July 8, 200521 yr ??? WEIRD... -anybody ever have this problem w/scandisk? I sure haven't...-scanning 2nd HD (both HD's < 1 yr old, 120gb each, p4 system <2 yrs old, NEVER probs w/scandisk b4..., win98se + sesp2.01 + 98se2me on both, 512mb ram, etc...), scandisk finds CROSSLINKED files, when told to go ahead and copy the cluster to each file, scandisk LOCKS ("unresponding" in task manager; HD light flashing every second nonstop; "end task" kills it no prob) ??? ???-haven't done anything funky w/2nd drive, it actually has a recent fresh win98se install on it, switching back & forth between it & 1st drive in BIOS-boot (swapping IDE boot-numbers), always have done that w/out probs, for long time now... ?-tried restoring a pre-sesp/pre-98se2me backup, and same thing happened... ???I'm gonna try DOS-MODE scandisk, see what happens... ---UPDATE: -ok, dos-mode scandisk didn't lockup, but it kept finding more & more crosslinked files, one at a time, and taking a couple minutes to find em each... STRANGE... never had crosslinked files ever before! on ANY system of my own... screw it, used Ranish (244) to delete & reformat that partition (had 4 partitions on that drive, only the 1st part had any probs)... good thing I backup religiously?sp? (from one HD to the other, too)... sigh... wonder what the h*ll it was...---!UPDATE2: ! OH MY GOD: I copied a backup to that newly formatted partition, ran scandisk again just in case, and GUESS WHAT! cross-linked files again (tho no scandisk-lockup this time)! -the backup wasn't even zipped, just a straight windows explorer copy folders, from one HD to the other! (and scandisked both HD's, all partitions, BEFORE doing the copy, no probs!) ! -that means, there's a problem with win98se's copy-folders! Again, I've never had this happen before, and I copy folders A LOT, for many years... the only system thing I've recently changed is mdgx's SCANFRAG.EXE (?)... I'll have to restore (again) that old pre-sesp/pre-98se2me backup, reformat that bad partition, and try copy-folders again, w/scandisk after.... SHEESH! twilight-zone crap here...(ps: full antivirus scans too, tho I never get infected; very careful/protected)---UPDATE3: (full AV/spyware scans: negative) : aww, crap... I traced it down...It's DOSLFNBK... I use that with my backup folders, to preserve the classic 8.3/long filenames problem... scandisk done BEFORE doslfnbk had no errors; AFTER doslfnbk, cross-linked files problem... SIIIIGGGHHH... I never had this prob w/doslfnbk before, this is new.... but it occurs regardless of sesp/98se2me/scanfrag.exe installed, now... I can't believe this... that prog. was the only thing that enabled TRUELY RELIABLE 8.3/LFN's backups, in win98se... (all FREE backup progs still had the classic 8.3/LFN problem).. now I have NO reliable (free) backup method.... DESPAIR Edited July 9, 200521 yr by PsycoUnc
July 9, 200521 yr Author What can go wrong / what u can do:- flash BIOS to current version- faulty wiring/cabling inside your PC case ?- faulty power supply unit [PSU] ?- virus [sometimes takes at least 2 different AV tools to detect 1 virus/worm] ?- corrupted system files/drivers ?Hope this helps. Edited July 9, 200521 yr by MDGx
July 9, 200521 yr What can go wrong / what u can do:- flash BIOS to current version- faulty wiring/cabling inside your PC case ?- faulty power supply unit [PSU] ?- virus [sometimes takes at least 2 different AV tools to detect 1 virus/worm] ?- corrupted system files/drivers ?Hope this helps.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>BIOS: -is updated to latest... (board is <3 yrs old...)faulty wiring/PSU: -the crosslink errors are too specific (during many repeated tries) for random power probs... (plus other even more demanding HD/filesystem operations do not cause errors; this is very specific)corrupted sys files: -tried it in several diff. OS setups, + realmode dos; samevirus: -used 3 diff. scanners, no probs... (also, again seems a bit too specific for virus)----MDGx: -are u aware of any other progs/utils that perform the same function as DOSLFNBK? -or any (free) backup tools which DON'T screw-up 8.3/LFN'sin win98se?(ps: sry for my overly-enthusiastic posting; I've had a VERY bad week, and this crap isn't helping matters... ) Edited July 9, 200521 yr by PsycoUnc
July 9, 200521 yr .........<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hard to say, I had very similar problem with crosslinked files some time ago and it was caused by some bad contact - re-inserting of IDE cable helped.Other possibilities:- RAM error - I'd try http://www.memtest86.com/- the HDD is going to die (HDD Diagnostic utility)- overclocking?For backup of files with long filenames under DOS you can use also Symantec/Norton Ghost - in fact full paritions are copied to one file.Regarding the problem with not responsive scandisk - sometimes the check for cross-linked files is very long, I think I saw even several hours.Petr
July 9, 200521 yr Other possibilities:- RAM error - I'd try http://www.memtest86.com/- the HDD is going to die (HDD Diagnostic utility)- overclocking?- RAM: -I also use memtest86... ran it for long time, no errors...- HDD: "SMART" shows 100% fitness, 100% performance, no probs... (and same error is reproducible on both drives, every time... and drives are < 1 yr old...)- overclocking: I don't (can't ) overclock this mobo/ram/cpu...- connections: checked/reseated all; same-too many files/dir tree: the 2 backed-up folders (windows, program files) are only half the size (number of files, each) as other backups I have, and doslfnbk never has a problem with the others...it's strange, it's always the same 2 files being cross-linked, but the files that they are crosslinked WITH changes every time... and they are in totally different directory trees, totally different file names... but it's 100% reproducible... and scandisk done just before doslfnbk is always totally clean... it's definitely doslfnbk bug, I'm just suprised I've never run across it in the past, I use it quite frequently, for some time now... I'll test it on another 98se puter today.....and the 2 files in question aren't "special" in any noticeable way: filenames aren't very long, full path not very long, no weird characters, not large, etc... (one is an x-setup plugin, the other a windows theme file)-thx for your help/suggestions, petr & mdgx...(-btw, Ghost isn't free, is it?)
July 9, 200521 yr -WOO-HOO! fixed it! -if ya use "/h" (high-level disk access) during the doslfnbk BACKUP phase, the restore phase won't create filesystem errors! scandisk was clean! I'll test it further, but for now I'm happy!...>;](ps: this doesn't help for ALREADY-CREATED backups, tho... those are lost. ) Edited July 9, 200521 yr by PsycoUnc
July 9, 200521 yr ***-doslfnbk "/h" note: *locksup* system BAD when too many files (couldn't do entire C: drive; had to do /windows & /progra~1 separately...) Edited July 10, 200521 yr by PsycoUnc
July 9, 200521 yr -uh oh... "/h" saved 800 FEWER lfn's than without "/h", in same dir! (with /h: 8200 lfn's saved; w/out /h: 9000 lfn's saved!) -this CAN'T be good... (unless the bug in the non"/h" function also causes too many lfn's to be saved... ?) siiiigh... the saga continues... testing testing & more testing to come..... Edited July 9, 200521 yr by PsycoUnc
July 9, 200521 yr ! CRAP! the "/h" DOES MISS FILES! -in my case, it missed about 800 files, which is roughly 1 out of every 10! ... so back to square one: NO DOSLFNBK RELIABILITY! ......-so, again, anybody know of a RELIABLE, FREE, replacement for DOSLFNBK?(or of a FREE backup or zip util, which preserves the 8.3/LFN's in win98se?)(actually, at this point, I'd be willing to PAY (a little) for something that works!) Edited July 9, 200521 yr by PsycoUnc
July 10, 200521 yr (sry to continue off-topic here, I'll finish this quickly...)-WORKAROUND for DOSLFNBK bug: (VERY time-consuming, yet effective)1) backup whole dir (my case: \Program Files)2) copy & restore backup to empty temp partition (ex: swapfile partition)3) scandisk, fix crosslinks/etc...4) -find the offending sub-dirs (\Plus! & \X-setu~1) by looking at SCANDISK.LOG, and create a new backup EXCLUDING those sub-dirs, then back them up separately.5) test the new backup by restoring to temp, scandisk (should be no errors this time), and byte-by-byte comparison to orig.-nasty, but it works... and is the only way to get uncorrupted backup...(unless someone out there knows of FREE backup/zip tools which PRESERVE 8.3/LFN's in win98se? -or maybe not free, but CHEAP? (<$20?) )>;]
July 10, 200521 yr -COOL! it worked! -we don't have to make separate backups, and all previous backups are still useable! -during the RESTORE ("/r") function, just exclude ("/s") the problem dirs, then re-run doslfnbk /r with the sub-dirs specifically, one at a time, like thus:doslfnbk . /r /s Plus! /s x-setu~1doslfnbk Plus! /rdoslfnbk x-setu~1 /r-it works, no scandisk errors! all files properly renamed, byte-by-byte comparison is good... only thing is, ya need to find out the problem dirs first... they each do contain a LOT of files, so that's probably it, gotta split the restore function to less than x names in a sub-dir-tree at a time... the documentation does mention something like that... Edited July 10, 200521 yr by PsycoUnc
July 10, 200521 yr Author Decent selection of mostly free(ware) backup tools [see the 32-bit ones that keep LFNs in FAT32/NTFS/etx2 environments]:http://www.mdgx.com/secrets.htm#FDPTBad memory? guide on how to check + DOS and Windows free(ware) tools:http://www.mdgx.com/newtip8.htm#BADMEMDOSLFN is issued now in 2 versions:* DOSLFN.COM v0.32o Long File Names (LFNs) DOS mode TSR 16-bit for MS-DOS5/6/7/8 and Windows 3.1x/9x/ME supports FAT32 and Joliet CD-ROMs, includesLOWDMA and FastOpen cache, highly customizable:http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/hs_freeware/freew.htmlDirect download [291 KB, freeware, open source, German]:http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/hs_freeware/doslfn.zipMore info:http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/en/hs...re/what_lfn.htmImproved DOSLFN v0.40a:http://www.geocities.com/jadoxa/doslfn/Direct download [290 KB, freeware, right-click to save!]:http://www.geocities.com/jadoxa/doslfn/doslfn.zipUses 12 KB of upper DOS RAM if loaded with LOADHIGH in AUTOEXEC.BAT (uppermemory manager required in CONFIG.SYS).Load LOWDMA.SYS after UMBPCI.SYS in CONFIG.SYS to fix ISA DMA errors in nativeMS-DOS:http://www.mdgx.com/umb.htm#TOOI've also had a series of random [unexplained] HD errors recently: turned out to be a faulty 5V power cable, and it took me almost 2 weeks to figure it out.
July 10, 200521 yr -DOSLFN and DOSLFNBK perform different functions... doslfnbk backs up & restores all the LFN's/8.3 filenames in a dir-tree (whether in windows or real-mode dos), doslfn just allows u to read/work with lfn's in real-mode dos, but doesn't perform any backup/restore filename functions...-I've lightly perused your backup progs list, but it isn't mentioned if/which ones also preserve the lfn/8.3 filenames PROPERLY... (I've tested MANY free backup progs, including some on your list, and none of em passed the "~1, ~2" lfn/8.3 preservation test... same prob exists with zip utils: ya have to first save the lfn's, then change all the filenames into 8.3 format only (using xxcopy /N, or pkzip /N, etc) for the compression, then restore the filenames after de-compression... -otherwise, the "~1" and "~2" 's will sometimes get switched (same bug happens when ya use Explorer to copy or move a bunch of files; the 8.3's are NOT preserved, and sometimes get swapped, leading to bad links, system errors/instability, etc)(...the "save entire partition..." utils will probably work, preserving the names properly, of course, but saving an entire partition at a time is a bit extreme, for routine backup purposes...)-thx for the help, but it looks like I've got the doslfnbk limitation sorted out, splitting off 2 or 3 sub-dirs (of too many files in each) during the restore function... when I get the time/motivation, I'll continue testing your backup-utils list, see if any of em do really preserve LFN/8.3's properly...>;] Edited July 10, 200521 yr by PsycoUnc
July 10, 200521 yr unless someone out there knows of FREE backup/zip tools which PRESERVE 8.3/LFN's in win98se? -or maybe not free, but CHEAP? (<$20?) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Have you looked at XXCOPY?It's easy to backup using the /CLONE switch...XXCOPY <source> <destination> /CLONEhttp://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy10.htm
July 11, 200521 yr -yup, that's exactly what I use, xxcopy /clone AND "/N" -to strip off the LFN's before zipping up the dir (otherwise, the zip programs will often mess-up the 8.3 filenames when unzipping (swap the "~1", "~2", etc)), which is why I need to use doslfnbk to back up the LFN's/8.3 filenames first, before stripping using xxcopy's "/N"; then I zip it up, and after unzipping use doslfnbk /r to restore the LFN's to the stripped 8.3 filenames, properly...[-after EXTENSIVE searching & testing of just about every FREE backup prog/util and zip util, this is the only method I've found that ALWAYS preserves the PROPER 8.3/LFN relationships (other than full-partition backups, of course... but that sux )... -if anybody else has found an other, FREE, prog/util/method, and has tested that LFN/8.3/"~" MS-win98se flaw PROPERLY with it, let me know, please... ] Edited July 11, 200521 yr by PsycoUnc
Create an account or sign in to comment