[SOLVED] folder missing

Hi I recently got a laptop for my uncle, he has used some software that he got with his camera to try and transfer files from his camera's mem card to his laptop running win 7. He believes he has transferred the files ok and that he doesn't need to press a button etc to save them to his pc/laptop as the program automatically does this (has done this on his pc running windows xp). The next time he switched his laptop on the files were nowhere to be found. I have tried searching in the usual folders etc e.g. my docs, pictures etc the desktop, and also the software folders but could not find anything. My sister then had a look using the search facility which did bring up the files in a temp folder. She then cut and pasted the files into a newly created folder on desktop and they were there and fine and my uncle used the camera software to view them. All was fine and then the next time he went into the laptop, the files and even folder on the desktop are nowhere to be seen. He is sure he hasn't deleted the files/folder atall. After performing many searches again nothing has been traced.
I was wondering if this could be due to him not properly transferring the files from the camera to the laptop in the first place and maybe he has just viewed the photos from the memory card. Could this have created temporary files on the laptop hence they could be found in Windows Search that have then been deleted as soon as he shut the laptop down? He has a\lready deleted the files off the memory card hence the problem.
I am trying running Recuva seacrhing the entire HDD.
Once that is complete I will try running a chkdsk but doubt there is anything up with the disk as it is strange how everything else is fine.
Any other thought or suggestions as to how this may have happened and how to possibly retrieve the files?

Any help is much appreciated - I have the same laptop but am not yet used to using Win 7.

If all your sister did was create a shortcut to the temporary file folder then yes it makes sense it may go away on reboot.

If she actually copied the files and created a new folder then the first step I would try would be to look in the Recycle Bin, even before trying Recuva.

A digital camera memory card is basically just a flash drive so if you can't find the files on the harddrive you could also plug the digital memory card into a media reader and see if you can recover them from there (if he hasn't overwritten them with new photos).

For my digital camera I don't use any software to extract files. I simply plug in the memory card and drag them to "My Pictures". So some detail might help, such as camera make/model and what software he uses to transfer.

I think she actually copied the files and pasted them in the folder. First thing I did was look in recycle bin but nothing there and he is adament he hasn't deleted anything. I have checked HDD and no problems there. Also things I have put on desktop since are there after I have restarted as you would expect. I have managed to get 67 complete picture files out of the 900 or so that he believes were transferred to the laptop from the camera by using Recuva and a few more files but they are corrupt. The only other thing I can think of trying is to use recovery software on the camera memory card incase a few more files can be recovered since I do not believe he has used it since he cleared the pictures so with any luck the data traces left from clearing the card will not have yet been re-written. I have done this before with another memory card where the card itself failed (this is not the same case as this though).
I also do not rely on software I just transfer files directly. I am going to watch what he actually does at the weekend as I don't believe the files can have been actually transferred in the first place, I think he must have just viewed them on the laptop from the card and temporary files to have been created for use before the laptop was shut down. That at least partly makes sense.
I have since been into the program he uses which is part of Canon software bundle, the specific program used is Zoom Browser EX. There isn't much to see in the options but I think it had a checked box indiciating that the files would be transferred. The only other thing I came across is it came up with a message indicating that if a files within the program altered/removed and that the originaly file would also be altered/removed - another possible reason why the files have disppeared but also if that were the case you would still expect the removed files to be in the recycle bin.
Just thought I would post this in case other possible options/causes as I know other people have had files go missing, although these seem to be default folders such as My Pictures etc which have not been created upon upgrading to Windows 7 etc?

Well you should definitely pop the cameras memory card in and try to recover from there before he takes more photos. I believe you may get most of them back. Please let us know the results.

thanks i will do. think it is more likely a user error in this caae than a win7 error.

managed to get possibly all photos back off memory card, despite it being used since, thank you all for your help. Highly recommend the software, it even managed to bring back some old ones since the photos were deleted in the time before even.

That's great news, thanks for letting us know.