Windows 10 October 2018 Update Goes Rogue For Some Users Deleting Critical Files
However, some users that decided to upgrade early have discovered that the upgrade is deleting some of their most important personal files. There are numerous cases reported via Twitter and Reddit that detail how users have seen their documents, pictures and even music completely wiped out by the October 2018 Update.
There are even complaints littering the official Microsoft Community discussion forum. One user, gattusovfc, wrote:
I have just updated my windows using the October update (10, version 1809) it deleted all my files of 23 years in amount of 220gb. This is unbelievable, I have been using Microsoft products since 1995 and nothing like that ever happened to me.
Files were located at C:/Users/rober/Documents/
This location is still present, with no files. All of files deleted.
I am extremely upset. Not sure what to do….please let me know.
On Twitter, Flabby Cat described losing a plethora of documents due to the update:
Oh my god.
— Flabby Cat (@MakatiCub) October 4, 2018
My “Documents” folder got deleted somehow causing *all* of my personal documents (Word docs, spreadsheets, etc) to disappear. This is on an NVMe SSD with TRIM. All gone.
My last backups are ancient.
Fuck.
It's not exactly certain what is causing critical user files to disappear, but some are pointing the finger at OneDrive. In addition, MSPowerUser reports that rolling back the installation of the October 2018 Update does not result in the restoration of the missing files.
At this point, Microsoft has not issued an official response as to why this is happening to a limited number of users. While it's unacceptable that a major operating system update would take it upon itself to delete users’ files on a whim, situations like this are why you should always, ALWAYS perform regular backups of your data.
This is not the first issue that has popped up with the Windows 10 October 2018 Update. It was revealed earlier this week that the update is being blocked on certain Intel-based systems due to a driver incompatibility.
