Best Method for File System Corruption

[Guest]

Hi -
We have a Windows 2000, SP4 file server. It has around 110 GB of data that
is divided up into many shares on a hardware RAID 5 array. Recently, we ran
into a problem where we would try to rename folders or change NTFS
permissions and we get an error saying that the file or directory is corrupt
and unreadable, along with a System Event Log NTFS entry saying essentially
the same thing. I have run chkdsk 3 times to no avail. If I take one of the
problem folders and copy it to a different partition (which also happens to
be on a different disk), the folder is fine. Therefore I have decided that
we will need to do a full backup, reformat the data drive after confirming
that the disks are OK and restore from backup.

My biggest dilemma is that because there are so many shares, we will need to
recreate them manually, since I have yet to see a backup software that
restores share info. Essentially when we wipe out the data drive, the shares
will no longer show up in Computer Management. I was thinking of using
Permcopy to copy the share permissions from the server to empty shares on a
dummy server, then copy them back after we restore from backup. Because
local groups are being used, the permissions on the dummy server won't make
sense but once they are copied back, they will be fine as far as I know.
Besides having to recreate the shares, do you see any problems with this?

The bigger question is: Does someone have a better solution for the overall
problem, such as some utility that will automagically fix the disk corruption?
Keep in mind, as I said above, the data is fine once it's moved off the
"bad" partition.

Thanks

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi -
We have a Windows 2000, SP4 file server. It has around 110 GB of data that
is divided up into many shares on a hardware RAID 5 array. Recently, we ran
into a problem where we would try to rename folders or change NTFS
permissions and we get an error saying that the file or directory is corrupt
and unreadable, along with a System Event Log NTFS entry saying essentially
the same thing. I have run chkdsk 3 times to no avail. If I take one of the
problem folders and copy it to a different partition (which also happens to
be on a different disk), the folder is fine. Therefore I have decided that
we will need to do a full backup, reformat the data drive after confirming
that the disks are OK and restore from backup.

My biggest dilemma is that because there are so many shares, we will need to
recreate them manually, since I have yet to see a backup software that
restores share info. Essentially when we wipe out the data drive, the shares
will no longer show up in Computer Management. I was thinking of using
Permcopy to copy the share permissions from the server to empty shares on a
dummy server, then copy them back after we restore from backup. Because
local groups are being used, the permissions on the dummy server won't make
sense but once they are copied back, they will be fine as far as I know.
Besides having to recreate the shares, do you see any problems with this?

The bigger question is: Does someone have a better solution for the overall
problem, such as some utility that will automagically fix the disk corruption?
Keep in mind, as I said above, the data is fine once it's moved off the
"bad" partition.

Thanks

You can export your shares from this registry key
hklm/system/currentcontrolset/services/lanmanserver/shares
to a file, then import it on the new restored server.

 

[Guest]

That is very helpful. I should have thought to pursue a Registry solution
for that part of the problem. Thanks for making me aware of the key, I'm
sure I'll be needing it in the future as well.