Sublime Forum

All files on desktop are gone after running the updater

#1

Hey Sublime Community!

I had a disastrous situation last Saturday and I am still working to solve it.

I downloaded Sublime 3 stand-alone version on my Windows 10 machine. I extracted all the files on the desktop and opened Sublime Text editor. It said an update is available or something about the update and I ran the updater. After that, my whole desktop and everything on it is gone. I have lost around 600 GB of data.

I scanned my computer. The weird thing is that none of the files gone show up on the scan, even as unrecoverable. The other weird thing is that if the files are gone, how a 600 GB folder is gone in a few seconds. Usually, it takes hours to delete that amount of data?

Can I recover my files or if they are still on the computer, can I find them?

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#2

See anything in the Recycle Bin?

Sublime shouldnā€™t touch any files anywhere when it updates except in itā€™s install folder. That said the update process generally puts a new folder in place and then moves the old out out of the way. So I guess in theory if you put the files literally onto your desktop (i.e. not in Desktop\Sublime but just Desktop) then it may be possible that when it upgraded, it moved the entire Desktop away.

Thatā€™s just a guess though; I would imagine that such things end up in the recycle bin, though Iā€™ve never had cause to look there myself. However, thatā€™s about the only way I could imagine that amount of data going away that fast, unless it was one single gigantic file.

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#3

Hey OdatNurd! Thanks for replying. Here are some clarifications:

1. ā€¦ if you put the files literally onto your desktop (i.e. not in Desktop\Sublime but just Desktop )

Yes. I literally extracted everything to the Desktop.

2. ā€¦ then it may be possible that when it upgraded, it moved the entire Desktop away.

There is nothing in the recycle bin regarding the folder gone.

3. However, thatā€™s about the only way I could imagine that amount of data going away that fast, unless it was one single gigantic file.

Yes. All files were in one folder.

I ran a scan using Recuva. It couldnā€™t fine anything deleted on the day the event happened. This is really weird because a 600 GB of space opened on my disk.

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#4

Not trying to hijack but this is the only post that seems relevant to my issue.

This morning I still had my entire sublime history. Logged on this evening, encountered a rare blue screen then found out all of my tabs were gone. All were unsaved as I had gotten used to the built in auto save feature and treated this like a lightweight goggle doc, no changes made to the settings whatsoever.

Spent some time looking for a solution but the session.sublime_session did not work. Recuva could not find any sublime file. Had an older version of sublime text 3 (3211) in the bin but there was no Roaming or AppData folder. Any shot at recovering my files? Please help if possible!

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#5

There is definitely something wrong with the Sublime. I cannot explain what happened to me with anything else.

By the way, after Recuva, I tried the free version of Disk Drill and it found some of the files I lost during the deep scan. However, these files didnā€™t have any path and were placed in folders named as ā€˜Lostā€™.

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#6

I had an experience that

  • if I update ST with the update pop-up, personal files along with sublime_text.exe got cleaned up and then just disappeared (not found in the trash bin).
  • if I download ST installer and run it manually, everything goes fine.
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#7

I think the distinction there is that during a manual install, the installer puts files into the folder that you tell it, whether thereā€™s anything in there or not. An update installer updates files, and when it does so it assumes that itā€™s allowed to do what it likes with the folder that itā€™s being installed inside of.

On Linux, trying to put files into the installation folder of Sublime isnā€™t possible unless youā€™re root or using the Tarball version, on MacOS putting files into the App folder is a bad idea because the App is replaced wholesale with a new one, and on Windows normal users are not allowed to modify anything inside of Program Files because to do so could conceivably be a security risk or break an application, so many Windows applications assume that nothing will or can put anything in there.

I donā€™t think Sublime has ever made any guarantees about not touching the install folder except for portable builds, which plays into why your configuration information is stored in a different location.

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#8

Is there a specific way to open the sessions.sublime_session file for restoring purposes? When I open the file from the Local folder it opens as code on a single tab. Iā€™m hoping doing this correctly can restore all my missing tabs.

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#9

The session file itself is a single file that contains the state of all of the non-project windows, so itā€™s intended to be a single file. As long as itā€™s in the appropriate location, Sublime reads it automatically when it starts.

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#10

If we go back to the original question, is there a way to recover files deleted during the update of Sublime?

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#11

Hi.
I donā€™t know if any of what Iā€™m about to say is of any help, but your situation sounds terrible, so Iā€™ll give it a shot, maybe some more knowledgable folks can step in.

First thought, if your missing files havenā€™t been deleted, maybe theyā€™ve been hidden. As far as Iā€™m aware, Windows rarely deletes things but renames files so they canā€™t be seen (Iā€™m sure someone will jump in here, pls do).

Do you remember what any of your missing files were called? Make a list.

Boot your machine using a linux dvd or bootkey ( this ) . You can then use linux (mint in this case) to look through your hard drive (as linux can ā€œreadā€ your files) (youā€™ll also see what a terrible job windows does of file management) and maybe you can glean some clues from there.

Caveats (galore) : I havenā€™t looked at a windows machine for years, so have no idea what windows 10 is up to on the hard drive.

As long as youā€™re only ā€œreadingā€ your disc you shouldnā€™t do any ā€œdamageā€

And this only works if you have access to your booting system.

Hopefully more knowledgable folks will jump in and either confirm this is a good/terrible idea. If this does turn out to be a Sublime issue, one for the bug tracker? because that seems very harshā€¦

Best I can think ofā€¦

Good luck

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#12

Hey Lozminda! You gave me hope. Thanks.

I actually tried what you said. Although I couldnā€™t find files I lost, I have noticed something interesting.

As I mentioned earlier, the amount of data I lost is around 600 GB. When I check my hard drive on Windows, 250 GB of it is occupied. HOWEVER! Linux say 850 GB of it is occupied. So, my files are still there, but all the path and name info regarding files are gone. ANY IDEAS about how to recover those files?

It seems like Sublime has a weird bug and it puts your computer in a dangerous situation. You all are facing an unexpected loss of your files. Therefore, backup!

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#13

I donā€™t think this is Sublime, just an unfortunate coincident.

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#14

Sorry for delay, am back at work so no time for ST Iā€™m afraidā€¦
Linux hides files by putting a full stop infront of the files, ctrl + h in the GUI reveals themā€¦

Could you post some screen shots or other info. Go crazy, the more you can post, the more the better. Something to get us started. You can message me privately if this is considered none ST.
Screens shots of what youā€™ve been looking for. Maybe some of the names of the files youā€™re looking for. Trying to help with no visable info is almost impossible.
However if your search is urgent, Iā€™m sorry I canā€™t help as I shouldnā€™t really be on this forum now, but if you post something Iā€™ll try and get back on, say later in the week.
If thereā€™s no reply by 2 July Iā€™ll consider the problem solved. Sorry canā€™t be more help, work, work, work, work, (I should be thankful, but Iā€™d rather be doing some computing :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:)
Maybe itā€™s a partitioning issue, shooting from the hipā€¦

:unicorn: :skull_and_crossbones:

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#15

Can you copy the 850 gig of data to an external hard drive using the linux bootkey, then at least you have a backup in case of (further) disasters ?

If thereā€™s any errors copying could you post them pls.

To be honest, I would also find another mind just to verify what Iā€™m suggesting isnā€™t madness too

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#16

Hey Lozminda! Thanks for the help!

I checked the hard disk again. It seems like 850 GB is actually the empty space. I misinterpreted it. So, the data seems to be gone both on Linux and Windows. Some recovery software can find files, but most of the recovered files are corrupt. So, I gave up.

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#17

What a total &$Ā£?#@^ !

It seems one can never do too much backing up.
As they say in France:- Bon Courage (which translates as good courage/luck but actually means more than that, itā€™s better in French than English!)

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