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The Graveyard - Products No Longer Supported => D-Link Storage => DNS-325 => Topic started by: killinjoe on May 13, 2012, 03:08:27 PM

Title: endless replication of shared folder
Post by: killinjoe on May 13, 2012, 03:08:27 PM
this is quite strange, albeit harmless...

I find myself with, in every network share, a replica of the host folder. in this replica same thing, and so on for ever.

for instance, in "MOVIES", I have another "MOVIES" folder, containing the very same stuff as the original one, plus another "MOVIES" folder, and so on.

It's annoying at best, and any query about the size of said folder never ends, due to the endless stream of identical subfolders...

I hope I made myself clear...  :P

if anyone has a clue ?
Title: Re: endless replication of shared folder
Post by: JavaLawyer on May 14, 2012, 06:03:16 AM
Are you using backup software? My first thought here is that you have backup software configured to place copies as a sub-directory to each source folder (and sub-folder), causing copies to incrementally accumulate with each run.
Title: Re: endless replication of shared folder
Post by: killinjoe on May 16, 2012, 09:33:58 AM
I read somewhere that "there's no such thing as too many backups!" ...  :P

seriously, I think you might be onto something... Even though I do not use any such software, I might have triggered a default backup app on the NAS, who knows ?

what bugs me is that every "backup" subfolder is just a kind of shortcut or symbolic link. I mean, there's no actual data inside, only the endless replication of the same folder tree...

I also wonder how to erase this after finding a way to stop it.

Title: Re: endless replication of shared folder
Post by: JavaLawyer on May 16, 2012, 10:44:08 AM
Even too much of a.good thing can be bad. . .  ;D

Shortcuts and not actual data? Does the HDD status indicate that the used space is consistent with multiple data copies?  If you dig down into the copies, do you find an end? Are the creation dates of each copy 24 hours apart (or some other regular interval)? This information will provide some clues as to what's going on.  ???  :-\
Title: Re: endless replication of shared folder
Post by: killinjoe on May 17, 2012, 05:25:58 AM
No. the reported used space on the disk does not change, and is therefore inconsistent with multiple backup copies.

all the imbricated folders are made simultaneously, and there seems to be no end to that strange stream, even though after a while, it does take the file manager a longer time to open each new cloned subfolder.

I noticed something though. the dates of creation do match times at which I ran XBMC 11.0 Eden. I think it might be responsible for creating this endless stream of subfolders when building its media source. just a thought. And I don't know how to prevent it.

thanks for your interest.

jo  ::)
Title: Re: endless replication of shared folder
Post by: JavaLawyer on May 17, 2012, 05:52:46 AM
I suppose the easiest thing to do is stop using Eden for a while in order to verify your hypothesis.
There's nothing like a good mystery  :-\
Title: Re: endless replication of shared folder
Post by: killinjoe on May 18, 2012, 11:41:37 AM
guess you're right.  ;D

but I tried a trick instead: I renamed the first-level duplicate with a dot before its name, turning it into a hidden folder (I am so devious sometimes...  :P)...

didn't hope for much, but it seems to have worked, in the sense that I don't actually see those alien-unwelcomed-what the hell are you doing here-folders... ;D

anyway, thanks for trying to help me. it definitely is harmless so...



Title: Re: endless replication of shared folder
Post by: JavaLawyer on May 25, 2012, 06:11:55 AM
I'm glad you worked things out. Thanks for sharing your ad hoc solution.