Report shows 303 files were "removed" when there is no evidence of removal

[drewdaviscap]

Hello,

I use Fixity to run reports on various file directories in our digital archives. In a recent report on one file directory, 303 files were shown as "removed" from the directory since the previous report on the same directory. I checked a sample of the files said to be missing, however, and found that each “removed” file was still in the directory. I also reached out to our IT department, who reported that no files were removed or copied to a different server.

Has anyone else encountered erroneous reports of "removed" or "changed" files? I'd be interested to hear from others or AVP.

One other thing to note: I recently updated the path before running the report (I received a new PC in November and had to update all paths). Having said that, I updated the path for several other directories before running reports and did not encounter this issue.

Thank you!

Drew

[pvizner]

Hi Drew,

Thank you for your post. Are you running the application on the same machine where the files are located or this is a remote connection? When Fixity fails to connect with a remote server, it reports files as missing. If this sounds like it could be your case, I would try running a manual scan on a few of the files that were reported as missing to see if it happens again.
It is also possible that it's a file name length issue, some users have experienced problems with long file paths. If you could send us a screenshot of your directory structure or an example of your file path we could take a closer look at it.

I hope this is helpful, let me know if you have further questions.

Best,
Pamela

[drewdaviscap]

Hi Pamela, Thanks so much for the quick response and explanation. This is a remote connection, as the files are located on a shared network. Having said that, the fixity application also lives on the shared network (that just happens to be where I saved it, and I haven’t moved it because the reports populate and live there as well). How does one run a fixity report on a single item, or a group of items? I only know how to run the reports on file directories. Here is an example of a filepath for one of the removed files: Z:\Affiliated and subsidiary organizations AS\CAP Foundation Collection AS\CAP Foundation Board of Directors records AS-0013\Agenda books and associated materials\1997\19971217 CAP Foundation Board of Directors minutes.pdf I have run fixity reports on these directories for 2 years and have not encountered an issue like this before. One other thing I did was re-run the report. The original report showed 3478 total files with 303 removed; the new report shows 3178 total files (with 3175 confirmed). The removed files are not appearing in the new report, but I can confirm that they still live in and are accessible in our file directory. Thank you for your help! Drew From: Pamela Vizner <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 7:55 AM To: WeAreAVP/fixity <[email protected]> Cc: Drew Davis (s) <[email protected]>; Author <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [WeAreAVP/fixity] Report shows 303 files were "removed" when there is no evidence of removal (#33) Hi Drew, Thank you for your post. Are you running the application on the same machine where the files are located or this is a remote connection? When Fixity fails to connect with a remote server, it reports files as missing. If this sounds like it could be your case, I would try running a manual scan on a few of the files that were reported as missing to see if it happens again. It is also possible that it's a file name length issue, some users have experienced problems with long file paths. If you could send us a screenshot of your directory structure or an example of your file path we could take a closer look at it. I hope this is helpful, let me know if you have further questions. Best, Pamela — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__github.com_WeAreAVP_fixity_issues_33-23issuecomment-2D462768082&d=DwMFaQ&c=uhUSuyNScXHb_F2nn0PKeY0q4oY6FfjGrtpKpaZYX9Y&r=hNNqwz-NytO1ak9Q6CSgnQ&m=BK78ZJh6Rx8blPf2YKcf2EpokrcCk9dGXrhNDEMcn58&s=OFuk4L2VbntbWy44hAcfs7heppWzzgPebchnLoqAwLs&e=>, or mute the thread<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__github.com_notifications_unsubscribe-2Dauth_AtVvXQcXSlwzabSnthx87kfsGO5E0p32ks5vMsfKgaJpZM4a1KsE&d=DwMFaQ&c=uhUSuyNScXHb_F2nn0PKeY0q4oY6FfjGrtpKpaZYX9Y&r=hNNqwz-NytO1ak9Q6CSgnQ&m=BK78ZJh6Rx8blPf2YKcf2EpokrcCk9dGXrhNDEMcn58&s=pw8B9Fv-aLZtVmStDnVhA-cyieP8m6i2CJqZXyPXqg8&e=>.

[pvizner]

Hi Drew,

To run a report on a single item or a small group of items you would have to create a new project, add these files to the project, and select the "Run Now" option.

Which version of Fixity are you running? Windows or Mac? If you could share with me a copy of the reports that show the issue I could do look into the details to see what is happening. You can send them to my email address if you wish: [email protected]

Best,
Pamela