Files on Flash/External/Hard Drive Changed to Shortcuts, How to recover

Recently i was about formatting a system, didnt have my laptop readily available, so i decided to make a bootable flash using someones pc, and lo and behold, i inserted my flash drive and everything was converted into shortcut with some funny icon, i was raged, so i sought out for how to go about it and i stumbled on this , so i thought i share.

How to recover data when all files on flash drive or external hard drive have changed to shortcuts? It usually happens due to a virus. If you connected your flash drive to an infected computer, all your existing files may get converted into shortcuts. The filenames will be weird. But if you check the space usage, you will find that the data is still there. No need to worry!

To recover your data (which is converted to shortcuts), just follow these simple steps:

• Connect your pen/flash/external drive HDD to your computer.
• Go to My Computers and check what drive it is assigned for example F: or G: drive. Lets assume its G: (replace it with correct letter as applicable in your case).
• Click on “Start” –>”Run”–> type  "cmd" (WITHOUT THE QUOTES) and hit OK. This will start command prompt.
• Enter the following command and hit “Enter”.
  attrib -H -R -S /S /D G:\*.*

Important Points:

1. In the above command, alphabet G represents the drive letter for your flash/Pen drive. You may need to change it as it shows in your computer.
2. Make sure that you put spaces, as its there. Better to copy in a notepad first.