File Corruption - File Size 0kb 1

[MavenGroup]

Just looking for a suggestion on what may have caused a weird occurance with some data on our Windows XP Peer server.

We have Windows XP Professional computer which acts as our file server for our small workgroup network. We organize our data by year and then into subfolders. At the end of the year we move current projects into the new year folder and FREEZE the previous year (this is more of a procedure than actually changing any settings). We do run an archive DVD(s) at the end of the year and send them off-site for storage.

I had a user contact me today and say they needed to reference some files from 2006. They are telling me that when the go to the directory where the files are located the files are there, with the appropriate program icons, but all of the file sizes in the directory are 0K?? Obviously the files will not open.

I am looking for suggestions on what may cause this type of behavior. Has anyone had a similar experience. To my knowledge, no one has used these files since there creation in 06. I am trying to figure out if I am having some sort of hardware issue or something else.

I am having our archive media sent to me this weekend so I am hoping that the files are intact on that (fingers crossed). This may bring up another good question. If the files are corrupt on my archive media as well, how would I have caught that to ensure that this would not have been an issue? I will post back to let everyone know what I find with my restore media and hardware maintenance.

Thanks in advance for the help. Happy New Year to all.

John

 

[wolluf]

Was the attempted file access over the network via a share? If so, have you tried logging on to the server machine and trying to access them as local files? I have seen this issue, and it was caused by security settings on the files in question. The security on the share was sufficient to allow users access, but the actual file security did not allow access - so all the files showed as 0kb over the network, but were actually proper sized & ok when accessed directly on the server machine.

 

[MavenGroup]

Wolluf,

Great suggestion. I will try that today as I have not worked on the issue yet (on vacation).

I will post back with what I find.

Happy New Year.

John

 

[MavenGroup]

Thanks for the suggestions. The file size to 0 issue will remain a mystery. My archive CD's had the complete files on them and all is good.

Accessing the files from the server itself made no difference. The permissions were ok and the files were not marked System, Read-Only or Hidden.

Hope everyone had a great New Year.

Thanks for the help.

John

 

[wahnula]

MavenGroup,

A star for you for having a multi-pronged backup plan. I am considered "anal" for having a multitude of recovery plans (one of which is off-site DVDs). I've lost count of all the horror stories I've read in this forum that could have been prevented with a proper backup plan Glad you planned for disaster!

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me