Where is folder contents going

I have a folder with many pictures in it, When I open it now many pictures are missing. They have not been deleted, This happened to me one other time several months ago but after couple days they were back in the folder somehow. This time its been over a week and the pictures havent returned, Can anyone explain whats going on, How to get the pics back, and how to prevent this from happening again, its getting frustrating. Thank you

Is this THE My Pictures folder?

Sometimes certin file extensions may not be selected for view. Such as .bmp

Any idea if all the missing pics are of the same extension?

They are all same extentions .jpg . Not all are missing some are still in the folder but most have gone

Is this THE My Pictures folder?

If so how are you viewing it? By opening My Pictures? Or Windows Explorer?

Try searching from the start menu for .jpg start/search all files & folders .jpg

Someting else mysterious, Doing a search was no help. I had a picture in another folder, I renamed it, Then sent it to the folder Im having problems with, It didnt show up after sending it there , I also did a drag and drop to the folder , still not there , Then did a search for it and it doesent show up on the search, Im totaly confused

Try creating a new folder or use My Documents/My Pictures to see if the problem is re-created.

Can trasfer to other folders, tried a couple others with no problem.

Sorry if I am missing something here but it sounds like you have a single corrupt folder?

Why not delete it and use new folders?

You have never said whether or not you are talking about your My Pictures folder?

This is an important distinction as it has ties in the registry that can be repaired if corrupt.

If searching for .jpg isn't finding the pics I doubt that anything will. Do you have the search options to search all hidden files & folders etc.?

This recovery tool maybe worth a try:

http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm

No it is not the my pictures folder, It was a folder I created on the desktop about 3 years ago, yes it is the only folder I'm having trouble with, Like I said earlier I had the same problem with a different folder last summer that lasted a couple days ,then the pictures mysteriously reappeared. Yes I had show hidden files and folders on.