Data loss while restoring .tgz archives

[Thomas Schönhoff]

Hello to all,
I am still running XFCE 3.8.16.
Today I wanted to copy my backups from /dev/hdd (created unter RH 7.2) 
to home directory. First trial ended up in data loss :-(. I tried to 
copy  a compressed doc-archive to my home directory (now residing on a 
Debian Woody installation).
There appeared an error message like

    Could not find "xxx.tgz archive, dialog poped down and file was 
seemingly lost!???( LS120  drive). This was the "drag and drop" 
methodusing two running xftrees

After this I tried to use "copy and paste" method but nothing happens! 
Fortunately I found a further archive keeping important files , so I 
don't want to risk of loosing this files either !!!
What to do? I am still in need of getting these files soon!?

cheers
Thomas