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[zendoo]

Hi!
I just accidentally commited a grave error! I used the Find and Replace tool and wanted to remove some colons : in my [Name] field

But I accidentally had the [Filename (path)] field ticked on from some Find and Replace action I did some weeks ago and now my FILES ARE GONE !
I guess they were renamed (Yes I confirmed the rename, didn't think that would happen!) to something like D\folder\filename.ext instead of D:\folder\filename.ext

Any clue as to where theses file are and how I can get them back?

And are you gonna fix that so this doesn't happen accidentally?!!

GREETZ and ZEN

[Matt]

You can undo after a library change (Edit > Undo / Ctrl+Z).

[DarkPenguin]

Where are they gone?  On disk or in the app?

If you right click and do a locate on a given file does it find it?

[Scolex]

Where are they gone?  On disk or in the app?

If you right click and do a locate on a given file does it find it?

No
Without the colon Windows doesn't have anywhere to place the file since the colon is the designator that Windows uses for a drive.
For example is you have D:\Music\Album\file.mp3 it knows to go to D drive but if you have D\Music\Album\file.mp3 it thinks it is in a remote location
you can test this by typing the path to an actual file you have without the colon in the address bar of an explorer window and when you press enter
Windows will launch your default browser.

[DarkPenguin]

No
Without the colon Windows doesn't have anywhere to place the file since the colon is the designator that Windows uses for a drive.
For example is you have D:\Music\Album\file.mp3 it knows to go to D drive but if you have D\Music\Album\file.mp3 it thinks it is in a remote location
you can test this by typing the path to an actual file you have without the colon in the address bar of an explorer window and when you press enter
Windows will launch your default browser.

So it isn't relative to the CWD?  Search shows up nothing?

[Scolex]

CWD?
When I read the original post I created a copy of a file and did what he did to see if I could locate it afterward.
I tried using a recover deleted items program and searched the original folder which found nothing since the file wasn't actually deleted.
I also tried searching the registry for the path minus the colon which returned nothing.
A recovery program that runs from a boot disk might work but my recovery tools are already packed away awaiting my move.

The best way to avoid something like this is to click the select none button before doing anything else every time you use the find replace feature which is what I do.
I am not sure but he may be SOOL as far as recovering the files.

[marko]

Many moons ago, when I encountered something similar, MC dumped all the files in the "Windows\System32" folder. Might be worth checking in there for them?

[jmone]

I was going to replicate the issue but with Resource Mgr open so you could see what the disc activity is doing (and you may find the location from that), but I get an MC "Tagging Error" and the file stays where it is (Win7 - 64 Bit).

[MrHaugen]

Should be possible to narrow it down by just looking at the size of directories as well. First check if the system drive have gotten less data. If the size of the data you think you've lost is missing from the drive, then you are probably out of luck. If the size is the same, I would start selecting directories to check which one contains the approximate data of the media missing. Then go into this directory and start over. Do this until you find the place where the files are.

The good thing about a miss in the path renaming is that you'll probably NEVER do it again I certainly will not...

Good luck!

[vagskal]

Any clue as to where theses file are and how I can get them back?

Are the files still in the MC library? If so, you might be able to do a Find and replace to insert the : in the path again.

[zendoo]

I've practically tried all of the above before I wrote the post
The files are still showing up in MC but they show up as missing, as somehow the files where moved but mediacenter put the colon back in the filename inside itself. so the files in mediacenter have a filepath like this
"D:\folder\file.ext"
Just the files aren't there. I tried undo, but you cant undo on a missing file.
At MrHaugen:
I think I dont have the time to look at all the directories on my disk and check if the have 5 Gigs too much... I tried a few "suspects" but all seems normal.
At Jmone:
thanks for trying everyone. Win7 Professional 32bit here... I dont remember if I got a tagging error message, but the files where gone and showed up missing in MC
Whats CWD?

I dont really bother so much about the files, I can get them again - I want to know if I lack that disk space now though?!!! Is the space occupied on the disk? How can I find out?

Thanks again for all your quick replies... Would still be nice to give the Find and Replace tool an overhaul so it cant delete a colon from after the drive name (for others!) - but youre right MrHaugen - I will not do this again!

[JimH]

Did you try restoring a backup?  File/Library/Restore.

[zendoo]

the backup doesnt contain the files YET, as i just imported them and then wanted to "integrate" them into my naming and tagging system... but i wouldnt see what this would do... Mediacenter points to the "right" file location d:\folder\file.ext  ... but it had moved the files away from there before without registering it inside itself... the backup would point to the same location as it points to now
Thanks though

[MrC]

I got the same tagging error as jmone when I tried to duplicate this last night.

To clarify some misconceptions in this thread.

The path

   D\folder\filename.ext

is not a network path, but is a relative path, relative to the process' current directory.  If MC created the path "D\folder\", it would be under one of its directories (I haven't looked at MC's working directory while it runs), and the file filename.ext would be there, under D\folder\.

However, the field being replaced is Filename (path), and MC has some code to catch changes to the file name and file path.  So we don't know exactly what it does when an absolute path D:\folder\ is changed into a relative path (D\folder\).   One of the dev's would have to comment.

It would be ideal if the code that traps changes to file path/name could warn ahead of time about illegal or unacceptable values.

I'm not so sure about allowing changes to Volume, Filename, Filename (path), and Filename (name) in Find/Replace.  I think rename, move, copy operations should be supported only via the Rename dialog (adding any currently missing functionality required to support abilities in Find/Rename).  These fields are not merely database properties or tags, but are physical file system values mirrored into MC.  And physical path/filename manipulation like this should be handled via the UI in an unambiguous way, clear to users.

[fitbrit]

I sometimes use the RCM to update changes from one volume to another... and then use MidnightCommander to execute a very fast wholesale movement of files between user shares on my unraid server to match the updates. This bypasses Windows (and MC) moving files within the same physical disk, but from different mapped drives, by doing a lengthy copy paste procedure; it's almost instantaneous since every file is moving within the same disk when done using the MidnightCommander UI. I would never want to lose the ability to do that.

[Matt]

I'm not so sure about allowing changes to Volume, Filename, Filename (path), and Filename (name) in Find/Replace.  I think rename, move, copy operations should be supported only via the Rename dialog (adding any currently missing functionality required to support abilities in Find/Rename).  These fields are not merely database properties or tags, but are physical file system values mirrored into MC.  And physical path/filename manipulation like this should be handled via the UI in an unambiguous way, clear to users.

I agree.

The tool Rename, Move, & Copy Files now supports Find & Replace, so I don't see any need to offer it in the regular Find / Replace tool.

Other votes?

[Scolex]

Well since I had some more time I found where my test file went, no clue why it ended up here.
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Adobe Version Cue CS4\Client\4.0.1\D\Music\+44\When Your Heart Stops Beating\01 - Lycanthrope - Copy.mp3
Original location was:
D:\Music\+44\When Your Heart Stops Beating\01 - Lycanthrope - Copy.mp3

If you happen to have Adobe CS4 or another version it might be worth looking there.

[Scolex]

I agree.

The tool Rename, Move, & Copy Files now supports Find & Replace, so I don't see any need to offer it in the regular Find / Replace tool.

Other votes?

I agree too.

[fitbrit]

I agree too.

Me too, now that I know what we're talking about.

[MrHaugen]

I agree too. I would not mind dropping the fields for file location in "Find and Replace" as long as we can do the exact same thing with the other tool. It can save some from disaster.
Some kind of warning when tampering with this fields would at least be good.

[zendoo]

I found my files again too.
Doing a disk scan with Spacesniffer I noticed a giant blowup in my programs directory. I have Minilyrics installed in D:\programme\minilyrics and this suddenly had 8GB
So I zoomed in and saw that my files where in D:\programme\minilyrics\skins\windows7\d\folder\filename.ext

I guess that was the active folder somewhere in the memory or whatever that very moment the action took place???

and then MC created this D\folder\filename.ext in there... ?

Who knows, but that means that a search should have shown me my files but didnt - a great praise to Microsoft for giving a search function that 50% doesnt show files which I happen to find manually later...

And it means that MrHaugens method worked in the end - looking at directories filesizes made me find it (though I wasnt actually looking anymore, I just wanted to free up diskspace, thats why I ran the scan)

THANKS EVERYONE

[MrC]

@Matt - it seems from these reports that MC (and its helpers?) is not setting a working directory on launch.  Perhaps it should be initialized to <appdata> or somewhere safe.