I have a My Passport that is a few years old and I had only used it once or twice. I just moved pictures from a different external hard drive to My Passport and then I did a full backup. On the smartware, the backup source and destination have exactly the same information highlighted in blue, except for a large 259GB grey folder called Additional Files. How can I open that folder to see if my pictures are there? Thanks for any help you can offer.
Can you open the folder “Additional Files” using the Win Explorer…also open all the sub folders to drill down.
- if you get a permission error, then did these folders come from another PC. You said you moved pictures from another drive (that was connected to this PC?) and then did a full backup (using the WD backup? or manual copy/paste?)
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Thanks so much for your suggestion! I appreciate the help!
The additional files folder is greyed out and I can’t figure out how to open it. The missing folders came from another external drive that was plugged into my laptop via a USB. I don’t know what is in them since my son took the drive with him when he went back to school and just told me that he erased everything on it. I am so frustrated!
agshapiro…so where is this “additional Files” located…on your PC now and you cannot open because it is grayed…or, was it on the Passport that your son took and wiped clean.
- when you say “grayed out” what is this.
- does it look like a permission issue because the folder came from another drive that had a different owner/PcName. Can you see it using Explorer or PC file viewer?
- I’m not sure is mikes2’s stellarinfo program handles Permission issues too…something he could chime in on
If you do not have a backup, you can try a recovery tool to scan your drive to find the missing pictures as well as recover them if you want. But if the data has been overwritten, it will be difficult to recover.
Thanks, I think it’s been wiped clean by my son. I may have to give up looking for the pictures.
Hi,
Thanks for trying to help!
The Additional Files is the last item on the WD Passport dashboard where it lists all the items stored on the Passport. The dashboard appears on my laptop when I connect the Passport to my PC and open the WD software, and also appears when I use file explorer to see what is on the Passport. All of the other items on the dashboard are blue and I can drill down into them, but the Additional Files is grey and can’t be clicked on to open or drill down into.
Hi, thanks for trying to help!
I don’t get a permission error. I connect the Passport to my PC and either open the WD software to see what is stored on it, or I open explorer. The same thing happens both ways-all of the items stored on the Passport dashboard are blue except for Additional Files which is grey. I can drill down into the blue items but not the Additional files.
The pictures were transferred from a different WD external harddrive to the Passport that I have. My son took the different WD external harddrive with him. He didn’t download the WD software onto the laptop which he used to try to transfer the pictures from “his” WD external harddrive to mine. He simply did a manual copy/paste and not a full backup. Perhaps that is why I don’t have the pictures on my external harddrive. Unfortunately he has already wiped “his” WD external harddrive clean.
But I am still curious about what the Additional Files may contain and hopeful that his manual copy/paste maybe placed my pictures there.
The grayed out Additional Files folder…other than being able to change the ownership using the folder Properties/security…then I would not really know what you could do. Using 3rd party software that others have suggested to recover files could be another choice. Not sure if those require the folders to be open to all. Is it possible that your lost photos are not buried in another area…you tried a search by Names too?
Hi, thanks for trying to help!
I don’t get a permission error. I connect the Passport to my PC and either open the WD software to see what is stored on it, or I open explorer. The same thing happens both ways-all of the items stored on the Passport dashboard are blue except for Additional Files which is grey. I can drill down into the blue items but not the Additional files.
The pictures were transferred from a different WD external harddrive to the Passport that I have. My son took the different WD external harddrive with him. He didn’t download the WD software onto the laptop which he used to try to transfer the pictures from “his” WD external harddrive to mine. He simply did a manual copy/paste and not a full backup. Perhaps that is why I don’t have the pictures on my external harddrive. Unfortunately he has already wiped “his” WD external harddrive clean.
But I am still curious about what the Additional Files may contain and hopeful that his manual copy/paste maybe placed my pictures there.
No messages about not being able to access the grayed folder…I see. Can you pick the folder, in explorer, rt mouse to properties/security and see anything that looks wrong…or there is no mouse response. Other than that I would be of no use…sorry, but hey, it was curious conversation.
Thanks for trying to help. It is curious. One day I’ll figure it out.
I hope!
