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Solved
Strange Folder Names...
Hi All,
I have encountered this before and someone tried to help but then stopped responding..
The issue I have is that on my ReadyNAS102 I have many folders containing large numbers of pictures. My other half uses a Mac whereas I use a PC. The original issue I was using Windows 7 however I am now using Windows 10 and the same issue has re-occured!
As you can see, there is a very strange file name which on the Mac is shown correctly and contains all of the data. On my PC (Windows 10) the file name is different and when I try to open it, it displays the error below.
All other folders have been made on the Mac and I can open them. So I do not understand why the odd folder does this. The properties of the folder also show 0 bytes which can be worrying however on the Mac it displays correctly.
Adding to this, my NAS has suddenly decided to forget my login details so I now cannot access the web based page again so yet another re-installation of the OS is needed... I have tried the recover password but as per usual when this happens that displays an error too. Due to this I am unfortunately unable to advise what firmware is installed, the last time I did log on I saw an update available so I would guess that I am just 1 revision behind the current.
Any help with this would be hugely appreciated as I am thoroughly fed up with this product and feel that all data is constantly vulnerable to loss.
Hi,
The reason you see those strange names in Windows is because Windows SMB does not support non-standard characters in the name, like colons. Windows uses colons to designate drives in path names. Windows won't let you save colons in file names, but Linux doesn't stop you from creating a colon in a file name. You should be able to access this through the GUI and rename the file/folder, or over something like FTP or SSH.
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That name looks like it was generated by Windows (perhaps a temporary folder from some application). The use of 8 characters and the ~ suggest it is an "8.3" short name. When you saw that error, did you try right-clicking on the window, and refreshing? If so, did the folder disappear?
If you have ReadyCloud or Netgear Genie installed on the PC, try uninstalling it, and see if those folders still show up.
On the credential - I've never seen it lose a credential before. I've forgotten them of course, but generally haven't used password recovery. What firmware are you running on the NAS? Are you losing the admin password, or a user password?
Hi Stephen,
I have tried refresh as you requested but unfortunately there is no change and the folder remains on the screen.
I do not have any of those programmes installed on the PC. I will re-install the OS later today and see if that changes anything and I will of course report back. I just hate messing about with the OS re-installation as the files on the NAS are extremely important (paying customers) and I use the NAS as my primary backup and of course, I should have to do it...
Thank you for your help so far.
I don't think an OS reinstall is likely to fix change anything (other than resetting the admin password). FWIW, from a security perspective there is no harm in writing down the admin password and taping it to the NAS. Anyone stealing the NAS can do an OS reinstall anyway, so they don't need the password to get admin access to the box (if they have it in their possession).
I also don't think the NAS is creating those folders. I think something is creating them as temporary folders, but for some reason the deletion later on is failing.
Hi All,
Sorry for my late reply, the reason why it was doing this is because there were semi colons in the folder names! Thank you so much for your help!!
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