Dolphin unreliable? Files missing!

[michael]

I really like Karmic and the new KDE4. But it gives many annoyances too!

For example:
I have just made a fresh install of Karmic. Using Dolphin I copied my backup files back to the hard drive and some files are missing/not copied!

Another problem is folder contents/properties. Sometimes when I check the properties of folders (typically larger ones) Dolphin shows a different number of files each time. For example it shows a folder content of 11501 files. When I check again the number has changed to 11834.

I think it is very problematic that you can not be sure that Dolphin sees/copies all your files. In the past I have lost data because of this

Do you experience similar problems?

[kubicle]

Re: Dolphin unreliable? Files missing!

Have you checked the permissions/ownership of the files (not copied)?

For example, dolphin can't copy files that the user running dolphin has no read access to.

[michael]

Re: Dolphin unreliable? Files missing!

Yes I have. Everything seems fine. User and group has my username as owner.

If the problem was permissions it still would not explain the "different number of files" in properties. Or am I mistaken?

Very frustrating

[dibl]

Re: Dolphin unreliable? Files missing!

For example it shows a folder content of 11501 files. When I check again the number has changed to 11834.

If you are checking very soon after you did the mass copy, you might be looking before the copy process is finished. It takes awhile to copy that many files -- some users have complained about slow copying with recent kernels, especially to and from USB drives. (See Ubuntu Forums).

On my 3 SATA drives with 10 partitions, several partitions have over 10,000 files, and I have not observed the problem you described (but I admit I don't copy/restore them frequently). I did use Dolphin the last time I backed it all up to an external drive. It takes a long time across the USB interface, but they all made the trip eventually.

[kubicle]

Re: Dolphin unreliable? Files missing!

Yes I have. Everything seems fine. User and group has my username as owner.

Ok, just checking since I haven't experienced the issue, although I don't use dolphin to copy large data structures.

If the problem was permissions it still would not explain the "different number of files" in properties. Or am I mistaken?

Probably not. Does that happen with all directories? (as opposed to only directories that change constantly like /proc and /var)

You may have a valid bug there, but I can't confirm that since I haven't been able to reproduce it.

[michael]

Re: Dolphin unreliable? Files missing!

Thank you all for your help and quick response.

It happens with "personal directories" (I don't know what else to call it. My English lacks a bit.) such as document, pictures and saved programs/files. I haven't noticed the problem in "system directories"like /proc, /var etc. but I don't think you can be sure whether the problem is there also.

I notice the problem when I copy those "personal" files from one directory to another. The problem occurs between folder on the same harddrive, between my SATA drive and USB-drive and between SATA drives.

I still think the most curious problem is that I get those different number of files each time I check the properties of a folder. Well, not each time, but very often. Because of this, you can't really be sure how many files you have i that particular folder.

I have had this problem a long time now. I think since kde4. Copying those same folders in ubuntu or windows gives no problems whatsoever. Because of serious problems with booting and/or GRUB I have reinstalled many times but this problem persists even with fresh installs. My point is that file-copying should work "fresh-out-of-the-box".

I have a feeling these other faults has to do with my motherboard so I have ordered a new (different) one. Hopefully I will get it today. If it fixes the file-copying too I of course will let you know. Its a far shot, but maybe poor disk handling my the bios/motherboard is the cause.

[michael]

Re: Dolphin unreliable? Files missing!

Just to follow up on this thread:

My new motherboard certainly helped on my boot problems. But this thread is about something else: Dolphin.

The file-copying problem is (probably) also solved. But at first the problem continued. In dolphin I had owner and permissions set to my user. But still I got errors. Then I ran a chown command and after that all seems to work fine. My files are on a separate harddrive which (under installation) is mounted at home/user/XXXX.

I know I'm not an expert on Linux, but should setting the permissions/owner in dolphin not be equivalent to setting owner/permissions by running the chown command? It is as permissions/ownership in dolphin doesn't seem to take effect. Could this be a bug og am I missing something?

I am also wondering why the installation process doesn't give a freshly formatted (and mounted) harddrive the right permissions. I am almost certain that was the case in earlier versions of kubuntu.

Of course I am happy that all now seems to work, but I am still wondering what was wrong...

[birkopf]

Re: Dolphin unreliable? Files missing!

Hi,

Install yourself Krusader - it's very, very good file manager. Use it to check your problems (exactly like dolphin) and to change ownership. Changing permissions has got risk - just double check before going one step too far

Also - dibl (replied to you before) had got in his signature 20 FAQ's
Check FAQ nb 10. Might be helpful.