Bug in Windows 10’s Latest Update Might Be Deleting Files, Back Up Your Data Now

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Source: How to Geek

The Windows 10 October 2018 update is rolling out right now, but some users are reporting serious problems.

There’s also a Reddit thread full of users complaining about the issue. Here’s redditor sophormoon:

Prior to the 1809 update I had over fifteen-thousand photos in a particular folder. After the 1809 update the same folder exists with exactly ONE photo left. I have backups of the individual photos, but that folder contained a specially curated set that will take months to recreate if it’s even possible.

Stories like this are adding up, and they’re a cautionary tale. We can’t independently confirm that this bug is real at this time—none of our machines have been affected—but we’re seeing enough chatter to take this seriously.
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So the bug only deletes the contents in user directory, and not from other drives. That's a relief, but still unacceptable.
 
Yes, Microsoft have pulled back the update, after several angry users took to different sites to report that their data had been deleted permanently.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordon...ndows-7-windows-xp-free-upgrade/#6c6ae33e6fa4

Thanks to this thread, I had backed up all the data on my PC to an external drive, which I do whenever I feel the need, like before every major update.

Still, I don't keep much data on the C: drive. I have made separate data partitions, where I keep all my data, and I keep backing it up, although I must admit, the back up frequency is not very quick.

But really, for the users who lost so much of their data because of the update, it's really a pity, and they must be really angry. It's really a shame.
 
Those lusers deserve to lose their data. They should have backed up in any case, what if disk/ssd fails? :D
 
In my experience, when I tried to 'Disk clean up' after update installation, it also included one new entry named 'Downloads'. Like many, I have kept quite some files in 'Downloads' folder and amount of potential free space was in few GBs. When I read through description, it clearly stated, checking this box would delete all content in 'Downloads' folder.

I would need to check 'Documents' and 'Pictures' folders. But AFAIK, I could access contents from 'Documents'.
 
You cannot blame users for not backing data. Windows update is supposed to be trustworthy. Not every win10 user will keep backing up each and every ounce of his work created every minute on another drive or partitions. That's foolish and practically illogical. Backup process even on daily basis is not affordable and feasible for every users unless the user is working on very critical process esp data of other clients and that too the process be automated or manual.

Basic home end users who got no idea about backup etc are at massive loss.

Microsoft should had tested the update before a hurried rollout. And now it should provide data recovery services for free for all affected users.
Affected users should raise their voices in this regards.
 
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vishalrao said:
Those lusers deserve to lose their data. They should have backed up in any case, what if disk/ssd fails? :D
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err, even leaving aside people who don't backup ; there are very few people left who still do a physical backup
Most people leave their docs or pics in icloud or onedrive or dropbox
Since any cloud backup will auto sync with your local folder, the backup would also lose out on the files deleted

In either case, an update deleting user data is super weird
 
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superczar said:
err, even leaving aside people who don't backup ; there are very few people left who still do a physical backup
Most people leave their docs or pics in icloud or onedrive or dropbox
Since any cloud backup will auto sync with your local folder, the backup would also lose out on the files deleted

In either case, an update deleting user data is super weird
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I know that for onedrive and gdrive, there is a trash folder to recover. need to check still.
 
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How will they recover the lost data though? In BBC news the reporters called the helpline and no one knew about this.
 
I guess it's the classic undelete operation. When files are deleted by filesystem they are only marked as deleted. The actual files are still there on the disk and tools can unmark them. Only if you continue to use the computer there are chances those "deleted" files will get overwritten by new data which is why MS wrote in their blogs to stop using systems and call them for recovery.
 
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