Thank you for the tip on Recuva ... I did go ahead and buy the $20 version of Recuva and it did exactly what it said it was going to do.
 
Unfortunately, the files that it recovered could not be opened in Word or Excel.  Most likely because a couple of days had gone by and there was damage done.
 
In any event, what Recuva did show me was the last path the files had taken (e.g., This PC\Desktop\...) before they disappeared.  The files that Recuva found had a last path that was not the path to the folder I intended when I dragged and dropped them.
 
So, my guess is that my Windows was corrupted and when I used drag and drop in File Explorer as described in my original post (unintentionally into a folder with the same name) it attempted to place the files into folders other than the one I wanted and ultimately either lost or corrupted them.
 
Bummer. 

Hi,
 
I'm not sure if this is something you want to look at ... 
 
Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos are ... sort of like "System Folders" ... and they have a tendency to force everything in there regardless.
 
What I do, is take everything away from those folders. I have, on a separate computer a folder for "Files Copy" and in there I have a copy of everything I do. On the main computer, it's still "Files", and that is where everything goes from each program, though things like Sonar are a pain in the arse with stuff from here to the moon and back, as are a couple of other music programs.
 
It also makes it easier to back up everything ... you only need to back up that folder since you can reload all the programs easy enough, and leaves less locations and spots to get corrupted in the computer all around.
 
It's a headache, for example, as I like to place my downloads in a particular place and while I can find a way to dictate the "downloads" folder to be the same as my "Wow Addons" folder and "Music Addons" Folder, and it will be fine for a few days, and then when you shut off the computer and it restarts the next day, upon entering into the house network, it changes things and the Downloads folder is no longer associated with the two folders listed. I just move all my downloads now to where I want them, and case is closed ...
 
There are certain things that you can't get around in Windows very well, and it is all a part of the program that Windows folks think you are stupid and would not know a download folder from toilet paper for your butt. It's beyond ridiculous, but as Windows has gotten better, one of the things it also did is hide things better, too! And this was one of them. Makes one ask why, and I can not find an answer other than ... we're stupid ... and it's always EUS issues!

You don't need to do any of that Pedro.  All you need to do is assign a new location to those shortcuts.  Just right-click on "My Documents" for example, then select Properties and change "Location" to a new place.  Typically, you'll want to have things on a separate hard drive from the OS drive.

craigb
You don't need to do any of that Pedro.  All you need to do is assign a new location to those shortcuts.  Just right-click on "My Documents" for example, then select Properties and change "Location" to a new place.  Typically, you'll want to have things on a separate hard drive from the OS drive.

That's exactly what I did at first ... but the networking issues were causing problems and these folders were disappearing.
 
It's just much easier now ... I only have one location for everything ... and one copy to handle of that folder once a week or so ... and I rarely lose much ... 
 
However, the issues might be related to the 32-bit W10 I had installed, and the issue seemed to dry up some with the 64-bit redo, however, I am not trusting Windows, and I would rather create my own folder, than have Windows decide for me where to place things, which has a tendency to spread things so far apart, with links and shortcuts, that it makes it too hard to find and backup things.
 
When you write, losing a chapter or two is not a big deal, but sometimes ... I just wanna wring the neck of that programmer ... you know what I mean? So, I depend on my OWN decisions, not Windows'.