NTFS - directory listing missing an existing folder

[Johnny]

I backup multiple shares from multiple machines to a set of backup
hard drives. The process maps a share, copies the data with xcopy to
a backup drive under \machine\sharename then disconnects the share and
repeats. At the end a cygwin script runs to produce a report of the
latest files in the total backup. I swap the backup drive every day
(so I have 5 drives in rotation). Today a user asked for a restore
and I went to the backup and the share backup wasn't displayed with
Windows Explorer. The backup log shows files being copied, the
cygwin report indicates the data is where it should be. In a
command window I can cd into that directory and and copy files out,
but the dir command also shows no directory. mkdir refuses to create
a directory with the same name. The scene is recreated on all 5
drives (2 USB drives and 3 SATA drives).

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I backup multiple shares from multiple machines to a set of backup
hard drives. The process maps a share, copies the data with xcopy to
a backup drive under \machine\sharename then disconnects the share and
repeats. At the end a cygwin script runs to produce a report of the
latest files in the total backup. I swap the backup drive every day
(so I have 5 drives in rotation). Today a user asked for a restore
and I went to the backup and the share backup wasn't displayed with
Windows Explorer. The backup log shows files being copied, the
cygwin report indicates the data is where it should be. In a
command window I can cd into that directory and and copy files out,
but the dir command also shows no directory. mkdir refuses to create
a directory with the same name. The scene is recreated on all 5
drives (2 USB drives and 3 SATA drives).

Sounds like the folder is hidden. Unhide it and you should be right.

 

[Johnny]

Sounds like the folder is hidden. Unhide it and you should be right.

Thanks Pegasus - it's definitely an attribute issue. "attrib -H
filename" reports "Not resetting system file" so I guess it some how
got set to a system file? I'm not sure how that happens for just
this user, just this share, across 5 volumes..... This share
happens to be an entire drive. I was able to make the directory
viewable by creating a new directory and copying the contents into it,
so my problem is resolved for the moment. Thank you.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Sounds like the folder is hidden. Unhide it and you should be right.

Thanks Pegasus - it's definitely an attribute issue. "attrib -H
filename" reports "Not resetting system file" so I guess it some how
got set to a system file? I'm not sure how that happens for just
this user, just this share, across 5 volumes..... This share
happens to be an entire drive. I was able to make the directory
viewable by creating a new directory and copying the contents into it,
so my problem is resolved for the moment. Thank you.

=================

The solution is already on your screen: Since the folder is a "System"
folder, you must knock out the System attribute too!

attrib -h -s "d:\Some Folder"