8

Strange things are happening: some files randomly disappear.

I use Ubuntu to access files (movies, docs, music) on another partition (ntfs), which is mounted through NTFS Configuration Tool.

First I noticed that some PDFs are missing from my "study" folder, but I thought maybe I deleted them myself. But now two albums are missing from Music folder and I'm sure it's something wrong with Ubuntu. All those files were recently downloaded and modified from Ubuntu and moved to ntfs partition. While on Windows 7 (around two years) I never had this problem before.

So how to prevent this problem? And are there any tools I could use to recover files and check for errors? Thanks.

7
  • If you open a terminal cd to a folder where files have disappeared, and run ls -l, you should get a list of all files in that folder. Do the disappeared files show up there? If yes, it's a problem with Nautilus.
    – RobinJ
    Jun 16, 2011 at 8:40
  • I already checked this way and through logging from Win 7. Missing files are not showing up :-( Jun 16, 2011 at 8:45
  • 1
    Are there any errors in dmesg after mounting the disk?
    – Lekensteyn
    Jun 16, 2011 at 9:13
  • this does seem to happen not only on NTFS partitions, but in EXT4 too. Jun 16, 2011 at 19:35
  • I'm having the same problem
    – Shen
    Nov 12, 2011 at 0:53

3 Answers 3

2

Try running a file system check in Windows7 on that partition. Hopefully the lost files will magically reappear afterwards.

2
  • Yep, chkdsk helped with some files, restored remained ones with Pandora Recovery. But will Ubuntu mess them up again?... Jun 19, 2011 at 7:11
  • Good question. I really don't know if Ubuntu was at fault in your case, though it could be. A relative of mine only uses Windows, but had the same problem with an external hdd. I'd advise running chkdsk once in a while and keeping a backup. Jun 19, 2011 at 8:00
1

Have a look at this question - this is not actually Ubuntu messing up the files, it's Windows "fixing things up" after booting from hibernation image :)

Generally, modifying other OS's filesystem while it's hibernated is the same as directly messing with the disk device at the block level without the OS knowing - it leads to filesystem corruption because the data on disk goes out of sync with what OS knows about the disk.

1
  • Yes I think you're right. Once Windows forced a filesystem check and deleted lots of my files.
    – Severo Raz
    Nov 15, 2011 at 3:40
0

When Windows hibernates, it saves the contents of your computer's memory (RAM) to a file called "hiberfil.sys" on your system's boot drive. This file is used to restore your system to its previous state when it wakes up from hibernation. Therefore, any changes made by other operating systems will be lost.

Disable Windows hibernate mode

Step 1: Type control panel to the search box of Windows 11 and then click the result to open this tool. Step 2: Display items by large icons and then click Power Options.

Step 3: Click Choose what the power button does from the left side.

Step 4: Click the Change settings that are currently unavailable link.

Step 5: Tick the box of Hibernate under the Shutdown settings section. (To disable Hibernate, uncheck the box of Hibernate.)

Step 6: Finally, click the Save changes button.

Disable fast startup on Windows

  1. Open Start.
  2. Search for PowerShell, right-click the top result and select the Run as administrator option.
  3. Type the following command to disable Fast Startup on Windows 11 and press Enter:
powercfg /h off

If none of the above solutions doesn't work!

Before leaving Ubuntu, be sure to unmount the NTFS drive.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .