.BIG UP TO YEW .THANKS
Thanks alot it works great
Thanks alot, this has really helped.
thank you so much!!! 😀
Thanks
thanks
woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow! daghang salamat!
Hy i got this problem too on my external drive. Last time this method worked but i needed to put the HDD back in the PC cuz i got the problem when i enter the code in the CMD it says Access denied so i needed to put the HDD back to the PC. But now this doesnt helped it says Access denied. what should i do now?
If you can see the hidden files and folders, take backup and format the hdd.
they said attrib.exe corrupt files
You need to scan your computer
Hvala from Bosnia!
muje samaj nai a rahi kese ap ka shukriya ada karon meri usb main itna importent data tha jo sirf is method se restore hua hy .thank you very verry very much……….
Actually It worked magically…After the process The hidden Corrupted files & folders showed on my HDD. But in those file’s properties hidden option was disabled. Then I tried “Ireset” software to re able them and it also worked. But is there any other process other than Ireset?
The command mentioned in step 3 does that.
Before trying ” Ireset” i did all the steps (which include step-3). But the file’s hidden property was disabled. After that i tried Ireset. Anyway my all problem has been resolved. Thank You for your valuable Post.
it worked!!!
thanks a lot from Mexico!
after i can see my hidden files, do i need to backup those files then format the hdd or no need to do that? if this method permanently display those files or just for backup? sorry for my bad english sir
The command mentioned in step 3 unhides all the files and folder in the given drive. No need to format. Replace ‘g’ with the drive letter.
All the files in the flash drive are shown. Thanks.
Thanks alooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My bro’s computer is infected and all the files are….blank 😥 but I’ve got some Skills :’) so I think it was the worms. So I opened MSE and scan by flash drive. OMG FULL OF VIRUSES TROJANS AND WORMS. But after scanning it ( it automatically deletes all the viruses ) I doubleclick on the drive and nothing appeared. So I enable the sys files like u said and i find all the files are hidden. So I Google it and I see your blog. IT TOTALLY WORKS! THANKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh hey, by the way, what did the viruses replaced to the files? I mean, after hiding the files, what did they replaced by? ( The blank shortcuts, but what is it? )
Sorrry 4 my bad english
thank you so so much!!! god bless you
best done, without replacing. waw!!Thank you
Thanks dear… it works
Forever Grateful 🙂
thanks, u save my day…
Thanks a ton Bro… i recovered lost data that too within seconds!
you are a genius creature!!! Thank you so much!! You saved my future!!! 🙂
Thank you very much sir.my external hard disk working normally …thank you again again…
Thanks
wow its great it works like magic
thanks
it works like magic tnx
it works. thanks
Thanks I have tried this command before but wont worked as people don’t know where to give space or not but you have written it very clearly. Thanks
thank u, it works
Hi! My files are also hidden and have tried the attributes reset command but it has not worked. When I go to command prompt it says all my files are in a folder with no name (L:\ \xxxx). The xxx are folders, all of them are still there. I can not change director to the one with no name and when i reset the attributes it says access denied to recycle bin folders (2 on L:\ and several on L:\ \) then it brings the cursor back but I can not control it any more. I have to restart cmd. Please help. I have scanned with McAfee but it has not found any malware/virus.
Just give that unnamed folder a name and repeat the steps.
thanx bro luv u
Thank u For Helping me…
WOW ! thank you so much! subham’s blog! i thought i cannot recover the files anymore. Thank you for the help 🙂 It was very important. thank you!
thanks alot that was a life saver God bless
i love you man.. ^_^
thanks a lot.
This is great. Worked fine.
thank you
thanks so much!
i m very thank full to you my 500GB data recover
It did great. My precious pictures recovered. Thanks big tyme 🙂
Thanks, it worked.
Thanks your a life saver😊
thankzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it works
awesome!!!!!! thanks…….
I Love yoU! thank you!
thanks
Alhamdulillah, i wish you more blessing
thnxxxxxxxxxx al lot…ur info helped me a lot..
Thanks bro. It saved me. God bless you.
thanks
thanks
thank u so much
Thanks a lot. It worked.
very helpful. thank you very much
thanks a lot. it really works. it save my 500gb external drive
Thank you so much, it’s working properly. Best regards
god blessed you. thanks a lot
THANK YOU SO MUCH. GOD BLESS YOU !!
ITZZZ JUST AWESOME….. THANKS A LOT….
Thanks it worked perfectly all hidden files and folders are now visible
Thank you!!!
Saved me for my quiz tomorrow. Just recovered my notes.
It worked perfectly. Thanks
Thank you so so much…i really mean it..your method have helped me saving all my important data and memories…thanks a ton buddy!!!
it worked out like magic. Thanks a lot
Thanks for your help this worked for me. Awesome!
thanks a lot man it worked
thank you! it really works.. your amazing!
hi there, thank you for information but i cant see my files ? because my files are hidden after that i did format
any options please let me know
Thanks
Try some data recovery tool
I tried many recovery tools but , I didn’t , any other options ?
i tried many ways , but I didn’t
you should be the president LOL thanks bro
Thanks for this keep it up
I get the error “access denied”, can you help me on this? Thanks!
Thanks a lot.. it’s work ..Grate
Thanks ,now it’s ok
thanks a ton its work finally
hi. when i enter the command, it say access denied
Mine says access denied i don’t know why
Thank You so much sir for sharing this, it really helps me recover all my files….
May God bless you….. 🙂
Thank you very much 🙂
Its 100% works.. bro..
It really worked. Good job. THANX
Thanks for this. It worked. Very helpful under situations when important data is under threat….
thanks a lot..
Thanks for this post although I can’t apply it because those features have been restricted in my university so I remain with my lost documents for now and it is so painful. Yet I am thankful.
Reblogged this on KarynDimpho and commented:
This method and probably many others are restricted in the university, I ahve tried to access this and it is not allowing me. I am in pain beacuse my folders are still missing. Next time I will learn to get things straight from the internet and not from a friend. What is done is done, atleast I still have some of these things on my phone. 😦
Thanks man a lot, saved me a lot of work
I can’t believe, that shit really worked, thanks for getting my 900 gigs back
Hi,
It also helped me. thanks. but one problem still exist. when I rturn to previous setting all data became hidden again. hoe to correct this?
Works like charms.. thanks mister subham
Wow..Thank you somuch Mr. Shubham.
Life savior! Thanks a lot mate! 👍🏻
This really worked!!!! Thank you!!
This really works!!!! thanks so much!!!
Thank you, God bless you always; really it worked….
thank you,u saved me!!!!!
lot of thanks ……..
You have no idea man how greatly you have helped me. Thank you so much for being there. God bless you always!
Am from Kenya thenks very much sir you have save million of money for me. God bless you.
Thanks a lot …..
OMG, after all those hours off searching .. finally i found the right one!! EASY AND FASTEST WAY TO RECOVER FILES THANKS MAN GODBLESS
I really thank u so much my problem solved after few years!