A Gazillion Sub-directories!

[rap33042]

Hi All!

System Drive c:\Program Data\Application Data\...

I don't know how deep this directory goes but the snapshot should give you an idea of what's going on here.

Is this normal?

Other than the Hex numbers, they appear to be replications, ad infinitum...

TIA!

 

[Hopalong X]

c:\Program Data\Application Data\...

I don't find anything like that. I have no C:\Program Data that I can find.

 

[logicearth]

It is because you altered permissions.
A thousand times I've said not to mess with them.

 

[rap33042]

Well, Hopalong X, what do you think about me deleting that directory? After a full backup, of course?

It looks to me that the sub-directories go on forever! Weird, huh?

I've run chkdsk and it comes up with no errors on that drive.

I don't know what to make of it.

 

[rap33042]

@logicearth

If I changed permissions, I'm not aware of it.

What I have done, is move User's folder to another drive; perhaps I inadvertently changed permissions then?

The question remains; what do I do with this directory? Ignore it? Delete it? Change permissions back to original? If so, how?

This comes from one of the links you suggested:
Junction points can be identified as follows :

• They have the FILE_ATTRIBUTE_REPARSE_POINT, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN, and FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SYSTEM file attributes set.
• They also have their access control lists (ACLs) set to deny read access to everyone.

Applications that call out a specific path can traverse these junction points if they have the required permissions. However, attempts to enumerate the contents of the junction points will result in failures. It is important that backup applications do not traverse these junction points, or attempt to backup data under them, for two reasons:

• Doing so can cause the backup application to back up the same data more than once.
• It can also lead to cycles (circular references).

---
Since Acronis is showing up in all those sub-directories, could it be a source of the situation?

TIA

 

[logicearth]

It is a Junction one that is set to DENY, EVERYONE from reading the contents to prevent this exact thing. I am assuming you moved the whole Users folder? That is the same thing as changing permissions.

 

[rap33042]

Yep- I'm afraid so.
Not certain about this, but i think it's in one of the tutorials on this site?

My goal was to eliminate as much writing and clutter on my new SSD as possible; maybe I opened a can of worms.

Please don't tell me I should re-install Win7

 

[logicearth]

You can either reset the required permission which is "EVERYONE, DENY List folder / read data"
Or if you are sure none of your applications use the older paths, the junctions can be deleted.

 

[rap33042]

OK- I changed the permissions to what you said. Nothing broken as far as I can tell.

All the directories with the little 'shortcut' icon- are they Junctions? Should they all be changed, too?

As it is, I have access to them.

 

[Cato]

c:\Program Data\Application Data\...

I don't find anything like that. I have no C:\Program Data that I can find.

Hoppy, you should have that folder, if you choose to "Show hidden files and folders."

 

[profdlp]

...Or if you are sure none of your applications use the older paths, the junctions can be deleted.

I did that during the Win 7 beta period with no ill effects.

NO GUARANTEES, though...

(Being emphatic, just in case.)

 

[logicearth]

I did that during the Win 7 beta period with no ill effects.

NO GUARANTEES, though...

(Being emphatic, just in case.)

Well if you did it before installing any Adobe Creative Suite 4 program it would broke [sic] and be forever broke.
I believe it was fixed in CS5 however.

 

[profdlp]

That's why I marked the idea "As Is".

 

[rap33042]

FYI:

I changed the permissions to that folder and plan on doing the same to the others as well.
So far, everything seems to be working OK.

I confess- I'm too afraid to delete the folder as I have a lot of older programs that might be depending on this; the last thing I want to be faced with is a re-install.

Well, there you have it; I guess the best thing to do is to leave well enough alone, as has been preached, even by me, for so many years...

Thanks for everyone's help on this matter.

 

[logicearth]

Next time when moving the Users directory use Robocopy or another that supports transferring the ACLs along with the files/folders.
For example:

robocopy C:\Users D:\Users /E /COPYALL /SL /MT

Untested...