HF bug/hack??

[waldenk]

I am a longtime user and huge fan of HF. I am Pro lifetime licensee. I'm running 8.2.18 and know HF super well:)
This evening I'm experiencing -extremely- strange odd behavior, running HF on the same Win11 PC that I have for several years.
When I launch HF and point it to the folder in which a bunch of my .nef images sit.... to upload them...
That folder and all the images in it immediately get deleted. They disappear. Poof. Gone.
I've repeated this several times with the same outcome.
A folder full of images that I can see/access via Windows File Explorer...
Disappear...get deleted...the moment I attempt to open them in HF.
Its inexplicable...but/and totally repeatable.
I'ved rebooted my system several times.
Has my copy of HF been hacked/corrupted or similar?
Has an HF SW update been pushed with a bug?
Have any other users experienced this?
Thanks...

update: the issue described above goes -away-..... if i change the name of the parent folder.
I -had- been keeping all my .nef images in subfolders...in a master folder called "Helicon".
I changed the name of that master folder...and the issue disappears.
not sure why.

[Catherine]

Check your Helicon Focus preferences - Performance - Disk cache folder, what is it set to?

[waldenk]

hi catherine,
i really appreciate your quick reply.
i've never specifically set or changed HF's default disk cache folder...
but i see it is currently set to the same path/master folder name..
as the the path/master folder where i was uploading images and experiencing strangely disappearing folders.
is this the issue?
i.e. does HF clear out/overwrite/delete etc whatever was previously in the disk cache folder?
thank you very much!

[Catherine]

Yes, Helicon Focus will clean up its cache folder, which is why you should never assign it to anything other than a completely empty folder private to Helicon Focus. Or just leave it at its default path. You can click the "Reset" button to restore defaults.