Recursive Folder ERROR - Linkstation Live 500gb + Buffalo 320GB USB Drive

[montie]

   

Hello,

 

I have just purchased my first link station and I am having a few problems, which may be related to each other.

 

Firstly I have attached a USB Hard Disk which happens to be a 320Gb Buffalo drive. I formated this to XFS and it automatically generated a share called usbdisk1. Inside that share is a folder called usbdisk1 and inside that folder is another called usbdisk1 and so on to infinity. I cannot delete this. I have reformatted, reset the machine and tried again, no luck at all - i tried searching for other people with a similar problem but couldnt find any so I am posting here.

 

I cant seem to add any more shares on the USB drive. I have copied a few test files to the root share - the drive shows the correct amount of used disk space, but the files appear recursively inside each usbdisk1 folder ! If I try to navigate through them my pc crashes (also the same on another pc).

 

Also the web admin pages seem slow, I disabled the media server (pc cast) just in case.

 

Also during the night the **bleep** thing started beeping and I had to switch it of using the button and switch it back on - but I couldnt work out the cause !!

 

Been a fan of buffalo products for years - I have a series of ancient G54's access points covering a massive area several miles of bridged networks - they are solid as rocks. I hope once I get this link station working it will be solid too !

 

Cheers

 

Mark

 

[Paul]

I would start by flashing the firmware on the unit, go to buffalotech.com/support then downloads.

after resetting the firmware please log in the gui and set the unit back to factory defaults.  This should solve the issue, however you may need to format the usb disk in XFS again to start from scratch.

[rog]

   

I'm having this same problem.  I'm trying to use the external drive as a backup.  I'm apprehensive about upgrading the firmware since there is so much irreplaceable data on the terastation and would be fired intsantly if I lost it for this client.  There are files larger than 4gb and filenames longer than 32 characters so the format needs to support that.  Can I format the drive outside of the terastation for use as a backup? 

 

Thanks

[Paul]

The recommended file structure is XFS, it does not have to be done by the TS.  I would back up the data then update the firmware as well.

[rog]

   

Thanks.  I ended up formatting with XFS and it formatted correctly.  I then ran a backup and it seemed to work fine to a point then hung at a certain point.  It always said that there was a backup in progress but the disk usage for the USBDisk1 did not move.  This was left like that for 24hrs and no movement.  I have just rebooted the TS to stop the backup and configured a new back up for the folder that it stopped on.  It seems to be moving now.  The shared folder I'm trying to backup is all Mac stuff from a couple Macs on the network.  Mostly photos.  Any ideas why it would hang like that?  There doesn't seem to be a log I can look at that will tell me what's going on.  Any help is appreciated.  Thanks.

 

[Paul]

Set the unit back to factory defaults in the web interface.  This will not cause data loss however it will reset your user configurations. 

[nelsonhidalgo]

   

I have the same problem that Rog, the disk backup process hangs for hours and never finished. I restored the defaults and it has the same behavior. what i'm trying to do is to have a backup from a external USB disk to the FS, it work properly for the first 29GB and then it hangs.

 

Does anybody have any idea how to solve it, the FS is in the last firmware version that apears in the buffalotech.com.

 

Thank you in advance for your help

[rog]

   FYI... For my particular issue (which is the reverse direction TS -> USBDisk) Paul's suggestion worked.  Reset to factory defaults (it did not affect data on the array), then formated the USB disk and ran backups successfully. 

[lantonov]

   

I am having the same problem - when I perform a backup, recursive folders are created.

I have update my firmware to 2.11 and have reformatted my drives several times.

I started with a LinkStation Live 500MB, with an attached USB disk (formatted as XFS). Nightly Differential backups worked fine for soem time, but then one time the backup would not complete. I had to "reset to factory defaults" to get the Linkstation to clear the backup list. Upon restart, I foudn that the usbdisk1 share was mounted inside one of my data folders on share. I could not remove it in any way, until I formatted both disks.

After that, as soon as I did a backup, a recursive usbdisk1 folder appeared in the root of the USB disk and ther is no way to remove it.

[Dustrega]

This is normal behavior in the situation you wish to copy files to the root level of the USB disk quickly you can just click and drag files into that recursive folder. The recursive folder should not be taking up any space and is merely a shortcut in this case.

[lantonov]

   

I don't follow - the folder is in root of the USB disk - if I want to drop files in it, I would have to open the root folder first, at which point I can just drop them there directly. The recursive folder is not visible from any other location. Here is a diagram of the folder tree. Can you elaborate on how this serves any useful function?

 

usbdisk1 (share)

 |-- file1

 |-- folder1

 |-- usbdisk1 [recursive folder]

       |-- file1

       |-- folder1

       |-- usbdisk1 [recursive folder]

[Plymouth_Sid]

   

Running Bull - Moderator earlier on says: " This is normal behavior . . . . " which it may well be . . . but . . . .The question from Iantonov: "  Can you elaborate on how this serves any useful function? " is a very good one indeed! I await an answer with bated breath.

 

I just want to drag and drop various files "thoughtlessly" but I am faced with a number of choices all of which appear to go to the same place (the USB disc plugged into my Link station!)
. . . . even more curious, one of the "virtual folders" seemed to rename itself as "Pictures"
. . . . .. . .but when opened, it was the USB drive.

 

I also have a folder called "External Drives" and guess what?
. . . . .It too points to the USBdrive
. . . . . . . . . . All of them contain a folder entitled
. . . . . . . . . . . . . usbdisk1 ! ! ! !

 

This is very odd indeed.

 

When I have pulled all the data off both devices (but not before) I will:

 

1. Reflash the link Station (taking great care about the choice of update ~ I have a UK Linkstation)

2. Reformat the USB drive (XFS of course)

 

 

. . . . . . . and try again.

 

Please someone "  . . elaborate on how this (recursive folders) serves any useful function. . ."

 

There are of course other threads on this topic . . . . this thread seems to be the one that addresses this issue at a general / high / design level.  Perhaps one of the moderators might like to draw them together?:smileywink:

[Dustrega]

Instead of having to move to a root folder to copy files some users would probably find it useful to have the usbdisk folder there to just drag and drop files to. Of course this is a method not preferred by everyone nor would I expect it to be but that is the normal behavior for these devices.

[Plymouth_Sid]

   

May I just "review" in order to focus on the issue?

 

Right at the top of this thread, montie (amongst other things) wrote:

I have copied a few test files to the root share - the drive shows the correct amount of used disk space, but the files appear recursively inside each usbdisk1 folder !

 

Later, Dustrega says:

This is normal behavior in the situation you wish to copy files to the root level of the USB disk quickly you can just click and drag files into that recursive folder. The recursive folder should not be taking up any space and is merely a shortcut in this case.

 

This is quickly followed by Iantonov saying:

Can you elaborate on how this serves any useful function?

 

Dustrega probably puts the finger on the spot by saying:

"this is a method not preferred by everyone nor would I expect it to be"

 

 

So the stage is set  . . . for confusion.

 

I use the attached USB drive as a "Long Stop" ultimate back-up storage for particular files and folders.  I would very much like to be able to take the USB drive to a different loctation and retrieve files from it (How that is achieved whilst the drive is formatted to XFS, is for another day)

 

I use different methods to achieve the aim of copying files to the USB disc.  Sometimes I wish to "drag and drop" but I also also "point" backup/synchronisation software to the directory  . . .

 

 

This is where the problem begins because there are so many ways to get to the "USB drive":

 

• I can navigate top down from "My Network Places"
• I can browse from the NASNavigator"
• I can get to it from both routes from "Share"
• etc etc

 

Somewhere, along the way,  "recursive folders" are a consequence . . . .

 

I have yet to "Assign a drive letter to all shared devices" ~ I fear the result!

 

Is this a "linux" thing?  Why does it happen? How does it serve any useful function? What have I missed?

 

Yours Aye,
Sid

[Dustrega]

Just to clarify further that the USB drive folder shows up recursively to allow a user to easily click and drag files from their directories so that they may easily backup to their external drive no matter where they are in the folder structure. As opposed to copy, then move to the root directory into the usb folder and paste. The downside is that the files show up recursively due the folder structure changes that the external being attached implements. Further downside is that not all backup solutions will reliably copy to the usbdrive1 folder at some points as the external USB is implemented as a solution for backing up the Link/TeraStation.

 

(deep breath)

 

Furthermore, assigning drive letters at this point is not a problem when there is really no result to fear.  In a PM that you sent Plymouth you had stated that searching through files yielded redundant results (please see above statement). This "linux thing" as you had stated is actually the reason as to why you can have the convenience of having your usbdrive1 folder "follow" you throughout the NAS folder structure. Downside is that you can't disable that. As a final point you had mentioned reading an XFS file structure (one that is not native to a Windows environment). There are options available although we don't support them because they run the risk of ruining your OS. Again, we suggest googling XFS for Windows and reading carefully, but USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

 

Any further issues please post back of course and if there has been any confusion I apologize. :)