Could this be a bug introduced by PP1?
I have experienced these issues myself and found that a Server reinstall has been the only way to “fix” it – however it reoccurs. The other options appears to be to delete the Backup database which I’ve been reluctant to do and start over as it currently has over 3 months of backups in it.
If you are experiencing these issues Lara Jones of Microsoft’s Windows Home Server team has asked users to log a bug report via Connect under the WHS beta program – this is the sticky post on Microsofts Windows Home Server forums:
I would like to take this opportunity to point everyone towards the release notes for Windows Home Server Power Pack 1. This document provides helpful information regarding improvements in PP1 and known issues. In addition, WHS with PP1 is now more active in monitoring the health of your server, specifically storage. This may result in more messages from the server:
Windows Home Server proactively checks the health of all files stored in shared folders during a migration pass. If any issues are discovered, a yellow health notification is sent that contains a detailed conflict reason for each file.
That being said, we would still like to review any file conflict errors that are being reported in the forums. If you are receiving errors, please file a bug. In order for the bug to be actionable on our end, we will need the following:
1. 2 (two) screenshots of the error message. One that is right justified and one that is left justified in order to capture the entire error message so that none of the text is clipped.
2. Server CABs (you can use the toolkit found here) to obtain these. If you need to use the cheat sheet to obtain the files, it’s here.
3. Clear, and preferably enumerated repro steps.
If you are not already registered on Connect, please go here and register and then add yourself to our beta here.
Thank you for your assistance and feedback.
Lara Jones
Windows Home Server Team.
There is a thread on this issue on the WGS forums – if you are experiencing these issues head on over and let us know about it.
21. August 2008 at 7:59 am
Lost four jpg:s and a few mp3:s due to file conflicts a couple of days after installing PP1. Now I use a linux box to mirror important files on the WHS. A debian backup server backing up the windows backup server … hmm.
21. August 2008 at 8:45 am
Are there any ideas what’s causing this?
I’ve not been bitten by this bug (yet), knock on wood. But I’m wondering if this also happens on duplicated files/folders?
21. August 2008 at 10:08 am
GaMeR – yes it does effect duplicated folder/files – when it hit mine it corrupted the file to the point I couldn’t open it
21. August 2008 at 11:28 am
Same here
21. August 2008 at 1:42 pm
I got bit by this bug when I installed PP1. Here is what I did to fix it. First check to see if you can open the file in question. If you have file duplication on then your file should still be OK. Copy the files that are OK onto another drive or make a new share folder for them (I made a new directory and called it “Repair”). Now you can go through delete the affected files from their original affected location. Next I used WHS Cleanup to scan the affected folders and get rid of the old shadow copy. Give the system a few moments for the error to go away and repeat for all affected files. After all errors have been resolved you can move your filed that were OK back to their proper locations. By doing this I was able to resolve all the file conflicts and save all the affected files that were in a duplicated folder. I did however loose all the affected files that were not duplicated. Also My backup database was not affected by the bug so this fix doesn’t apply to that. This fix took me a few days to complete but I have been error free ever since. Good Luck.
21. August 2008 at 3:55 pm
Wait. I had this same problem. I just thought I messed something up and did a reinstall. Loaded up PP1 right after the install. It’s been fine ever since.
21. August 2008 at 4:23 pm
What I don’t understand is how this never came up during the 2+ month PP1 beta testing?
:confused:
21. August 2008 at 10:16 pm
+1 for the WHS Cleanup method above. That fixed my file conflict error.
22. August 2008 at 9:15 pm
I thought I’ve seen it all (as far as MS incompetance), but obviously I WAS wrong. Geee, backup/file sharing system that instead of protecting, actually is a major source of data corruption.
23. August 2008 at 7:18 pm
I have seen this bug with the last German release of PP1. But since I swapped my hardware short time before and on the system disk I had a mechanical broken SATA plug plastic piece fixed with glue, I was more thinking about damaged hardware (system was crashing from time to time as well).
I could delete the affected files from a very old copy of a full disk to a share easily.
After installing the final build I run into an escalating situation:
- some file conflicts
- inaccessible folder with all my pictures in
- unreadable partition D: (chkdsk did not find a failure, but the root folders have been crosslinked to one of the last created folders in a share, Vista recovery environment could still read the files and folders)
- reinstall was not offered
- new install
Best greetings from Germany
Olaf
25. August 2008 at 8:44 am
Microsoft says that they want you to file a bug but they make it very difficult to do so. I never did get to a point where I could file anything. After much searching and jumping through hoops I did find tha someone had reported a similar problem. Microsoft’s response was something like; we are aware of this but we are not going to do anything about it right now. Hardly what I would consider a sense of urgency about the problem. So what is the point?
25. August 2008 at 3:05 pm
It took MS over six months to fix the 1st corruption bug with WHS. If they don’t start to put more resources into making WHS solid then it’s never going to get any traction in the market.
25. August 2008 at 3:41 pm
I have no proof but my gut feel is that some of my files were corrupted BEFORE PP1 and I didn’t know it till after the PP1 upgrade and began getting various messages. I did a reset that was good for a few days but ended up doing a total re-install which formats the drives to get rid of the corrupt pre-PP1 files. Since I did this a couple of weeks ago, no problems what-so-ever.
26. August 2008 at 3:30 am
I agree with Igneous, I think that my files were corrupted before PP1 and I didn’t know it until PP1 found the corrupt files.
31. August 2008 at 3:48 am
I had a issue with the backup service crashing. I tried the different things like try to redo the database and cleaning the database but they all would make the Backup service still crash. What fixed for me was I started a Defrag by remoting into home server and using the Windows 2003 server buit in Defrag. As I was doing it I read that it is recommended not to do that so I stopped it. After stopping I tried to back up my Vista PC and it got to 26% and failed. Before it would get to 13% and fall. So I found some Defrg software made for Home Server which is PerfectDisk2008 Home Server Edition and then had it do a full SmartPlacement Defrag and that fixed. The issue has not cropped up since. I have it set currently to dfrag every other day early in the morning. See if that works for you. I think they have a trial edition.
3. September 2008 at 3:58 pm
I disagree that it’s only with files that were corrupt before the PP1 install. I did a fresh install of the OS, installed PP1, then went through automatic updates of everything. I then copied data to theh pool. For a day nothing was detected and then it picked up one file conflict. To resolve it I had to reboot the server, during which it did a checkdisk, and then replace the old file with a backup. It’s just fortunate I kept backups of said file. A couple of days later I had another file conflict. If it was corruped originally it should have picked it up much earlier. Again I did a reboot with more checkdisking and replaced said file. It has occurred with three files so far, all smaller files within directories with many many files, such as with pictures or archived information directories. Two were duplicated and one was not. I’m wary now and keeping everything backed up which unfortunately was what I wanted to avoid by going to WHS in the first place. With duplication that makes 3x the disc space required for that peace of mind.
8. September 2008 at 9:00 pm
It could just be a coincidence but I realized that my corrupt files occured on about the same days I attempted to backup a PC on the network. I turned off backups on the one PC attached to it and now it’s been 4 days without a corrupt file whereas before then I had 4 within 5 days, always one file at a time. I’ll post again if I make it an entire week without any file conflicts but I’m actually pretty optimistic now.
If after 2 weeks I still don’t get any file conflicts, and I develop enough courage, I’ll attempt a backup and see what happens.
15. May 2009 at 5:17 pm
I`ve got the same problem. Has lost all my pictures, because everything went to hell.
Could not even open whs console in the end. When I tried to copy the files to my computer, the whs locked. And I had to restore it.
I should never bought this shit. Why doesnt MS make whs stabile?