Windows 10 (upgraded from Win7 64-bit) - "filesystem corruption"?

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,587
10,225
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A client / friend of mine, called me out of the blue, and said that they were cropping some photos in a "Briefcase", in Win10, and then when they go to look at it, they can see the thumbnail, but attempting to view the full photo results in some sort of error about "filesystem corruption".

I told them to bring me the rig, I'd boot a Linux LiveUSB, check SMART data on the drive, backup what I could to a USB external HDD, and then go from there - if the drive needs to be replaced, put in an SSD and re-install Win10.

But I'm wondering, about this "Briefcase" thing. I remember them from back in the Win95 days when they were introduced. Are they still around? Anyone use them? All I remember, is that they never seemed to work right for me.

This may just be a briefcase-related software error.

Anyone else encounter this?

Edit: I see that my desktop right-click Menu's "New" option (in Win7 6-bit), DOES give the option to create a "New Briefcase" on your desktop. I'm a bit unfamiliar with the Briefcase option. Does anyone else use them, and can they tell me how they work these days? Are they still unreliable?

Edit: If my client is getting "filesystem corruption" errors, but not BSODs, wouldn't that indicate some sort of Briefcase-related software filesystem errors, rather than underlying OS filesystem / disk errors?

I mean, if you get NTFS filesystem corruption, do you get errors, or do you get BSODs?
 

vailr

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,365
54
91
Run " chksdsk c:/f " and see if that fixes the corruption.
Briefcase is probably left over from an earlier Windows upgrade installation. Have the owner copy the content to a normal system folder, and delete the Briefcase. The corruption is probably due to the exact version of NTFS file system difference (such as: NTFS 3.0 vs. 3.1) used by various different Windows versions.
 

nerp

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2005
9,865
105
106
Woah. Briefcase? I forgot that even existed. You might want to turn them on to a OneDrive account or some other cloud service.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,587
10,225
126
Woah. Briefcase? I forgot that even existed.

Yeah, that was my reaction.

What I remember about briefcase is kind of sketchy, but I think that it was a synchronization tool, and it kept track of changes to certain files, but didn't store the files themselves.

I think that's what is tripping up my client; briefcases aren't like folders or zip files. I think that she is using them incorrectly.

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/microsoft_briefcase_file_sync_win7_windows_pc/
 

Elixer

Lifer
May 7, 2002
10,371
762
126
I am betting the database index file got corrupted, it should be in the briefcase directory as a hidden system file.
Do you know what other folder it was syncing to? If it was removable, or, the drive letter was switched, it can result in those kinds of errors.