Itunes podcasts on windows 7

Hi,

Ive been using itunes in conjunction with my ipod nano for sometime. I am currently running windows 7 on my pc. Recently podcasts have started disappearing off my pc. I have default settings for podcasts set to Limit Episodes = off, Download episodes = on, delete played episodes = off. These settings are also the same against my individual podcasts.

The podcasts I am subsribed to are automatically downloaded onto my pc, I transfer them to my ipod, and listen to them. When I reconnect they are marked as played/partially played as applicable. Sometimes I delete them manually, sometimes I want to keep them.

Recently some podcasts are disappearing or being deleted automatically. Some are available in the feed, but others are no longer available. I am also not sure what role saving podcasts plays, and if this will help, but some podcasts seem to be in saved tab, but not in my podcasts tab.

Some of the podcasts are still on my pc and I have tried using the add file to library option, to add them back in. This seems to work, but creates another podcast directory instead of putting them in the same directory as the other podcast episodes.

Can anyone help me out please?