FDISR and Shadowsurfer

Hi all

Anyone else tried using Shadowsurfer with FDISR. I did and just noticed I have a FDISR problem. Can copy and boot to my standard FDISR secondary snapshot, but just noticed I can't add a snapshot and boot to it. Don't know for sure if it is Shadowsurfer related. I've removed shadowsurfer and problem persists. Suspect I will have to uninstall and reinstall FDISR. Just wonder if anyone else has tried this.

Pete

 

Fixing FDISR isn't that big a deal. Just an uninstall and reinstall. Only thing is that while it will fix FDISR, it wouldn't conclusively prove it was Shadowsurfer was the culprit without taking another shot.

Pete

 

Hi Betauser2

Acadia is absolutely right, that you can uninstall and leave the snapshot in place, and I have done so.

Having said whn if I uninstall and reinstall and reinstall to fix the problem I've created, I will probably remove the snapshot first. One time way back in my early FDISR experience I had a bad uninstall, and couldn't reinstall, so I ended up having to remove the snapshot manually. That was a 3 hour experience I care not to repeat, so in this case I will remove snapshot first.

But normally if all was working right, and I wanted to uninstall and reinstall I wouldn't bother.

Pete

 

Hi Starfish

Raxco is working with the developer on this one. The error message I am getting is "one that shouldn't be happening." They sent me a boot simulator, which checked my MFT and the tried a simulated boot. Generated a huge log file. No results yet. Worse part is I don't know how long the situation existed so I don't know exactly what caused it.

Also the problem doesn't interfere with anything else.

Pete

 

I'll keep you posted.

Edit: Update. I got a second boot simuation to run, and return the logs. So the Raxco folks are on the case. I'll keep you posted.


Pete

 

Hi all

The final update. First in terms of the role of ShadowSurfer, it might have had a roll, but if so it was a fluke rather than flaw. A fluke in terms of the fact it puts a file in the root directory, which in and of itself shouldn't have been an issue.

In terms of the time passed, remember this was going back and forth from me to Raxco to the developer and back. Then I had to find the time to reinstall FDISR and build a snapshot and test. Inherently there was time lag, but Raxco and Leapfrog were excellent.

After running the couple of simulations and tests and having the logs reviewed, Greg was able to describe the problem. I am quoting him here, as I'd be hard pressed to paraphrase.

"You have a relatively large number of files in the root directory. The
number and names of the files combine to produce a MFT record which is
very close to full. You also have an extra attribute in the root record
($OBJECT_ID). Because the record is so close to full and because of the
extra attribute the swapover runs out of room in the MFT record and
fails."

He also confirmed they were indeed treating it as a bug as it was a condition FDISR didn't detect and couldn't handle.

They then sent me a fix to run, and then return the logs, before trying anything. Then I caused a mild panic by moving a bunch of the unnecessary files out of the root directory. They wanted the files there to test the fix, sooo I put them back. Then I installed and built a snapshot and ran the fix. Tried swapping to the new snapshot and it failed. Then I cleaned out the root directory and tried another reboot to the secondary snapshot. It failed again. So I uninstalled FDISR, and emailed Raxco.

Got a response saying it might take two shots of the fix, please try again. So I reinstalled FDISR and built a new snapshot. Decided to test before reruning the fix. BINGO, it worked fine and has continued to work. Needless to say I am keeping my root C:\ directory clean.

It is my understanding they are working on a permenant fix for FDISR.

One heck of a detective job if you ask me. I thank Greg,Raxco and the Leapfrog developers for hanging in there to resolve this issue.

Pete

 

Hi Dallen

Nothing special. The root directory is just c:\ I had a bunch of junk like the KLStreamremover.exe and other stuff like that. To be safe besure system files and hidden files ARE HIDDEN. This will ensure you don't do something grim. Then just besure you know what you are deleting. I checked my laptop and it only had 2 files. My Desktop had about 15 including some batch files I'd made and put there. Watchword is if in doubt don't delete.

Pete

 

Your right. I was experimenting, and shadowsurfer probably had nothing to do with the problem I had.

Pete