My mom is reorganizing photos and documents on a Windows 11 laptop. She creates a new empty folder and drags a photo folder into it, which initially works. However, when she later drags an individual photo or another folder into that same destination, the first folder either disappears entirely or remains empty. Sometimes the missing items appear in the Recycle Bin, while other files seem to vanish. The folders have different names, so this does not appear to be an overwrite problem. OneDrive is enabled, and there was apparently a one-time message mentioning something about hiding, although the exact wording is unknown. What could cause this, and how can the files be moved safely without losing anything?
3 Answers
For now, use Copy instead of Move. Hold Ctrl while dragging, or right-click the files and choose Copy, then paste them into the destination. Verify that everything arrived before deleting the originals. Also check both the Windows Recycle Bin and the OneDrive recycle bin, since synchronization can make files appear to move or disappear unexpectedly. Keep an additional backup on an external drive or another trusted storage service.
Before doing more rearranging, pause or disable OneDrive sync and test with a small set of duplicate files. Make sure the folders are actually stored locally and not just being synchronized placeholders. If files are still removed, search the entire drive by filename and check hidden items, the Recycle Bin, and OneDrive’s online recycle bin. Do not permanently empty either bin until the files are recovered and backed up.
Moving and copying are different operations. When the source and destination are on the same drive, Windows normally moves the item, which removes it from the original location. If the destination is on another drive, Windows usually copies it instead. That normal behavior should not empty unrelated folders, though, so OneDrive syncing, an accidental selection, or another file-management issue is worth investigating.
Everything is on the same drive, and I understand the difference between moving and copying. The strange part is that adding a second item seems to empty the first folder, so I’m checking whether OneDrive is interfering.
The behavior happens even when there is no visible error message, and some items consistently end up in the Recycle Bin. I’m going to disable OneDrive temporarily and use copying first to see whether that stops it.