Remote files disappeared after using WinSCP to move them.

Version of WinSCP you are using: 4.1.7 build 413
Transfer protocol (SFTP, FTP or SCP). FTP
Interface style you are using: Commander

Hi there

I downloaded WinSCP today and used it to connect my Windows XP PC to a remote networked wireless hard drive (Mediagate MG-450HD). I used the program to create new directories on the remote drive and then dragged and dropped files on the remote to the new directories.

Most of the files have "disappeared" completely and those that remain show as zero size.

Does anyone know what went wrong and whether or not there is any possibility that I might recover those files?

regards
Nick

So have you lost the local (original) files or only the remote (uploaded copies)?

martin wrote:

So have you lost the local (original) files or only the remote (uploaded copies)?

The files in question were on the remote to begin with and I have no local copies.

I downloaded the program because it appeared to have the facility to create new directories and move files about on the remote drive. I guess I should have done some limited testing before assuming I'd read the box properly :-)

Nick

It looks like I will be able to recover my files so I thought I'd share the process with the WinSCP community.

I downloaded 'Pandora Recovery' - I couldn't identify any missing files.

I downloaded 'Recuva' - I couldn't identify any missing files.

I downloaded 'PC Inspector File Recovery' and voila - I found many deleted files, some virtual and some real. All the file names had been trashed but most of the extensions appear to have survived. PC Inspector classifies all the real files as condition 'poor' and the virtual ones as 'good'.

I am now laboriously recovering the files to another drive and attempting to identify them, so far successfully. It is a slow process and I wouldn't recommend anyone to use Win SCP the way I did. It would be sensible to test each change you make to the directory tree and its contents and check afterwards that it has worked as you intended. If a file disappears use PC Inspector to recover it to another drive.

Needless to say I won't be using WinSCP any more!

regards
Nick

I would appreciate if you can describe steps that lead to losing the files. Just in case there's a bug indeed, so it can get fixed.

martin wrote:

I would appreciate if you can describe steps that lead to losing the files. Just in case there's a bug indeed, so it can get fixed.

I'm happy to describe my recollection of the sequence of events as best I can. Basically I set out to use WinSCP in Commander mode to reorganise the file system on my remote 1TB FAT32 wireless drive. I created about 5 new folders as sub-folders to a folder which contained a large number of big multimedia files. I then dragged and dropped files from the main folder to the sub-folders. Subsequently I dragged and dropped one of the sub-folders as well. I now know that I moved 63 files in total.

Afterwards a few moved files still had entries in one of the new folders but they were all displayed as 0 byte files by all the software I tried including explorer. The remaining files had disappeared from view completely although PC Inspector found all but two of them.

Since I last posted there have been further developments. I had connected the drive to my PC via USB in order to attempt the file recoveries. After they had all been recovered I attempted to copy and paste a surviving file from the 1TB drive to another USB attached drive and Windows crashed to a blue screen which advised me to run Chkdsk /F on the drive. (I can't recall ever having a Windows crash on this PC before - it was like old times :-) Anyway I ran Chkdsk on the 1TB drive and it "found" all 63 files and repaired the FAT. That would have been a much easier way for me to recover the files than PC Inspector but that's life!

I guess that you may have a bug in WinSCP - maybe relating to use over a wireless network, maybe to working with relatively large drives. It could however be a bug in the native operating software on my Mediagate system - the interface software appears to be pretty crude. The device is intended to be used as a media store and as a streaming media interface connecting the network to a home cinema system. It does that pretty well to the extent that I've explored so far.

Hope that helps
regards
Nick

Thanks for details.