Problems with offline files.

[mrwobbly]

I have a user in a school I support that has problems with offline files on her laptop (Windows XP). Her documents are redirected to a mapped drive H on the server (Server 2003). The H drive is setup to be available offline.

 

Every few weeks she will be at home and only some of her documents are showing. I understand from questioning her it seems to be alphabetical. Folders A to P might appear but Q to Z are missing. The extent of the missing files and folders is different each time.

 

So far I’ve set her up a new account. Transferred her documents to the new account. Deleted all offline files. Deleted all profiles on the laptop. Then logged on with the new account. The problem keeps coming back.

 

I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to try next.

[featured_spectre]

have you checked that it syncs the files properly?

[mrwobbly]

Thanks for that very swift reply. Do you mean errors with particular files when logging off when connected to the network? When last I checked everything was fine but I’ll check again tomorrow.

 

The server was set up by an outside consultant who deleted her documents. He ran a file recovery from a hirens CD to recover the documents. I wasn’t in when that happened but I saw him do it for another user and he was recovering the documents back to the same laptop he was recovering from until I stopped him. I think this may have something to do with the problem.

[featured_spectre]

yeah that will definately have something to do with it.

 

Do the following

 

Create a test document, make sure it is in the area that syncs up. Log off and let the machine sync. Log back on, let it sync again, then turn off wireless and unplug machine if applicable.

 

Then do it with a few of the files at a time, slowly adding them in and seeing how it goes. some cases you may have dodgy files, or simply that the sync is not doing its job properly but registering that it is! Had that on many ocassion

[PiqueABoo]

Is it always A - [something]? If so you have to wonder whether sync-at-logoff is being interrupted when they're in a hurry to leave or something... don't know, but it needs to be asked.

 

PS: Hadn't seen your last reply. Is this happening a lot or isn't it? Outside consultant only explains it being in a mess once and if you've cleared the CSC cache since I don't see how..

Edited January 12, 2011 by PiqueABoo

[mrwobbly]

It was a new domain install by the consultant last spring. It was Peer to peer previously.

 

The user has had this problem at varying intervals ever since. It may be fine for a week or a month. I have explained about logging off properly and letting the sync take place. I turned off all power saving and system hibernation in case the laptop looked to be turned off and she was just coming back from the staffroom at the end of the day and taking it away.

 

I'll have another word tomorrow.

[PiqueABoo]

It's not exactly a huge sample size, but the only time I've ever seen trouble with offline files was re. a flaky HDD... are the event logs clear of disk errors? Unexpected shutdowns etc.?

[sted]

is it worth while her laptop is logged on moving all her documents to a n other folder she has no access to letting windows sync so there is nothing there on both laptop and network then adding all the files back in to her user area?

[mrwobbly]

Thanks for all the replies.

 

@ Sted I have effectively done that already by creating a new account. Deleting all offline files and then putting the files into the new account after.

 

@ PiqueABoo I don’t think it’s a hardware problem as it’s been going on for so long and the laptop works flawlessly in every other respect.

 

@ nepphilim You mention the sync not doing its job properly. How do you go about fixing that?

 

I’m drawn to the idea due to the random nature of the problem that its not been left to sync properly. I know she will deny this and refuse to believe it.

[featured_spectre]

sync wont do its job properly if she closes the lid right away...it puts the laptop to sleep. take it from her and do the sync yourself, she could also be cancelling it aswell

[mrwobbly]

Trouble is it’s a primary that I’m only in for 2 hours twice a week during the day. Even if I did the sync the fact that it only happens anything between a week and a month it would not be of much help.

[sted]

try changing power settings so closing the lid does nowt

[featured_spectre]

sted that wont work, as she could leave the building. She needs to let it sync. Perhaps withhold the laptop for maintenance from 1 visit to the next? that way you can run the sync, and then set it to be incremental so that it will only sync files that are changed or created, nothing more.

[witch]

Would it be worth re-imaging the laptop if possible, just to rule out any corruption anywhere?

[featured_spectre]

I thought that too Witch, however if there was corruption, it would also affect saving on the server, not just syncing, as they both use the same protocols.

[PiqueABoo]

I wouldn't reimage until after user-doing-something-unpredictable has been eliminated..

 

then set it to be incremental

 

XP? Can you do that? Thought it was implicitly incremental..

[mrwobbly]

I would have liked to wipe the laptop and start again but time wise it’s something that would be difficult to do. I have kept an eye on the event logs from the start and nothing of any significance has ever come up. Having cleared the accounts and offline cache and considering nothing else is a problem I’m trying to avoid it.

 

I don’t know of any options I can change with regards to offline files and the way they sync incrementally.

[featured_spectre]

PiqueABoo you can set it yes, its to do with the file settings, cant remember off the top of my head, I could do it with a machine in front of me, but seeing as everything in my place is W7 now, I cant remember correctly

[waldronm2000]

Sorry, haven't read the whole thread in detail, but have you tried allocating more disk space to caching offline files?

[PiqueABoo]

Well in GPOs there's "Synchronize all offline files before logging off" which in the description says: If you disable this setting, the system only performs a quick synchronization. Quick synchronization ensures that files are complete, but does not ensure that they are current. I do full: Never really understood why you'd want all the files with some of them potentially out of date, but I only sync user MyDocs (for a specific user of that box), perhaps it makes more sense for syncing from multi-user shares or something.

[mrwobbly]

Sorry, haven't read the whole thread in detail, but have you tried allocating more disk space to caching offline files?

 

Yes I that was one of the first things I did. I also removed a DVD she had copied to "My Documents" at the same time. The documents still come to an eye watering six gig.

[waldronm2000]

That's a lot to synch. Should be incremental, but I guess it's possible that as it hasn't managed to get a full synch in the first place it just keeps trying that. Might be worth giving it as much time as it needs to synch the lot, just once to see if that fixes the problem.