Files disappearing from user home folders

[EM64T]

I've got a problem that has me stumped. Some students are complaining that their home folders (mapped to Z:\) are loosing files that they had worked on. Sometimes these files are recoverable under "Restore Previous Versions", but not every time.

I am wondering what could be causing this problem. Nothing is showing under the event logs, no network errors. Staff, which also have home folders mapped, are not experiencing any issues. The majority of students (all of whom have mapped home folders) are not reporting the same issue.

For one of the problem students, I have verified that they have full control of their home folder (The domain administrator is owner). The drive is being mapped, and Wait for Network to be Ready is enabled in Group Policy (just started using this to see if it helped, too early to know if it's making a difference). I am running two Group Policies, a Default for all users, and a Student for the students group.

One thing that has me curious is that my Acronis nightly backups don't show the user files either. My guess is if the students are really saving their work, it's not getting to the server or the server is removing the files somehow.

So to recap; User permissions look good. Home folders are set and mapped to Z:\ under the User Profile tab of the user's properties. Network and DNS aren't showing errors. This is only happening to a handful of students, the majority aren't reporting issues. This is not happening with any staff members. Problem students are using random workstations.

Machine:
Windows 2008 Server SP1 installed (under VMware ESXi 3.5)
Domain/ADS server
Primary DNS
DHCP
Acronis True Image Echo Enterprise Server (Build 8115)
ESET NOD32 4

Student machines:
Windows XP SP3
Microsoft Office 2007
Fortres Grand Fortres 101 (disabled)
Fortres Grand Clean Slate

I'm really not even sure how to watch the system for file saving/deletion to track this problem down. Half of me wonders if these students are even saving their files properly, but I would like to show proof rather than jumping to conclusions.

ANY help/ideas would be appreciated!!

 

[NetworkTek]

I noticed you run Clean Slate. At my former job we ran the same and I can't remember what revision but after a certain update we ran in to the same issue. Clean Slate was preventing some changes to their network drive. It was very intermittent which made it hard to track down. This may be a totally different issue, but when I saw Clean Slate it caught my eye. I am guessing the teacher machines do not run Clean Slate???

Network+ Inet+ MCP MCSA 2k3

 

[EM64T]

NetworkTek, thanks for the idea on Clean Slate. I contacted Fortres Grand, am now waiting for a phone call back from their tech support group. I had been having issues with Central Control not saving settings and applying them to the network, I wonder if that is related to this issue.

The teacher machines are not using any of the Fortres Grand products. Still odd why this is only effecting a few students though!

 

[NetworkTek]

Did you ever find any resolution to this??

Network+ Inet+ MCP MCSA 2k3

 

[EM64T]

I called in to Fortres Grand tech support and he cut me off as I was explaining the issue, as in he knew there was an issue already and I'm not the first. He sent me a new executable (a build as of yet unreleased on their website) of Central Control, but it was for 6.0 instead of the 6.5 version I am running. I am waiting to hear back from them on the issue for 6.5.

My Clean Slate install is not taking/sending settings to Central Control, so for all I know it's a combination of Clean Slate and Central Control. I'm waiting to see if this issue fixes the "disappearing files" syndrome my network is still experiencing.

That's the update anyway.