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[Bug?] Prior scan data and settings not preserved on update


Jaga

Question

My server picked up on the newest version of Scanner this morning (2.5.3.3191), so I let it auto-update.  At the same time I decided to run a manual update (download/install) on my primary workstation.  Both completed successfully, but both also ran into an issue.  None of the prior scan data (either file system or surface) was preserved - all drives that both copies of scanner monitors on each computer were reset to unscanned.  I manually marked all unchecked blocks good, but some people may not know how, or want their old data/schedule preserved.

Server is running W7 Ultimate 64-bit (SP1), workstation is running W10 64-bit v1709 (build 16299.431).

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Okay, good news everyone.

Alex was able to reproduce this issue, and we may have a fix.  

http://dl.covecube.com/ScannerWindows/beta/download/StableBit.Scanner_2.5.4.3198_BETA.exe

Quote

.3198
* Some disk settings were getting erased when upgrading from previous builds that did not support DiskIDs for persistent 
  disk identification.
* Fixed console allocation for service on Windows 7.

 

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Also, you may want to check out the newest beta.

http://dl.covecube.com/ScannerWindows/beta/download/StableBit.Scanner_2.5.4.3204_BETA.exe

Quote

* [Issue #27880] Added settings management to advanced settings and troubleshooting.
    - Settings and application state can now be backed up and restored.
    - Backup / restore is not available over remote control.
    - When loading previously backed up settings, existing settings will be backed up and overwritten.
    - Also available is an option to reset all settings and application state to the defaults.

 

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On 7/17/2018 at 3:11 PM, Christopher (Drashna) said:

Okay, good news everyone.

Alex was able to reproduce this issue, and we may have a fix.  

http://dl.covecube.com/ScannerWindows/beta/download/StableBit.Scanner_2.5.4.3198_BETA.exe

 

Sorry to be negative, but I doubt if 3198 fixed it. I uninstalled 3191, copied my previous folders for 3062 back in place and reinstalled 3062:  all disk settings and data were then back to normal. Then I went directly to 3204, since that has the new settings backup and restore feature, bypassing 3198. The result was that no settings were retained (except for 1 of 11 disks, oddly) and all disks needed to be scanned for the first time.

(This time, however, I did a printscreen of my names & locations, and re-entered everything into 3204. I'll let Scanner rescan everything and just move on to the future.)

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On 7/20/2018 at 11:57 AM, Christopher (Drashna) said:

This probably should be a new thread, but it ties in with the new JSON structure and the new settings backup/restore feature.

First, I had occasion to restore the settings after a power outage crash, and that was a valuable feature addition.

However, I don't recall losing all custom disk and scan status settings before JSON even though I'd had crashes in the past. In this case, I had a 3-hour power outage caused by a storm, and Scanner installations on both my physical WS2012R2 server and its VM WS2012R2E lost all settings. Most of the JSON files had new file dates after the outage. The VM Scanner version was 3091 Release and the host version was 3204 Beta, so I was able to restore the host settings.

I've updated both installations of Scanner to the latest 3209 Beta. I know that Settings backup/restore is a new feature in progress, so here are a couple of improvement suggestions. I noticed that when Backup settings is started after the initial backup, an error pops up stating that the Cloud**.json file already exists and no backup is made. It seems to me that a choice to overwrite the previous backup files should be presented to the user. (If the user wants multiple backup versions to be retained indefinitely, this wouldn't be an issue.) Also, the dialogue box to select the backup folder opens up inside the previously selected folder requiring the user to back out one level, assuming you want to select the same folder. I'll put this on a ticket also.

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Hi

 

Just signed up as I've been using Stablebit and Drivepool for a while now, I have just had the update box pop up on my PC and server and have updated both but as above it has lost all setting on both, so I no longer know which drives are where in my server or PC, to say i am annoyed is an understatement.

 

Is there a way of restoring the setting from before the update ?

 

Thanks, Carl

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5 hours ago, Carlos68 said:

Is there a way of restoring the setting from before the update ?

If you did a backup of your C: drive at some point, it would also have backed up the json files which hold the Scanner configuration settings.  You could backup your current folder temporarily, then restore the older one over it and stop/start the Scanner service.  That would bring back your old config.  The folder holding the jsons is in the "C:\ProgramData\StableBit Scanner\Service\Store\Json" folder.

Additionally, if you have Windows' file history enabled, you could right-click on that Service folder, choose Properties, click the "Previous Versions" tab, and see if there's an older copy of the folder.  Here's what mine looks like today - note the version Windows kept from last week.  You can then "open" that older folder, make a copy of the jsons from it, and overwrite the current ones with them.

 

 

JSON_1.png

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5 hours ago, Carlos68 said:

Is there a way of restoring the setting from before the update ?

You didn't say which version you upgraded from, but it sounds like it was 3062 or earlier (pre-json files); otherwise, you'd probably have already encountered this issue.

Jaga gave you good methods above, but you will have had to have a backup from which to restore the folders where the prior version Scanner settings are. If so, uninstall the new version, make sure the Scanner service is stopped, restore the old data folders from your backup (any old backup date is good, assuming you haven't done major physical HDD changes in a while), reinstall your previously well working Scanner version, and you should be back where you were. I've reinstalled the older version many times as described here: Lost All Configurations under Disk Settings after Upgrade.

Here's the kicker: If you are able to successfully get back to your tailored settings, locations, etc., I recommend you take a screen shot of the GUI and print it out after pasting in Paint, so you can manually enter all that info when you do upgrade.  Sure, it'll be a PITA, but at least you can move forward into the newer versions. Also, the individual disk scan status and history will be reset on upgrade, but new scanning will take care of itself, so it's not really a big deal.

Once you have the newest version, manual backup and restore of settings, including scan status, is built in. And it works, so subsequent upgrades can have settings manually restored (staying on the latest version) even if the upgrade process happens to give Scanner amnesia.

 

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Thanks for the replies, I'm pretty sure i don't have a back up to reinstall from so looks like i need to start again, i think its pretty bad that there isn't a warning when looking at that update box that pops up telling you that all the data may be lost.

 

Thanks, Carl

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34 minutes ago, Carlos68 said:

... i think its pretty bad that there isn't a warning when looking at that update box that pops up telling you that all the data may be lost.

It's pretty much a one-time thing, since they changed the way settings were stored to the newer json file format.  If your newer jsons were lost/corrupted, the method I suggested could get them back.  If you used a much older version that didn't have jsons, then you probably got hit by the upgrade bug.

Still worth looking at the drive to see if the folder that holds jsons for Scanner has any old versions in it.  If not, you'll be re-doing settings from scratch, yep.

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I'll not convinced that the json file scheme is a panacea, yet.  (I had a power outage crash while using json structure, and lost the settings - one of my posts above. Previous file/folder versions in properties didn't help either, although I did have previous versions.)  Best bet, so far, is the new backup/restore in advance settings.  And, "Yes", an upgrade warming is in order.

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Just upgraded two different machines running different Operating Systems (W7 Pro and W10) from 2.5.3.3191 to 2.5.4.3216.  Didn't have any issues - all settings and data retained perfectly.  I will note that I've gotten used to stopping the Scanner service prior to manual upgrades, but that's just me being cautionary.

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Well....it looks like Jaga got lucky. I didn't. This is the third update I've been through where I've lost all the custom names and locations of all my drives. I'm getting really tired of this. I recognize that bugs happen, but for this to have been an issue this long and still not be fixed doesn't induce confidence that StableBit is actually working as we all think it should. I mean, this seems like it should be an easy issue to track down and fix. And it's not a minor issue--if a disk goes bad I need to know which box and bay to pull it from. Poking around and running burst tests to try and locate a disk is a poor thing to expect from your paying customers. *sigh*.

I don't recall what version I upgraded from...I've been leaving it on auto check so it would be whatever was prior to the version I'm running now (2.5.4.3216). So...if I yet again go through all my drives and set their locations what is the likelihood the next update won't jack this all up again? I'm really getting tired of fixing an issue that shouldn't be an issue every time your app updates.

And while you claim this is a small number of users experiencing this, I bet the number is higher than you think. I went through three of these and haven't yet complained--just read the forums and expected you all were working to fix this. This time I'm just so fed up with it all that I set up a forum account and posted this message. I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't feel the need to be yet another complainer when there's already issues posted about this. But the fact that you are minimizing it by saying it doesn't happen to many users based simply on how many people complain spurred me to this. I hope others having this issue do the same so that the bug can be taken seriously by the developers.

 

 

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For anyone experiencing this, could you make sure that you've opened a ticket for this?

Also, make sure that you note what version of the software that you're using, and the OS version (ideally, run "winver" and grab that info.

Also, once you've opened a ticket, run the StableBit Troubleshooter on the system in question, so we can see what's going on, hopefully.
http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_Troubleshooter

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Chris,

I've been using 2.5.4.3216 for a long time now, and it's working well on multiple installations, with this exception:  Almost any reboot of my WS2012R2E VM, planned or otherwise, results in Scanner losing all its data. I've been making backups in advanced settings, but not regularly, so even though I can get back to tailored names, the scanning history is usually too old and requires all the drives to be rescanned.

Do you think the disk id's being updated too often, as summarized above, would also be the cause of my problem? And 2.5.4.3246 could be the remedy?

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4 hours ago, Mick Mickle said:

Do you think the disk id's being updated too often, as summarized above, would also be the cause of my problem? And 2.5.4.3246 could be the remedy?

I've had it happen with normal reboots as well, just not as often as with crashes. It just depends on the timing. Imagine what happens on a reboot. Windows is forcefully shutting down services, including the Stablebit Scanner Service. So if this service gets shutdown at the timeframe where it is writing new DiskId files the files can end up corrupted, thus after a reboot the Service creates new DiskId files meaning all previous scan status is lost.

Now the DiskId are not written literally every second anymore (which increases the risk that the service gets killed at the time of writing files significantly) but instead 20-40 minutes (don't know the exact interval now) . That's a reduction of a factor of 1200 to 2400 so the risk that you reboot at the exact time the files are written should basically be zero now.

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6 hours ago, Wiidesire said:

I've had it happen with normal reboots as well, just not as often as with crashes. It just depends on the timing. Imagine what happens on a reboot. Windows is forcefully shutting down services, including the Stablebit Scanner Service. So if this service gets shutdown at the timeframe where it is writing new DiskId files the files can end up corrupted, thus after a reboot the Service creates new DiskId files meaning all previous scan status is lost.

Now the DiskId are not written literally every second anymore (which increases the risk that the service gets killed at the time of writing files significantly) but instead 20-40 minutes (don't know the exact interval now) . That's a reduction of a factor of 1200 to 2400 so the risk that you reboot at the exact time the files are written should basically be zero now.

Thanks, @Wiidesire!  Your discovery looks like it might solve the root problem for a number of threads, including the ones I've enumerated below, where I've added a duplicate of this post to help close the loop.  According to Christopher, Beta version 2.5.4.3246 addresses and fixed this CDIDW (constant Diskid write) issue by increasing the interval from once every second, allowing shutdowns and upgrades with low risk of corrupting the Diskid files and losing scanning history.

A useful new Scanner feature, now that the program has effective settings backup and restore, would be automatic backups, for example, weekly. That way, a backup that would more accurately reflect the scanned state of drives might exist when needed. (Manual backups are less likely to have been made within the last scheduled scan window; thus, even though disk names and other settings can be restored, scan history may be older causing new scans of all disks.)

https://community.covecube.com/index.php?/topic/3831-scanner-lost-all-data/

https://community.covecube.com/index.php?/topic/4099-stablebit-scanner-loses-all-settings-on-unexpected-shutdowns/

https://community.covecube.com/index.php?/topic/4265-scanner-2543216-upgrade-loses-my-setups/

https://community.covecube.com/index.php?/topic/3707-bug-prior-scan-data-and-settings-not-preserved-on-update/

 

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On 4/19/2019 at 1:06 AM, Mick Mickle said:

I've been using 2.5.4.3216 for a long time now, and it's working well on multiple installations, with this exception:  Almost any reboot of my WS2012R2E VM, planned or otherwise, results in Scanner losing all its data. I've been making backups in advanced settings, but not regularly, so even though I can get back to tailored names, the scanning history is usually too old and requires all the drives to be rescanned.

Do you think the disk id's being updated too often, as summarized above, would also be the cause of my problem? And 2.5.4.3246 could be the remedy?

Yes.  If the service is being shut down when it's writing data, it could cause this. 

Installing the 3246 beta should (hopefully) fix this. 

 

 

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I upgraded from 3216 to 3246 Beta on two machines.  On my WS2012R2E VM, all the settings persisted through the upgrade on 3246, but on my laptop, Scanner lost the settings (disk names, last scanned date).  I restored the settings from the last backup made on March 16, but the last scanned time is never -- I guess because March 16 is more than the 30 days I have set for scan interval.  I think this is another example of why automatic periodic backups would be a good feature.

Edit:  I upgraded from 3216 to 3246 on a third machine, WS2012R2, with mixed settings experience.  Seven disks kept their custom names and three disks lost all settings.  However, for some of the seven disks that kept their names, "Last Scan" data was incorrect, e.g., 286 days when it was actually last scanned within 30 days.  Restoring a settings backup made on April 19 didn't change anything.

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The problem is that you were still on an affected version 3216. By upgrading to the newest version the Stablebit Scanner Service is forcefully shut down, thus the DiskId files can get corrupted in the upgrade process. Now that you are on version 3246 which fixed the problem it shouldn't happen anymore on your next upgrade/reboot/crash.

I agree wholeheartedly though that we should get a way to backup the scan status of drives just in case. A scheduled automatic backup would be great. The files are extremely small and don't take a lot of space so don't see a reason not to implement it feature wise.

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20 hours ago, Wiidesire said:

The problem is that you were still on an affected version 3216. By upgrading to the newest version the Stablebit Scanner Service is forcefully shut down, thus the DiskId files can get corrupted in the upgrade process. Now that you are on version 3246 which fixed the problem it shouldn't happen anymore on your next upgrade/reboot/crash.

I agree wholeheartedly though that we should get a way to backup the scan status of drives just in case. A scheduled automatic backup would be great. The files are extremely small and don't take a lot of space so don't see a reason not to implement it feature wise.

It makes a lot of sense to point to 3216 as the sole cause, and the constant rewriting of the Diskid files may be partly to blame in this case, but this is why I think some other factor is involved here:

1. The manual settings backup I made before upgrading didn't restore the custom names for three disks under 3246.  (Perhaps the frequent Diskid file writing resulted in corrupt data written to the backup file also?)

2.  On the two machines that experienced lost settings after the 3246 upgrade, I uninstalled 3246 and reinstalled 3216 after my post above:  Voila!  All the settings were back just as before the upgrades.  (If the Diskid files had been corrupted, I don't think the reinstallation of 3216 would've brought back correct settings.)

(I don't mean to minimize the problem you identified earlier about 3216's frequent writing to Diskid files and the corrupt state they may be left in. That would seem to be a valid cause of lost settings sometimes.)

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