4 family files vanished from my computer!!!!!!!!!!!

[dunkinidaho]

Today I opened FTM 2014 and the 4 family files I had were gone. I can't find them in any area of my computer. Yes I had them backed up as part of an entire backup using the windows backup. However today I needed the EHD for another project so I formatted it and used it with another computer. This action of formatting an external hard drive will do nothing to the C: drive. I need to see a list of situations, functions, moves etc. that would result in my 4 family files disappearing. It will go without saying that I did not delete them knowingly. List everything you can think of that would cause this catastrophy . Prior to today I had not opened FTM for about 3 or 4 weeks.

thanks

[Anne in Carlisle]

Could you have MOVED the files to the EHD by mistake instead of COPYING them?
Do you have any other backups, for example on memory sticks or in a cloud?
Anne

[DavidNewton]

Make sure that they are not on your drive C. Don't forget the Recycle bin. Your best bet is to use the search box in windows explorer. A search for .ftm should locate any Family Tree Maker files on drive C. It might take a while because drive C is not usually fully indexed.

If that comes up with nothing and you have no other drives in use then the prognosis is not good.

The external HDD that you formatted. Has it been used on the other computer? Formatting does not usually delete the data on the drive and it may be possible to recover it but it does depend on how much use it has had. A data recovery program like PCInspector http://www.pcinspector.de/?language=1 might be able to recover the data BUT is is important that you DO NOT install it on the drive you are trying to recover.

David

[dunkinidaho]

Make sure that they are not on your drive C. Don't forget the Recycle bin. Your best bet is to use the search box in windows explorer. A search for .ftm should locate any Family Tree Maker files on drive C. It might take a while because drive C is not usually fully indexed.

If that comes up with nothing and you have no other drives in use then the prognosis is not good.

The external HDD that you formatted. Has it been used on the other computer? Formatting does not usually delete the data on the drive and it may be possible to recover it but it does depend on how much use it has had. A data recovery program like PCInspector http://www.pcinspector.de/?language=1 might be able to recover the data BUT is is important that you DO NOT install it on the drive you are trying to recover.

David

Thank you David!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did the search for .ftm and found my files. I don't know why or what I did to break the link in FTM but the files are not accessable via the FTM program. How would I reestablish this link so that I can open my files the normal way by, file, open

[DavidNewton]

That is good news. I don't have FTM installed at the moment so I am working from memory. I think those ftm files need to be within the FamilyTreeMaker subfolder of the My Documents folder. If they are there already then double-click the file and it should open within FTM. If they are located elsewhere then right-click each file in turn, select copy then find your FamilyTreeMaker folder in Explorer and select paste. In addition to the files each file should have an associated Media folder, which also should be within the FamilyTreeMaker subfolder which you may also have to copy if they have been displaced

One more thing ensure that FTM is still the associated program for .ftm - that will show up in your directory listing. In my listing my old ftm files show up as 'FTM file' which shows that there is no associated program, in your listing they should show up as something like 'Family Tree Maker'

David

[Anne in Carlisle]

Phew!! Glad to hear you found them. I don't use FTM so can't help with how to connect them.
Anne

[dunkinidaho]

That is good news. I don't have FTM installed at the moment so I am working from memory. I think those ftm files need to be within the FamilyTreeMaker subfolder of the My Documents folder. If they are there already then double-click the file and it should open within FTM. If they are located elsewhere then right-click each file in turn, select copy then find your FamilyTreeMaker folder in Explorer and select paste. In addition to the files each file should have an associated Media folder, which also should be within the FamilyTreeMaker subfolder which you may also have to copy if they have been displaced

One more thing ensure that FTM is still the associated program for .ftm - that will show up in your directory listing. In my listing my old ftm files show up as 'FTM file' which shows that there is no associated program, in your listing they should show up as something like 'Family Tree Maker'

David

Anne and David,

I opened each file in succession and they found there own way home. All is well now. Don't know what I did to make them disappear in the first place but now I know how to find them.

thanks

brian

[AntonyM]

Sounds like you (or something) cleared the cache - did you run any type of system cleaning software, or did you clear the internet cache ?

[dunkinidaho]

Sounds like you (or something) cleared the cache - did you run any type of system cleaning software, or did you clear the internet cache ?

Didn't do either so I don't know what may have been the cause.