They are still in the posts and they are visible via FTP in wp-content/uploads/2012 but they are not visible in the media library except for 2 put up today and one accessed today. Where could they have gone?

what version of WP?
what have you recently done?
moved the site?
done any upgrades?
added a new plugin?
when did you do yor last full backup?

I was just over at my friend's working on the [her] site from there. We uploaded 2 pictures and accessed one. We may have accidentally clicked something wrong -- it was a training session -- the nearsighted leading the blind.

I discovered the initial sticky post which had been set in tables was totally mangled [maybe just on her computer -- don't know] but I came back to simplify it at home and then discovered the only images left were the 3 we had handled today even though they are all still up there in the "uploads"

One other thing that happened, was after she tried putting a picture up, I tried to add a caption but the captioning would not work any more ??????

BTW her site messed up looked like this first samples -- on my machine it looked like this: --ATTACHMENTS WOULDN'T LOAD
see links:
http://www.anartist.com/imagesNonSite/celeste1.jpg
http://www.anartist.com/imagesNonSite/celesteMess.jpg

That one-letter wide type seems to be the caption -- I have no idea what happened.

I gave her only editorial privileges not admin so it probably isn't anything she did -- what is it?

can you say for sure that the media library was fine before you started? ie, could it have been messed up and you didn't notice till you got home?

No. it was quite possible it got hosed while I was there because I only saw the 3 images when I came over to the desk from my chair on the side to work on the caption, but I thought I saw all of the images at the beginning of the session. I am not sure about that either. They may have been gone earlier. I am so confused.

However it happened, how do I fix it? The blog posts are linked to things that are in month-folders that I can't access. The captioning doesn't work. And the photo-gallery option seems to have disappeared.

I guess in this case I would be doing a database backup and a restore to another DB to see what the results are.

Not quite sure how to do that on my ISP. Not even really sure where the DB is and how to keep it with the WP files.

Does this mean a reinstall of WP? If I actually can get the DB backed up and all I guess I could upgrade, but the last few times I tried to do a backup with a db it was a disaster and when I finally got the tech support to put the db and the wp together it was back to the old version.

I am shockingly ignorant regarding the actual connection between the db and the wp installation.

Wordpress is made of two parts, the code and data. Most of the 'data' is stored in the database (posts, user names) but some of the data can be stored in one of the wordpress folder (images, music, etc) and their location is stored in the database. In addition, plugins and themes are stored in one of the wordpress folders.

To be complete, a backup of the site needs to backup the database and all the WordPress files and folders.

If you don't have this basic understanding of how wordpress works, then you probably aren't going to figure outwhat is going on. It could take someone like myself, a bit of time to determine what the current state is and how to possible fix it, but not without examining the site and the files.

My suggestion is to do a complete backup and then find someone to try to help you out. Be aware that it is probably going to cost you some money to get this straightened up.

I basically understand all that and I know what bits are in the wordpress folders that are in my directories in the space allotted me on the server. I also know a database is generated for each wordpress installation somewhere else on the servers.

And I am vague as to where that is.

I also have tried to copy databases and save them and then relink them to new installations after carefully recreating all the style business and uploading all the pictures again but they never link up. There is some new empty database connected with the reconstruction and trying to put the other one in place has always botched up and I have twice had to have assistance from the ISP tech support. They are reluctant -- the make it clear that they don't support wordpress -- and each time i had upgraded to current version they have bumped me back down to whatever they have and usually I have to redo the style and everything else again too.

I have also tried to rename the databases which never seems to work.

The biggest thing I need to learn to understand is exactly how the database interfaces with the rest of the wordpress, the part that I can easily see and use.

Why isn't the database in my directory with the rest of it anyway?

Also, how would I use a database that may be corrupt to re-install? wouldn't the photos stay disappeared? The photos are there, apparently. There must be some injury to the record of those image files in the database. Why can't I just find that and fix that?

I don't know. without taking a look at the site and database I have no idea what might be going on. there are several possibilities ranging from a smple incorrect option to the database is corrupt and you have lost everything and will have to recreate everything by hand.

BUT like I say, I can't tell you which it is without looking.

This is where you have to decide how much time/money you are willing to spend to fix this, vrs how much time/money will it take to just rebuild everything by hand.

would you be willing to just look?
what access info would you need?
site is http://www.celestialbites.net/

as for backups -- if it can be fixed easily -- do you have any experience with WP-DB-Backup?
Bills itself as free alternative to BackUpBuddy.