Files disappeared from memory stick

[Chloe636]

Hi there,
I put by memory stick into the computer this morning and clicked on removable disk e from my computer as always. However.. this time when it opened it has loads of files all with symbols, not the names I gave them. I also cannot open any of them. Please help! I just did a huge amount of work on it! Any ideas?
Thanks

[webdude]

When you remove your memory stick normally do you use the safe to remove tool? If not, it is possible that your memory stick was corrupted the last time you removed it. This can happen with programs like Word which often writes back to the oriignal file folder when making temporary backups, or when writing cached data back to disk.

A lot of people don't bother using the safe to remove tool, and often they will get away with it, but I know two colleagues who lost some, and in one case all of their data on the memory stick ,by not stopping the removable drive first.