Partial restore: file(s) or folder(s) were not processed due to errors

The bottom line of my problem is that after doing a partial restore from an archive I get this message and the restored folder is missing 7 files:

WARNING: 7 file(s) or folder(s) were not processed due to errors. See log for details


Details:

I'm trying to backup my hard drive (HD #1) and move some files to another drive (HD #2) before reinstalling Windows. I'm using Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 Free Edition on Windows XP SP2.

I created a recovery CD with Paragon, booted with it, and backed up the partition I needed to. Then I booted into Windows and I've done 2 partial restores from the partition I backed up: one folder from the archive restored to a partition on HD #2 and a different folder from the archive restored to a different partition on HD #2.

The first restore seemed to work ok, I let it run overnight and then checked the properties of the original folder (from the partition I backed up on HD #1) and the restored copy (on HD #2) in Windows Explorer: same # of files, folders, and total size.

When I tried the second restore, I ran into a problem. First of all Paragon estimates it will take like an hour, but after the "time remaining" hits 00:00:00, it still runs for like another 9 hours (no exageration), with the "overall progress" climbing to hundreds of percent, over 250% at least. More importantly, when it finally finishes, I get this message:

WARNING: 7 file(s) or folder(s) were not processed due to errors. See log for details


A check of the properties of the original version and the restored copy confirms that the restored copy has 7 less files, out of over 80,000. Where can I see which files were "not processed due to errors"? I can't just write these files off -- they could be important and I need to know what they are. I don't understand why this software has so many cryptic error messages.

I even poked around and looked at pwlog.txt and stubact.log and can't find any explanation about those 7 files.

 

Click Tools>View log files.

Hope it helps

 

Unfortunately not. I already tried that and it was completely useless. That log contains very little information and absolutely nothing useful to understanding this problem.

 

If the files are divided into folders, perhaps run properties check and see where the files are located. Also there are utilities to do folder/file comparison.

 

It would make a lot more sense for the Paragon software to inform me of the 7 files (out of over 80,000, and over 20,000 folders) that it had a problem with, especially since it implies that it will in a log file.

Through a painstaking process I was able to debug the problem. I discovered that in Windows XP path length is limited to 256 characters (see Maximum Path Length Limitation). Paragon's insistence on restoring my files inside a folder named "disk_M", despite the fact that I was only restoring files from one partition, and didn't ask to have them delineated that way, pushed 7 of my pathnames over the limit.

To be sure, the root problem in this case is the asinine 256 character limit on pathnames in Windows, but Paragon should be able to handle this situation intelligently. And it's worth noting that in this particular case, Paragon precipitated the problem by forcing the restored files into a "disk_M" folder.

After identifying the 7 files and diagnosing the problem, I performed a number of rounds of tests using the File Transfer Wizard to add the affected files to the previously restored ones. Several times, both before and after fixing the underlying issue, Paragon just crashed in the process.

When the restored files were still in the "disk_M" folder and I tried to add the omitted 7 files using the File Transfer Wizard, which would result in too-long pathnames, it crashed. However, even after removing the restored files from the "disk_M" folder, reverting to the original folder structure that I'd backed up -- and eliminating the possibility of any too-long pathnames -- it still crashed at least once when I attempted to add the omitted 7 files using the File Transfer Wizard.

In another case of a partial restore it seems that Paragon did restore pathnames that exceed the limit, which Windows Explorer then choked on when I tried to copy the files. In that case, a warning in a report or log file at the end of the restore would be very helpful.