Not sure if Malware or just a bad accident, but I think I uninstalled my D drive.

Occono

I installed...abandonware. You can't buy it anymore and for Win 10 you probably need a crack if you did. Maybe I won't name the game but really, it's not for sale, it was pulled from Steam.

Anyway. It installed fine. Played fine. But I uninstalled it.

And.....D: is gone. The drive is....empty. Poof. I mean, it's there, but empty.

I think, after internally crying and freaking out (too attached to a PC, I know) I worked out what happened, though, if so I don't know how Windows 10 just doesn't see this having happened:

https://minimaxir.com/2013/06/working-as-intended/
https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/9418t5/psa_the_magic_arena_installer_can_still_delete/

I moved the game to its own folder after installing it. It worked as a portable file. But when I first installed it, it installed the game files to D. Just root D, by accident. I just moved them after.

So now...I think when I used the uninstaller......I think it uninstalled D.

I'm not a tech wizard (I should have been but...............oh let's not) but I think.....it's like the files have a 0 in their name, so Windows will treat them as overwritable areas on the disk.

I think I worked it out. I'm trying Testdisk and Recuva now.

The game, installed to D. The game files, in D. I moved them manually to a subfolder, they worked portably, I didn't think of the possible issue. The uninstaller may not have been malware, but was suffering the same issue seen here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/co..._still_delete/

It installed the game to D. So it UNINSTALLED D. Why the **** Windows 10 doesn't see an issue with everything in D going poof suddenly I don't know.

....if I'm right I should have gone into computers. Anyway. Am I...right?

This has still ****ed me as there might be issues with restored files IF this Recuva program by CCCleaner works...but I think I know what happened. Just want confirmation now.

ED E

Windows did what it was meant to do, the game was wrong in permitting an installation without a mandatory directory level.

Occono

ED E wrote: »

Windows did what it was meant to do, the game was wrong in permitting an installation without a mandatory directory level.

C'Mon. Windows does a ton of ****, I think some kind of sanity check or idiot protection can be used to stop installations to root or uninstallers to be able to wipe 1TB in a few minutes without Windows so much as going "hmm."

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/722405-help-origin-deleted-99-of-my-d-drive/

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/458606877314562648/

This is apparently a long-running design flaw that uninstallers can sometimes have.

smuggler.ie

Unfortunately, you fail victim of combination of two: poorly designed software(game) and human error.

Edit: and i am not sure about former.

Occono

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Unfortunately, you fail victim of combination of two: poorly designed software(game) and human error.

Edit: and i am not sure about former.

I think any software letting you install to root (you know that small non-explorer install folder choice window you sometimes see, like this:


It had that, which probably threw me off) and then not checking it's only uninstalling what it installed is poor design. Or really just a design flaw in Windows.

Oh come on I know it's dumb (I moved the loose files in D out of root but didn't think of the problem with how it was installed before I uninstalled. Actually, I've only just re-learned again now what the difference between uninstalling and deleting is, I'm not a tech person. It's like the failsafe detonator reveal on Chernobyl for me) but this is a flaw in Windows. It should prevent installing anything in a top level folder and run sanity checks on uninstallers. I was dumb but I refuse to accept this as something obvious like putting a fork in a socket. :P

Recuva....seems to have found.....mostly everything? I'm waiting for the results of the recovery export to my external drive now.

smuggler.ie

Don't get me wrong, i feel for you, however...


1. I believe this game installer, as most, by default, suggested to install to C:\Program Files\GameFolder . You, as admin, choose to go for different directory. At this point game installer say: "OK, you admin, you know what you want". I don't think you would be happy, if Windows would prompt you 2-5 times "are you sure?" if you would try to delete some file. Where i can accept that flaw is in software(game) installer, not containing script to go %UserSpecifiedInstalationPath%\GameFolder , i cannot see Windows fault in that. Again, you could not know that subfolder won't be created. For future, change letter - leave following folder structure - less hasle.

2. You could not know that, but during installation process, registry keys are written, for each installed program one of them is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall , it contain InstallLocation key specifying original installation path. Even if you moved you game files to sub-folder at the later stage manually, this key was not updated as it is created during installation. uninstall.exe has this record and, if you specify "uninstall and clear all data"(or it does by default, depending on soft) it goes and "clean up after itself". Properly designed soft would keep track of files/folders it has created and don't touch other. Again, can't see why Windows should care what you, admin, doing.

3. Windows, by default, will protect certain system files from deletion, even by admin, if deletion of these would cause Windows stop running and because most of them in use while Windows running. You had game installed on non-system drive. Windows could not care less what you do with your personal files/folders - they give you "independence and full control" on that, especially when you're admin/owner. This is where fail-safe mechanism kick-in in permission controlled environment - ordinary user should/can NOT, admin should KNOW.




Sad you learn that this way. Even advanced Windows users could fail on that.

And I'm glad you see potential of recovering your data.
Good luck


Edit: In you screenshot you expose your identity, remove/mask unless you don't care.

Occono

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Don't get me wrong, i feel for you, however...


1. I believe this game installer, as most, by default, suggested to install to C:\Program Files\GameFolder . You, as admin, choose to go for different directory. At this point game installer say: "OK, you admin, you know what you want". I don't think you would be happy, if Windows would prompt you 2-5 times "are you sure?" if you would try to delete some file. Where i can accept that flaw is in software(game) installer, not containing script to go %UserSpecifiedInstalationPath%\GameFolder , i cannot see Windows fault in that. Again, you could not know that subfolder won't be created. For future, change letter - leave following folder structure - less hasle.

2. You could not know that, but during installation process, registry keys are written, for each installed program one of them is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall , it contain InstallLocation key specifying original installation path. Even if you moved you game files to sub-folder at the later stage manually, this key was not updated as it is created during installation. uninstall.exe has this record and, if you specify "uninstall and clear all data"(or it does by default, depending on soft) it goes and "clean up after itself". Properly designed soft would keep track of files/folders it has created and don't touch other. Again, can't see why Windows should care what you, admin, doing.

3. Windows, by default, will protect certain system files from deletion, even by admin, if deletion of these would cause Windows stop running and because most of them in use while Windows running. You had game installed on non-system drive. Windows could not care less what you do with your personal files/folders - they give you "independence and full control" on that, especially when you're admin/owner. This is where fail-safe mechanism kick-in in permission controlled environment - ordinary user should/can NOT, admin should KNOW.




Sad you learn that this way. Even advanced Windows users could fail on that.

And I'm glad you see potential of recovering your data.
Good luck


Edit: In you screenshot you expose your identity, remove/mask unless you don't care.

This all happened so easily (and so quickly! How did it manage to delete everything so quickly?) that I think this should be given a clippy tutorial. Or at least, outright don't allow installations to root
In retrospect, is there any reason you'd want to install a program to a root folder?

I will wear my dunce hat in shame. I at least understand the logic of this now.

smuggler.ie

Occono wrote: »

This all happened so easily (and so quickly! How did it manage to delete everything so quickly?) that I think this should be given a clippy tutorial. Or at least, outright don't allow installations to root
In retrospect, is there any reason you'd want to install a program to a root folder?

I will wear my dunce hat in shame. I at least understand the logic of this now.

Yourself set directory i believe...
All we learn some on daily basis - hopefully less painful.
Don't execute yourself over that now, what's done that's done, concentrate on recovery.

Occono

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Yourself set directory i believe...
All we learn some on daily basis - hopefully less painful.
Don't execute yourself over that now, what's done that's done, concentrate on recovery.

Wait If I accidentally ever install to root again, or somewhere bad, and I'm not sure how smart the uninstaller is, what should I do. Manually delete the files and use CCCleaner to clean the registry?

Should I just always do that?

I wish I'd seen this before:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9609-OBMP-2526

smuggler.ie

Occono wrote: »

Wait If I accidentally ever install to root again, or somewhere bad, what should I do. Manually delete the files and use CCCleaner to clean the registry?

Should I just always do that?

Apparently it's a known danger with Steam if you mess up:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9609-OBMP-2526

As i mentioned above, change letter - leave following folder structure - less hassle. Most of programs will go to this default path.

Pay attention to installation path - you installing as admin and completely rely on how good/bad soft is written. Don't rush to "Next" button, unless 100% sure.

Consider having separate drive/partition for "games", don't keep personal folders(Pic, Docs, etc) together.


Backup, backup, backup - there is never to much backup.

Occono

smuggler.ie wrote: »

As i mentioned above, change letter - leave following folder structure - less hassle. Most of programs will go to this default path.

Pay attention to installation path - you installing as admin and completely rely on how good/bad soft is written. Don't rush to "Next" button, unless 100% sure.

Consider having separate drive/partition for "games", don't keep personal folders(Pic, Docs, etc) together.


Backup, backup, backup - there is never to much backup.

The D Drive was just 95% games that I bought digitally. Like........I can redownload everything if Recuva doesn't work. I just have **** internet right now so it'll take forever.

My Pics and Docs are backed up on two external drives already, nothing precious was lost if Recuva doesn't find it.

The install window I attached a picture of doesn't let you keep a folder structure when you select a drive per say; you have to click Make new folder under the drive you want:


And then when it installed loose files in D, I grouped files by date created, moved them to a subfolder and didn't know what I did wrong until now.

This isn't an actual....major thing. I'm autistic, I just don't like computer craziness. I remember someone on Facebook linked to some site once where it was a prank goatse/lemon party thing (meh) but I couldn't close the site. It kep popping up a dialog, and this was before (stop page from creating dialogs) was a thing. I was bloody livid in response, and probably a joke among them. I'm autistic, I already was.

I'm sad I let this happen and glad I managed to understand how.

But, why uninstall at all? Is it really too messy not to? Just manually deleting stuff would be so much more convenient, especially if the files aren't too big for recycle bin.


I'll actually have to learn how to create a partition. That I don't know.

smuggler.ie

Soooo...

You not that bad after all...
Good.



I inclined to believe that in processes of installation, where you shown default path, you can click in the window and change from C: to , failing tat, just specify full path \Program Files\GameFolder(or whatever, never just \)

Occono

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Soooo...

You not that bad after all...
Good.



I inclined to believe that in processes of installation, where you shown default path, you can click in the window and change from C: to , failing tat, just specify full path \Program Files\GameFolder(or whatever, never just \)

Oh yeah. Ton of data, and my internet is terrible, but nothing precious was lost, I backed that all up. Everything on D is redownloadable from Steam/Origin over time.

At most maybe I lost save files or mods for old games that I forgot to back up and aren't cloud saved. And maybe some long past documents for college or whatever, a shame to lose but I don't need them.




....I don't like surprises. Also. Hoping there isn't actually Malware but now I can't feel confident.

Occono

Results from Recuva

smuggler.ie

"Partly recovered"
That doesn't sound good...

Occono

smuggler.ie wrote: »

"Partly recovered"
That doesn't sound good...

I've looked and it seems a lot was restored but IDK, maybe they seem fine but are corrupt? However a lot of files were restored into an "unknown folder" all mushed together.

A lot of this was just games. There was little in the way of documents and nothing that actually matters, maybe just old stuff I should just delete anyway. I can have Steam restore integrity. The only actual damage here is just I have appalling internet right now. I just bought a 4TB drive to move some stuff over so I wouldn't have to redownload it later , right before this happened. Ironically in the process, I uninstalled some old thing I had lying around.

I'll just spend like a year redownloading stuff it's fine. I just hope I actually fully understand the situation that happened here.

Occono

This is what I mean. Some games appear to have restored with their folder structure just fine but there's a lot....of this