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I have an USB drive, that I use for copying files from my Windows 7-based computer to my Linux-based home theather system. Media Player creates .Theater folder in disk's root folder, every time disk is connected to it. It contains some player's internals. I noticed absolutely no problems, when folder is gone.

Today, I have connected USB disk to my PC to copy some more media and a standard dialog pop, asking me, if I want to scan the disk before using it. It is nearly always displayed, when disk contains that .Theater folder. I clicked No and I have immediately noticed, that Windows deleted this folder!

What is going on or what am I missing? How can Windows delete any user folder without asking him/her for an confirmation of such operation. Especially, taking into account, that this is external disk, so deleted folders are not recycled, but gone "for good" (until using USB recovery tools).

I recall, that Windows, even up until newest versions, gets completely wako about files or folders without name (only with extension). But, this is something new and something what causes me to have a real concerns about safety of my files.

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  • I can has (contain) anything it or I want. That is not a point. Window can't delete any user file, without asking me for a permission to do so. That's a point.
    – trejder
    Nov 13, 2014 at 8:58
  • I had to struggle a little to understand what you wrote, so I hope I got it right. 1. Can you reproduce the problem? 2. When you say 'Media Player' you mean the Linux-based and not the Microsoft one, right? 3. I understand that Windows never deleted anything this way before - what have changed in your system? (updates, utilities, etc.)
    – EliadTech
    Nov 13, 2014 at 11:26
  • @EliadTech I hope I was better in explaining this! :> 1. This happened for me only once so far. 2. Yes, Media Player = Linux-based external device. 3. = 1. I have never experienced anything like that before. 4. Nothing, that I'm aware of (neither software nor hardware) has changed.
    – trejder
    Nov 13, 2014 at 15:18

1 Answer 1

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Try doing the same steps (loading the files to the USB, plugging it to the media player, etc.), and see if it happens again.
If the problem doesn't recur so this might be a one-time slip (As you wrote, it never happened before).

If it does happen again, try using an earlier (meaning before the first time it occurred) restore point.
If it happens again after using the restore point, then try again using a different computer. Also, try reformatting the USB and running chkdsk on it afterwards - maybe he has some bad sectors.

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  • I'm picking your answer, as the one containing many useful tips for a quite wide area of problem, such as my question is (after all). I assume, that the answer to my (maybe not directly expressed) question: "Can Windows delete user file without confirmation?" is: "No!" in your opinion. Am I right?
    – trejder
    Nov 13, 2014 at 18:50
  • Yes, OS should never delete files without a warning.
    – EliadTech
    Nov 15, 2014 at 20:38
  • Just to provide more detail -- this is a repeatable situation. The .Theater folder gets removed by my Windows 7 everytime I connect external drive to computer and refuse to scan the "damaged" disk. I'm not sure if this wasn't happening in the past or if I simply didn't noticed this fact?
    – trejder
    Nov 16, 2014 at 12:08
  • Can you test with a newly installed computer? can you reformat the USB (preferably using Diskpart Clean)?
    – EliadTech
    Nov 16, 2014 at 12:18
  • Since this isn't actually a problem for me (media player can work without this folder and will always recreate it, if it is missing), so lets just assume, that my question was purely to feed my curiosity and lets just pass it now. I don't want to make this into a chat or forum discussion. Eventually, problem looks limited only to my case. Thanks for all your efforts.
    – trejder
    Nov 16, 2014 at 19:08

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