Help..turned laptop on and all files have disappeared

[Sunshineandoranges]

We have a 12 year old laptop. The laptop has widows 10. Turned it on today to find the screen has changed and all files show as empty. All documents gone and excel files empty.My husband is particularly upset as he does our accounts on it on excel and they have all disappeared. Then he tried to check the accounts on his backup memory stick and seems to have wiped the accounts on that too. I’d be really grateful for any help. I’ve been trying stuff for an hour but no success. Will be out this evening so back to thread tomorrow. And I will be getting a newer laptop soon!,

Have you opened it in a different profile, one that the files aren't saved in? I'll ask my dh as he works in IT and see if he knows what might have happened.

I would be really grateful and thanks for replying. Usually the screen has lots of little icons but when he turned it on there we’re just a few. Tried documents..all empty. Tried excel..nothing. Then he put the stick in and the year for all the accounts seemed to have disappeared too. Can’t find any images or photos either. I’m going to try again tomorrow. Ironically my son just gave us his old laptop which is 4 years old and we were going to try and transfer the information over. I’m going to try again tomorrow as it has really upset my husband that it will take him a very long time if he has to do the accounts again.

I thought you could restore to a prior date in Windows 10 using System Restore

I'd call a local computer expert. Ours is worth his weight in gold.

This. Our local small business owner is excellent. He does workshops and lessons for people who struggle with tech as well as repairs and troubleshooting. I would always ask him rather than risk trying to fix anything complicated myself.

First I would restart it and check that you've selected the right user profile on reboot, and not a guest or something. I'm not sure a system restore would work, because it normally says that your files will be unaffected, it just rolls back the system (updates and such), not the files.

Before you start fiddling with stuff too much and do some proper damage, I think I would contact a local expert. I suspect it's something simple BUT once you start googling or just 'trying out' suggestions you can do more harm than good if it's not the right solution and you don't know what you're doing.

A restart and ensuring you're logging in on the right profile won't do any harm though.

ETA an additional thought: What happens if you open up 'This PC' in Windows explorer (where you find folders and documents)? I'm on Windows 11 so can't remember if it's called 'My PC' on 10 or something else, but if you can get to the screen that shows the C drive, is it empty (as you would expect if the files were really gone) or does it show storage space being taken up?

It sounds very much like a profile issue. Although the memory stick is odd. Are you sure it backed up to the stick? If so you could put in the new laptop.
Other possible is a virus. Is it regularly virus checked?

I think my husband is nervous that a local IT person would have access to all our banking information . Thanks for all the tips..I will try them and if not will try a local man. I will get him to try the stick in the newer laptop when we get the password from my son.

It sounds like it is no longer reading information properly rather than that the information is not there. Can you still access the Internet on it? Are your files on the hard drive or in cloud storage.

I am so grateful for the tips..I fixed it and husband now very happy,

So pleased it's all fixed @Sunshineandoranges Do you know what happened? I spoke to my dh last night and he had a few ideas of what might have happened one being the hard drive could have been damaged in general every day use (12 years is quite old for a laptop) or something else may have been damaged (can't remember what part he said now). But glad all is ok & you hopefully haven't lost anything