My entire writing folder just vanished from my desktop | Creative Writing Prompts

Grant Bailey · 2026-03-18T11:05:05.131526+00:00

Happened last night after a system update, and I hadn't backed up in a week. Lost about 30 half-finished prompt ideas and a short story draft. Anyone know a good, simple recovery tool that actually works for this kind of thing?

umasullivan5mo ago

Yeah, that "hadn't backed up in a week" feeling is the worst. Did you try the Recuva tool @oscarkelly mentioned before you do anything else to the drive?

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oscarkelly5mo ago

Man, "hadn't backed up in a week" hits hard. I used to be the same way, thinking my files were safe just sitting there. Then my old laptop's drive just died, took a whole photo album with it. Now I have this cheap external drive that I plug in every Friday without fail. For recovery, Recuva saved my butt once when I emptied the recycle bin by mistake. It's free and pretty straightforward to run.

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the_henry5mo ago

Hadn't backed up in a week" is the story of my life, I feel that pain. Losing creative work is a special kind of awful. Have you tried checking the Windows.old folder from the update yet?

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