How to find lost files on your hard drive

Posted on August 20, 2008 at 5:34 am

For better or worse, I completely live my life online and store all of my information electronically. I have thousands of digital pictures, video and music files, many many Office files, lots of PDF documents and tons of other random files. My collection has gotten so large now that sometimes it’s hard for me to find a file!

Yes it’s sad, but it’s true. Just yesterday I was looking for a Word document about business schools that I knew was on my computer, but had no idea which folder I saved it in. Another bad thing is that I try to be too organized and eventually don’t remember which “perfect” location I put a file.

Either way, there are some quick and easy techniques you can try to find lost files on your computer. Here’s usually what I do:

1. Search using Windows built-in search

windows search

Click on Start and then Search to being up the default Windows search. Above is the search in Windows XP. Vista has something similar, but gives you a few more options. Either way, if you can’t find a file, you’ll have to remember at least SOMETHING about it, including:

1. Part of the file name OR

2. The date around which it was created OR

3. The size of the file OR

4. The extension of the file OR

5. A few words in the document itself

If you can remember any of these, then you might have a chance at finding your file! If you don’t remember any of this, well when you probably wouldn’t even know you have that file!

Next click on All files and folders to make sure you get the most comprehensive results. Now you’ll see all the options for filtering your results:

windows file search

In order to search for a file by file extension, you can use the following syntax: *.exe, *.pdf, etc. You can put that into the file name box and then search for specific words or phrases in the document.

I used to use Windows search quite often, but I eventually found it to be too slow and it also didn’t let me search my emails. So that’s why I started using Google Desktop Search, a great program that is extremely fast and very comprehensive.

Once installed, Google Desktop will index your entire hard drive, including your emails if you are using Gmail or Outlook. Then just press the CTRL key twice to bring up the search box and begin searching:

google desktop search

The cool thing about Google Desktop Search is that it has a bunch of plugins that you can install that will index all kinds of other files, such as CAD files, DLLs, GDS, DWG, and lots more making finding a file super easy.

It also has an advanced search feature that lets you filter your results using filetype, date, and lots more. I have normally ALWAYS found what I was looking for using Google Desktop Search, especially when talking about emails. I have well over 50,000 emails in my Outlook box now and it’s impossible to find anything unless it is indexed by Google Desktop.

Do you use any other third party indexing and search program that is better than Google Desktop? If so, post a comment! Enjoy!

» Filed Under Computer Tips

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Comments

7 Responses to “How to find lost files on your hard drive”

  1. Michel said on : August 20th, 2008 at 6:32 am

    I prefer Copernic Desktop Search (www.copernic.com).


  2. Juntu said on : August 20th, 2008 at 7:05 am

    Some people will not risk exposing there computer to google (see http://news-01.rankforsales.co.....6-04.html). Instead I suggest using the xsearch utility (http://www.easexp.com/xsearch/) which standalone search utility and very fast and does not index files in your computer. I highly recommend it.
    Juntu


  3. Andy the Actuary said on : September 27th, 2008 at 4:40 pm

    Juntu, thank you. xsearch.exe does the trick. excellent. Quick download. Appreciate the reommendation.


  4. Jonathan White said on : October 29th, 2008 at 2:19 pm

    Launchy, indexyourfiles…


  5. vitali_y said on : January 26th, 2009 at 5:43 pm

    I prefer StopKa – Desktop search tool:
    http://www.stopka.us.
    I’m the author.


  6. Sina Lewis said on : February 11th, 2009 at 1:03 pm

    If you need a desktop search that helps you search Outlook content also, Lookeen might be your first choice:

    http://www.lookeen.com

    Helped me A LOT!

    Cheers


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  1. Index Your File - Fast file search program for Windows Says:

    [...] of files, making it extremely difficult to find the file manually. Earlier, I wrote about how to find lost files on your hard drive using the basic Windows search or by using a third party program like Google [...]

    November 21st, 2008 at 5:19 am
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