Question : Problem: Explorer shows Folders, Why are ALL files missing?

I came across a Dell PC that would not boot into Windows. Said that the Hal.dll file was missing from the Windows Installation.  I tried to perform a XP repair Install to replace the damaged XP installation, this did not work.  Upon setup i received an error saying that setup could not continue.  I removed the hard drive and put into a USB enclosure to hook it up as a external HDD to another machine as i do regularly to other drives in order to save Data.  HDD autoran and showed what i thought to be all the folders and files on the system.  Come to find out, all the folders on the system are intact, but ALL files on the machine, program, system, data files.  Everything was missing from the folders.  Basically in short, I can see the folders of the OS but there is nothing in them.  Even the Capacity of the HDD shows that there is data on the drive, i can not see it.  Have already using RAW file scanning and Active File recovery software to try and retrieve this data.  Help please!  Repair partition? Filetable need fixing??

Answer : Problem: Explorer shows Folders, Why are ALL files missing?

Seems the crosslinked files problem. as CHKDSK try to fix this problem the whole thing becomes messed up. Another possible cause - you simply do not have rights to see the content of partition. try to copy a file from internal HDD to the one you have problems with. Are you able to see it?