• Possible causes of read/write errors on one network workstation (only)

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    #491713

    I have a client that has mapped all his employees’ personal documents folders to the server. Each employee using my application exe is running the software from a local installation on their PC with their database in a subfolder of their documents folder on the server. On one PC that has been in place for at least a year (Win 7 Pro), the user is getting random errors that are corrupting the database (all other users are fine). It showed up first as an “Error reading file” but then a copy, zap and append “cleanup” failed. Other users with the same setup (not necessarily all Win7, though) are not having any problems.

    I grabbed a copy of their database to work on it and found a number of tables generating “fields do not match DBC” types of errors. I fixed all that by bringing in empty files from the installation set and appending from the originals and the database opened without a problem. Now she has gotten another “error reading file,” so I recommended that they temporarily move the database to a folder on her local drive for further observation.

    This user may have first begun to have problems as their server disk was running out of space (down to about 200K, if I remember correctly), but this was cleaned up to where they have about 1.5 gigs free. Any suggestions as to what else we might check? Thanks for any input.

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    • #1420094

      A few things to think about:

      Assuming this is a Server-Client network running Active Directory etc, and the users have roaming profiles set to point to the server….

      Can the affected user log into a different machine and do they suffer the same corruptions then or are they able to run the database application OK?

      Does a “clean” user experience problems if the log into the “bad” machine?

      In other words does the error follow the user or is it unique to the host? If the host think about the database application (maybe Office, or some other?) could a repair of that help? If the user, is their profile corrupt?

      Another thought, is the database the only application that experiences these corruptions? Can the User read and write large random files into that network share reliably. Create a large random file, and run a set of read/write tests.

      The drive space clean-up could of course have damaged something with roaming profiles, but impossible to tell from afar. Nonetheless 1.5GB sounds a very small amount of space left.

    • #1420618

      Thanks! I should have also mentioned that they are running two virtualized servers, one for general use (including my own database application) and one for their accounting system. Not sure if that is relevant, but there it is, if it suggests anything else.

      Also, the 1.5 gig remaining may sound small, but on the surface that is still relative to their data needs. So, did you write that as a general comment or because the specific needs of a server’s own management processes might require more headroom? In other words, could that concern be ruled out by simply checking their current patterns of space consumption (as a factor in the immediate problem)?

    • #1420858

      Servers need plenty of free disk space for internal management and anything less than 5GB on the system disk (usually C) is not enough. The “standard” server config is to have one disk for the OS and programs and another disk for data. This also makes backup easier.

      cheers, Paul

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