Here is my story; I went to open Poser (which is installed an a external 40gb harddrive) via the poser.exe file and when I tried to find it was gone. Only a few files remained , but no runtime, no poser file, nothing. I did a search on all my hard drives but nothing was found. I don't understand this, because all of the space that Poser took up is still taken up... which leads me to believe its somewhere. I'm not sure if its because I'm low on memory or something, SOMEONE please help. If anyone can help me get this straightened out, a reward is in order. (I've called both Maxtor and Curious and both offices were closed)

My main suggestion is: don't worry. Unless you zeroed the drive or reformatted it somehow, the data is still there. If it were Mac OS, I would use a directory damage repair program like Diskwarrior. Windows directory damage may be harder to repair, but the experts will know what to use to recover the files.

I'm runing Windows XP...[justfyi]

did you or anyone change your log on name - are you in the admin access? (just a guess, I don't use xp)

Everything has been normal up until this point, no log in changes, no system changes, anything.

Have you tried "System Restore?". Just be sure to save what you do have (create restore point) just in case,.... that way if you lose anything else you have in your computer as of today....you can hopefully retrieve it.

okies... in My computer, right click the drive, then select properties, tools and under error checking hit 'check now' - I'd advise doing that before running a system restore..

can you access the drive? are any other files missing?

Attached Link: http://www.handyrecovery.com/index.shtml

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12385&Form.ShowMessage=1799607

Just a silly question - have you performed a "find file" for poser.exe across the entire drive?

Attached Link: http://runtime.org

Ok so far... I've 1.) Checked the for errors via the "properties" and no luck. 2.) Ran two system restores back to dates I KNOW Poser worked, no luck. 3.) Searched all 3 hard drives for poser.exe, no luck 4.) Downloaded Handy Recovery, searched, found nothing. (Still lookign with this though) ... I'm still in URGET need for this program, I have a project that I'm working on for a client that has to be finished by Tuesday, so in dire needs I'm offering a $25 gift certficate for Renderosity or (via PayPal, just cash) for ANY help I can get, ASAP. Thank you everyone for their suggestions.

What are the files that are still there ?
The more detailed the information you provide the more chance there is of somebody thinking of something that will help.

have you tried creating a new user account and then give it admin privileges, then look for the poser directory? Is poser still in your add/remove progs list? Did somone else have problem similar to this, they unzipped a freestuff file to the poser folder and deleted the contents?

YOu didn't accidently "hide" the files did you?

Just curious.....did you do a scandisk on this drive? I have a Maxtor like Dizzie's and the instructions specifically warn against doing scandisk on that drive. Are you connecting your external drive via USB? If so, is it fast enough to run programs. USB 1.1 is not recommended for running programs. Lots of questions....not many answers. I would seriously look at Dizzie's suggestion, especially if you happen to have a Maxtor drive. Really do need more information. You indicated that the same amount of space is taken up that was taken up before. I have a CD reader writer and have found that when I delete something from a CDR disk, it will disappear, but the space is still used. I've never tried the "show hidden files" on these disks, but you might want to try kayjay97 suggestion and see if they show up. Very weird......I'm really hoping you get something to work. It has to be very frustrating.

Some very good points ... darn, you've hit all the obvious ones. Have you tried Get Data Back?

I'm a former user of Norton Speed Disk. I say former because the first time I used it in WinXP it moved files around and didn't move them back correctly. Data disappeared mysteriously, only to be found in a folder with truncated names (don't recall the exact folder name right off hand). Relates to the defrag idea mentioned in previous posts.

What prob happened is when you dragged and dropped a new item into the Runtime folder, you mistakingly move the runtime folder else where with out even realizing it. The folder is there on the hard drive. Just finding where is the teadous job. Don't be surprised. It is there in the HD. You'll prob have to go through every folder looking for these folders "Runtime" and/or "Poser #" with files. And when you do find it, then comes the part of drag and dropping to its correct folder(s). If you are using winXP, you can get someone you trust, and use WindowsXP's "Remote Desktop Connection". I do this when family members have problems, they call me up at home, and then I connect to their computers and repair from my home. Good feature from Microsoft. :-)

Make sure you're showing "Hidden" files AND that you're not hiding "protected operating system files" (just for the time being. Search for more than poser.exe - you can search for multiple files in one go by seperating with a space or comma. So try searching for: poser.exe *.rsr *.obj *.cr2 *.pz2 That really ought to show up some part of the poser tree if it's actually accessible to you. Cheers, Cliff

Hoping you can get all this straightened out, sorry i can't be of any help, bookmarking this for future reference.

I can't help, but my D-drive that poser is on keep didappearing, then it would come back. It was not working right either, (Poser) I have a new d-drive in the mail, the company will pay for someone to come out and install it and clean the inside of my case. I moved all my files to c-drive. but when I went to use them. They were coruped. So I have to start all over, when I get D-drive. I put a small Poser on c, so I wouldn't go nuts in the meantime. Good luck and hope you find Poser.

I don't mean to sound like a "smart-arse", but did you try to reinstall poser? I have noticed that when I think I have removed a program and then reinstall it again, all the saved files that I had previously in the program Re-appear.....when I thought they were gone? I know you did not remove the program, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Also, try going to My computer and open the hard-drive that Poser was in. You should be able to see all the files that are in that drive.

quoting: I don't mean to sound like a "smart-arse", but did you try to reinstall poser? I have noticed that when I think I have removed a program and then reinstall it again, all the saved files that I had previously in the program Re-appear I've done that too. It is one way to get missing files back. If nothing else, you will have Poser back to restart the project.

Sorry, can't offer any assistance than has alrady been mentioned. This must be so frustrating for you. Wishing you luck. Just thought - if this is an external harddrive is there any way you could check it with another computer? Just a thought.