Error: File level restore of subfolder starting with a dot

[MrSpock]

I have made a backup of a folder that contains a hidden subfolder ".svn". When I do a file level restore on that folder, by using the GUI, the subfolder will be named "svn" instead of ".svn". Copying the folder manually from C:\VeeamFLR works as expected.

Support case number: 01007028

Best regards,

Johan

[Dima P.]

Johan,

We will look into this as this behavior does not look like expected. Thanks!

[Dima P.]

Johan,

By the way, I wonder how this folder was created because folder names starting with a dot seems to be forbidden by OS itself.

[MrSpock]

Hello,

Those folders are created by TortoiseSVN.

No, folders starting with a dot are not forbidden. Use some custom file browser or type "mkdir .svn" in a command prompt.

Johan

[Dima P.]

Yup - look list the UI blocker. Indeed, whenever you use any non windows browser or cmd – it allows using a dot. Thanks for the heads up!

[dheijl]

This bug is still present in the latest 1.5 version, and it's a nuisance if you use SVN or GIT version control and you do a file level restore, as I did recently when migrating data containing a lot of source trees to a new PC.

I had the VEB backup anyway and instead of copying all those gigabytes again I thought I'd just restore my latest backup to the new PC... All my .svn and .git working copies were unusable and you can't rename these folders from the Windows UI (Explorer or CMD), you have to write a powershell script or a small program to rename all those hidden svn and git folders to .svn and .git. Not a big deal but it's a bug and I think it should be fixed.

Danny

[MrSpock]

Danny,

Veeam thinks this is "by design". I got this reply from the support:

This is XXX from Veeam Support responding in regards the issue of the Veeam Explorer wizard being unable to see a folder which starts with a dot. The case was forwarded to our R & D team and they have responded. This is behavior by design for Veeam Explorer. In some cases the operating system might not support the folder names that start with a dot. But as you may have seen, saving the dot would need to be done using "open in Explorer" option and then copy the folder manually.

If there are any questions on this, please do not hesitate to ask. Otherwise, I hope this helps out.

I don't agree at all. This "design" makes the restore process unreliable for users not aware of this issue.

Johan

[Dima P.]

Hi guys,

We are aware of this issue and doing our best to fix it. Meanwhile, please use the suggested workaround: copy the needed files via windows browser instead of using the backup browser. Thanks.

[Craigb]

lol, so *that's* why my websites broke. I have a habit of .named.ext files for includes, and of course .htaccess was htaccess instead. Same workaround ... ren htaccess .htaccess ... got me out of that little hole.

Please increment the CareFactor up one for me too.

[Dima P.]

Hi Craig,

I am sorry to hear that. As a workaround – start a File level recovery, switch from the backup browser to the regular windows browser and navigate to C:\VeeamFLR folder. Copying needed files manually from this directory won’t modify the file names.

[rct]

We had the same problem here (restoration of dotted files don't work as expected within the GUI).

Copying the files from the VeeamFLR folder don't work for us: we had many dotted files and folders (Eclipse projects) for a size of around 50Go.
The files are copied without errors but at the end we lack a lot of files and folders (not just dotted files and folders, regular ones too).
I tried the copy 2 times.

Any idea why?

Romain

[Dima P.]

Hi Romain,

Can you clarify, is coping via regular file browser is not working properly or you are talking about copy to option of backup browser? Thanks.

[rct]

Hi Dima,

I first used the copy to option and it failed like the author of this thread described.
After that I found this thread and tried the workaround (copying with the Windows file browser) but it also failed like I have described.

[Dima P.]

Thanks for the clarification. If the file browser option is not working, I suggest to reach our support team and let them investigate the logs. Please do not forget to include the case ID to this thread.

[lunadesign]

I just encountered this on 1.5.0.306 on Windows 8.1. I have a mixture of files and folders that begin with a dot. The backup appears okay but if I restore using the Veeam Backup Browser, the dots are lost. But if I restore using the "Open in Explorer" option, the folders and filenames are good (they match the source folders and files).

The downside of using "Open in Explorer" is that you lose the ability to restore the permissions and ownership. As such, I'd really like to see this fixed in the Veeam Backup Browser. Other Windows-based backup packages I've used did not have this problem.

[lunadesign]

I just encountered this on 1.5.0.306 on Windows 8.1. I have a mixture of files and folders that begin with a dot. The backup appears okay but if I restore using the Veeam Backup Browser, the dots are lost. But if I restore using the "Open in Explorer" option, the folders and filenames are good (they match the source folders and files).

The downside of using "Open in Explorer" is that you lose the ability to restore the permissions and ownership. As such, I'd really like to see this fixed in the Veeam Backup Browser. Other Windows-based backup packages I've used did not have this problem.

Has the development team by any chance reconsidered fixing this? This seems like a serious data integrity issue.