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    I have seveal files in duplicated folder. Due to some reason three of these files are missing from on of one drive used by the duplicated folder. Because of this I can not access it from any client PC.

    By browsing the C:\FS folder I found the copy in another two drives used also by the duplicated folder.

    1) Will WHS recuild the duplicated folder and get back the file so that I can use these files if I figure out what physical drive went wrong and remote it from drive pool?
    2)  Is these easy way to repair the duplicated folder without going through 1) becuase I think that it will take some time? 
    Friday, October 31, 2008 8:21 PM

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    Hi,
    if you remove the possible failed drive from the console, the tombstones to the duplicated folders should be updated and match the proper file location again.
    Does the status of one disk telling about a failure, or do you get file conflict errors in the WHS console?
    If the last, please file also a bug report on Connect according to this thread.
    In case there are no serious issues reported for the disk and only 3 files are causing trouble, you can try following unsupported method:

    • Logon into the WHS desktop as you did before.
    • Copy the intact files to another shared folder.
    • Test, if the files can be accessed properly by the application.
    • After that delete the copies from each disk and the tombstones from d:\shares.

    If the tombstones cannot be deleted from Windows Explorer, you can try to delete them from command line on the server with:
    d:
    cd \shares\<path to shared folder with lost files>\
    fsutil reparsepoint delete filename (replace filename with the name of the broken file)

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf

    Friday, October 31, 2008 8:54 PM
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    Dcdyd said:

    Kaiya21,

     

    Really appreciate your help. One last question. Is there away or a plug-in which I can use to scan the duplicated folders to make sure every file is in good health? I mean WHS tombstones are not broken and I can access all of my files? 'Duplication Info' gives us half way to there but it doesn't tell whether all files are accesible or not. Thanks!




    There is an app created by another WHS user (catsaver) called Windows Home Server Cleanup Tool.  It looks for invalid tombstones, then gives you the option to delete them.  Obviously it's unsupported, but other people have used it and it worked for them.
    • Marked as answer by Dcdyd Saturday, November 1, 2008 2:38 PM
    Saturday, November 1, 2008 2:23 PM
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    Hi Dcdyd, and thanks. That's what I had assumed, but I'd rather be certain.

    You can run chkdsk from either a command prompt, or through Windows Explorer, without removing the drive. It would show any errors there. ( WHS waits a few days for multiple identical error messages before posting a Health warning. This is to reduce the possibility of false errors).
    In theory, if the Duplication Info Add-In is showing you have two copies of the file that are OK, then it could well be that it's the tombstone that is corrupted and not the file itself.

    If the chkdsk shows hardware errors, it could be worthwhile replacing that drive; it just means removing it through the Console, (assuming you have enough free space in the system) and then adding the replacement drive and letting WHS re-build the tombstones.

    Note that files you see anywhere underneath the DE folder, are the shadow files, so it can preserve the file path/name. It's also the place that WHS looks when doing the rebuilding after a replacement drive is installed.

    Colin



    If anyone answers your query successfully, please mark it as 'Helpful', to guide other users.
    • Marked as answer by Dcdyd Friday, October 31, 2008 10:03 PM
    Friday, October 31, 2008 9:54 PM
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    Hi,
    if you remove the possible failed drive from the console, the tombstones to the duplicated folders should be updated and match the proper file location again.
    Does the status of one disk telling about a failure, or do you get file conflict errors in the WHS console?
    If the last, please file also a bug report on Connect according to this thread.
    In case there are no serious issues reported for the disk and only 3 files are causing trouble, you can try following unsupported method:

    • Logon into the WHS desktop as you did before.
    • Copy the intact files to another shared folder.
    • Test, if the files can be accessed properly by the application.
    • After that delete the copies from each disk and the tombstones from d:\shares.

    If the tombstones cannot be deleted from Windows Explorer, you can try to delete them from command line on the server with:
    d:
    cd \shares\<path to shared folder with lost files>\
    fsutil reparsepoint delete filename (replace filename with the name of the broken file)

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf

    Friday, October 31, 2008 8:54 PM
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    Hi,

    Not sure why you think the files are missing, as you say you have found them in two other drives. That is duplication as you have one copy on each of two drives.
    Could you explain what  are the symptoms and how you found it, that way it will be easier to provide an answer.

    Colin
    If anyone answers your query successfully, please mark it as 'Helpful', to guide other users.
    Friday, October 31, 2008 8:55 PM
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    Hi Colin,

    Colin Hodgson said:

    Not sure why you think the files are missing, as you say you have found them in two other drives. That is duplication as you have one copy on each of two drives.
    Could you explain what  are the symptoms and how you found it, that way it will be easier to provide an answer.


    since the OP said, that he has problems accessing the files from each client PC, I assume, the tombstones to the files are broken - or one of the copies on one of the disks is broken and therefore unaccessible.

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf

    Friday, October 31, 2008 9:08 PM
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     Since I got 'Error in openning file' error from client PC, I went to WHS Windows event log and following event.

    --------------------------------
    Application popup: Windows - Corrupt File : The file or directory C:\fs\12\DE\shares\Projects\Workflow.doc is corrupt and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility.
    --------------------------------

    I then go to C:\fs and broswed all share folders and only find one copy of that file in one drive. 

    However the folder is duplicated and 'Duplication Info' plug-in shows that the file is duplicated also.  This is the step I know that the file is missing from the duplication folder.

    So far, by looking at the WHS WIndows event log I only found three files that are missing from the same drive.

    I may remove the drive in the near future or run chkdsk to see whether the disk is failing. By the way, the enevt log is on Oct 29th and it has been five days. So WHS hasn't started compliaming about the failing disk. I will monitoring the situatio nclosely.

    By the way, I also got below error from 10/29 which could be related with this symptom.

    ---------------------------------
    The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume DATA.
     --------------------------------

    What should I do about this?
    Friday, October 31, 2008 9:29 PM
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    Hi Dcdyd, and thanks. That's what I had assumed, but I'd rather be certain.

    You can run chkdsk from either a command prompt, or through Windows Explorer, without removing the drive. It would show any errors there. ( WHS waits a few days for multiple identical error messages before posting a Health warning. This is to reduce the possibility of false errors).
    In theory, if the Duplication Info Add-In is showing you have two copies of the file that are OK, then it could well be that it's the tombstone that is corrupted and not the file itself.

    If the chkdsk shows hardware errors, it could be worthwhile replacing that drive; it just means removing it through the Console, (assuming you have enough free space in the system) and then adding the replacement drive and letting WHS re-build the tombstones.

    Note that files you see anywhere underneath the DE folder, are the shadow files, so it can preserve the file path/name. It's also the place that WHS looks when doing the rebuilding after a replacement drive is installed.

    Colin



    If anyone answers your query successfully, please mark it as 'Helpful', to guide other users.
    • Marked as answer by Dcdyd Friday, October 31, 2008 10:03 PM
    Friday, October 31, 2008 9:54 PM
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    How do I run CHkDsk from Windows Explorer? I thought that the Chkdsk should only be run from the command prompt when WIndows is starting.

    Will it hurt anything of the file structure managed by WHS if I run Chkdsk from Explorer?

    Under above situation, if I remove the HDD from the drive pool, will those files be rearranged to another hdds and get duplicated again?I wonder whether there are other files in that physical HDD are damaged.

    Friday, October 31, 2008 10:07 PM
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    Hello,
    Dcdyd said:

    How do I run CHkDsk from Windows Explorer? I thought that the Chkdsk should only be run from the command prompt when WIndows is starting.

    Will it hurt anything of the file structure managed by WHS if I run Chkdsk from Explorer?

    Under above situation, if I remove the HDD from the drive pool, will those files be rearranged to another hdds and get duplicated again?I wonder whether there are other files in that physical HDD are damaged.



    chkdsk can only be run from command prompt at least for the volume mount points under c:\fs.
    To do this open a command prompt on the WHS and execute
    chkdsk /f /r c:\fs\<volumemountpoint>
    Repeat this for each drive listed in c:\fs.
    The repair attempts done by chkdsk may cause file conflicts. I am not 100% sure, what happens, if you remove a disk with bad files from storage pool, but I think I have read that this can cause trouble and the removal process may stuck while the disk is online.
    So it is highly recommended to backup the files from the shared folders, before starting to run chkdsk.

    (If you have a Vista DVD, you can also boot from this DVD, open the command prompt in the system repair options and run chkdsk from there, with the benefit, that the Vista version of chkdsk is more robust, you get a drive letter for each drive and the OS is not trying to interact with the disks.)

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    Friday, October 31, 2008 10:15 PM
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    Well that will be trouble some since I have about 5TB of files and I have no external storage to back up all files.
    Friday, October 31, 2008 10:29 PM
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    If you run chkdsk without /f /r, you will get an overview, which files are affected.
    Maybe redirect the output into a file for later reference, i.e.
    chkdsk d: > c:\chkdskD.log

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    Friday, October 31, 2008 10:44 PM
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    Thanks! I will try that.
    Friday, October 31, 2008 11:36 PM
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    Olaf Engelke said:

    chkdsk can only be run from command prompt at least for the volume mount points under c:\fs.

    Actually, Olaf, there is a way to do it through the normal Windows GUI.  Browse to C:\fs.  Right click on a volume mount point shown, then select Properties from the context menu.  Next, click the button that says Properties, then click the tab that says Tools.  You will see the same menu options (Error-checking, defragmentation and Backup) that you would see by right clicking on drive letter and selecting Properties, then the Tools tab.

    Olaf Engelke said:

    To do this open a command prompt on the WHS and execute
    chkdsk /f /r c:\fs\<volumemountpoint>
    Repeat this for each drive listed in c:\fs.
    The repair attempts done by chkdsk may cause file conflicts. I am not 100% sure, what happens, if you remove a disk with bad files from storage pool, but I think I have read that this can cause trouble and the removal process may stuck while the disk is online.
    So it is highly recommended to backup the files from the shared folders, before starting to run chkdsk.

    (If you have a Vista DVD, you can also boot from this DVD, open the command prompt in the system repair options and run chkdsk from there, with the benefit, that the Vista version of chkdsk is more robust, you get a drive letter for each drive and the OS is not trying to interact with the disks.)

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf



    Saturday, November 1, 2008 12:02 AM
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    I just ran the CHkdsk to C:\fs\12 using Windows Explorer and nothing was reported. Should I ran ChkDsk using command line? 
    Saturday, November 1, 2008 1:56 AM
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    Dcdyd said:

    I just ran the CHkdsk to C:\fs\12 using Windows Explorer and nothing was reported. Should I ran ChkDsk using command line? 


    No.  They do the same thing.  When you ran the chkdsk,

    I think the best thing to do at this point would be to copy the data from where it's actually being stored (in the above case, C:\fs\12\DE\shares\Projects\Workflow.doc) to the server desktop, then copy it back to the storage pool through the network shares (and select overwrite existing file when it asks).
    Saturday, November 1, 2008 3:56 AM
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    Kaiya21,

     

    Really appreciate your help. One last question. Is there away or a plug-in which I can use to scan the duplicated folders to make sure every file is in good health? I mean WHS tombstones are not broken and I can access all of my files? 'Duplication Info' gives us half way to there but it doesn't tell whether all files are accesible or not. Thanks!

    Saturday, November 1, 2008 2:04 PM
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    Dcdyd said:

    Kaiya21,

     

    Really appreciate your help. One last question. Is there away or a plug-in which I can use to scan the duplicated folders to make sure every file is in good health? I mean WHS tombstones are not broken and I can access all of my files? 'Duplication Info' gives us half way to there but it doesn't tell whether all files are accesible or not. Thanks!




    There is an app created by another WHS user (catsaver) called Windows Home Server Cleanup Tool.  It looks for invalid tombstones, then gives you the option to delete them.  Obviously it's unsupported, but other people have used it and it worked for them.
    • Marked as answer by Dcdyd Saturday, November 1, 2008 2:38 PM
    Saturday, November 1, 2008 2:23 PM
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    Thank you! I will try that.
    Saturday, November 1, 2008 2:39 PM
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    kariya21 said:
    Actually, Olaf, there is a way to do it through the normal Windows GUI.  Browse to C:\fs.  Right click on a volume mount point shown, then select Properties from the context menu.  Next, click the button that says Properties, then click the tab that says Tools.  You will see the same menu options (Error-checking, defragmentation and Backup) that you would see by right clicking on drive letter and selecting Properties, then the Tools tab.

    Hi Kariya,
    in my WHS (German) is the Extras tab with the Tools button not available for the volume mount points in WHS folder C:\fs.
    It's only there for normal drives with drive letters. (Btw. checked this before my posting, since I don't use the feature that often.)

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    Saturday, November 1, 2008 9:35 PM
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    I just used "Windows Home Server Cleanup Tool" to scan the shared folder and only found that three files are missing from one HDD used for the duplicated folder. This is really wired.
    Saturday, November 1, 2008 10:46 PM
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    Dcdyd said:

    I just used "Windows Home Server Cleanup Tool" to scan the shared folder and only found that three files are missing from one HDD used for the duplicated folder. This is really wired.


    so this seems not to be a real serious issue. Its sometimes kind of hickup or an unexpected reboot (crash), which may cause difficulties with a few files.
    If a view into the event log does not show any serious red stuff (i.e. damaged sectors on a disk) I think you can salvage the 3 files from the drive, on which they are still ok (if you did not already) and go on.
    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    Saturday, November 1, 2008 11:22 PM
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    Yes, that is what I am going to do.
    Saturday, November 1, 2008 11:39 PM
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    Olaf Engelke said:

    Hi Kariya,
    in my WHS (German) is the Extras tab with the Tools button not available for the volume mount points in WHS folder C:\fs.
    It's only there for normal drives with drive letters. (Btw. checked this before my posting, since I don't use the feature that often.)

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf


    Oh ok.  Well, it's definitely there in the English version. ;)
    Saturday, November 1, 2008 11:44 PM
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