All files corrupted?

[ricky101]

Hi all, really need some help!

Ok, So I was trying out Windows Home Server 30 day evaluation. When it came to a end, I was asked to activate it by buying a CD which I didn't intended to do, I just wanted to make a backup up of my files stored on the home server . Unable to find a way around this, I inserted my Ubuntu Live CD in order to gain access.

I reached the desktop, went to “places” and mounted the drive which had all data (I never clicked on any of the files to check they were working at the time) I connected my external hard drive and copied all my files across. (I am presuming this is where the error/corruption took place).

I decided to give WHS one more try as during the first period I was away for 3 weeks so never have proper chance to try it.
I installed a new installation wiping my drive in the process, when the installation was complete I copied the files back over from external hard drive to the home server.

However all files now seemed corrupt in one way or another. Jpeg files have no prievew and when opened they are blank even though their file sizes are correct.

Video files, for example in ubuntu say “Could not determined type of stream”

Documents show up blank, however I have some of the exacte file stores elsewhere and the files sizes are the same?

Applications (.exe) open then shut down with in a second.

I am stumped, I can understand some files being corrupted but every single files does not make sense, even though they seem perfectly intact.

I have read the problem could be due to the header of each file, but I have no idea how to correct this.

Any help would be great, thanks

[CWH]

Hi,
You say you 'copied the files back over', how did you do this, and where did you copy them to?
It sounds as though you are looking at the tombstones, (the pointers to the actual files - rather than the files themselves), which would give the file size/type etc that you see, but not the actual file.
The other possibility, which doesn't sound suitable in your case, is that the file attributes have been changed.
When copying files to the WHS, you should just copy them directly to the appropriate Shared Folder, unless you know exactly which folder of the mounted drive actually is the data store and not the image or tombstone store.

Colin

[ricky101]

hi,

I copied them to the whs allocated shared folder, "music", photos,", "video" etc. i copied them by just selecting them and copy & paste.

i dont understand the rest.

I dont care about the "music" or "videos", documents and picture are the most important. I am currently running a data recovery software on my HD which is recovering a load of files, not sure if these are the present corrupted files or the previous deleted files before the new installation.

Could the problem also maybe down to the permission of files, I have read some other post which have the same symptoms as to my files which are solved by taking ownership, however this does not explain why they don't work in Ubuntu.

[ricky101]

Just to add the same thing happens when I try and access a files on my external HD.

[Singh400]

Hi,
It sounds as though you are looking at the tombstones, (the pointers to the actual files - rather than the files themselves), which would give the file size/type etc that you see, but not the actual file.
The other possibility, which doesn't sound suitable in your case, is that the file attributes have been changed.

This I think is what happened. You copied the 'tombstones' not the actual files.

[CWH]

If you connect your external drive to a PC, when you select the Properties of a file residing on there, do these properties - both on the General tab, and the Security tab, correspond to a sample file on your own PC?
There is certainly no obvious reason for any corruption to ensue just by copying files to and from the Shared Folders. (Note that the only Shared Folders access that is normally acceptable, is via the shortcut on the desktop, never by the shared folders path on the C drive in Windows Explorer, which, in fact, might not be the actual folders, but just a virtual path).
Another possibilty, is that viewing has been restricted by the O/S, but is unlikely.

Let us know how the recovery procedure works.

Colin

[ricky101]

Yes the files do correspond.

I have recovered about 60% of the files from my external hard drive but nothing from the primary drive. when I run the recovery software on the primary drive everything is recovered prior to the new installation but behavior is the same as the files I have now.

Could it be a permissons issues? I understand what is said about the pointers and tombstone files, but why do these "tombstone" files share the size as the actual files?

[CWH]

Hi,
They don't, in fact, share the same size. It's an illusion which was necessary when WHS first came out, otherwise some Clients couldn't recognise the actual file(s).
If there are files on the primary WHS drive, then it's possible that the file permissions have been changed, but if your software can see those files, that would appear unlikely.
There is another product you could try, it's had reasonable reviews and is donationware.

Colin