Rebuilding the disk on a server

[CelGen]

All of my mac software (after being put into .sit files to save the resource fork) is stored on a Windows 2000 server running the AppleTalk protocol which so far has worked wonderfully for me. however one issue I seem to have is that after a while all the icons start to change into the classic text file icon ( which can indicate the resource fork has been messed up but this is no problem as they are just .sit files so nothing is harmed) but some applications do not recognize the files anmore (I open a PDF and internet explorer tries to open it).

If this was all on the disk in my 9600 I would just rebuild the desktop and everything would revert back to normal but in this case it's on the server and I have no idea how to rebuild that disk, or if that is even possible.

Any ideas?

 

[porter]

I use a Win2000 Server box using Services For Macintosh and happily store Apple files natively on the NTFS disks.

The server will put the resource and finder information into two seperate NTFS streams ( :AFP_Resource and :AFP_AfpInfo ) so the technically there was no need for the ".sits". Note the icon you see from Windows explorer has nothing to do with the icon you see from a Macintosh mounting the shared volume.

I also have a binhex and unbinhex tool pair which lets me encode and decode HQX files happily onto the windows volume from the windows side of things by reading and writing the above mentioned streams, this allows me to copy Macintosh files into a standard format for putting on media that cannot cope with the streams.

 

[CelGen]

It's not real hassle for me to stuff them first. I just use it as a method to keep all my software safe in case something does go really wrong.

 

[Charlieman]

Three approaches:

1. Use Dayna Desktop Rebuilder (a Mac utility, may be hard to find).

2. On a Mac with the Windows volume mounted, restart the Finder and hold down Command-Option to rebuild the desktop in the normal way.

3. Configure the share to automount when the Mac starts up. That way you can rebuild the desktop when the Mac boots.

 

[CelGen]

I take it I can only fo option 2 after I do option three, correct?

I have never rebuilt a desktop without rebuilding.

I'll try this anyways though and get back to you.

Edit: The system wants to mount the network drive AFTER I'm prompted to rebuild and thus it will not let me rebuild it.

 

[porter]

Use the windows box to look for the desktop top files in at the root of the volume. They should be hidden from the client, you should be able to see the files using resedit on the client. Then delete them, this should force a rebuild after mounting the volume. ( touch wood ).

 

[CelGen]

A forced rebuild? Never heard of that before.

I'm not finding any desktop folder (and yes I can see hidden files) so I really don't understand what you are telling me to do.

Sorry, I have always been a slow learner.

 

[johnklos]

A forced rebuild? Never heard of that before.I'm not finding any desktop folder (and yes I can see hidden files) so I really don't understand what you are telling me to do.

Sorry, I have always been a slow learner.

You can't rebuild the Desktop on a network volume. You'd probably be best off copying everything to a Mac, rebuilding the Desktop, then copying everything back.

 

[macgeek417]

Isn't the desktop stored in the form of the invisible files Desktop DB and Desktop DF or something?

 

[johnklos]

Isn't the desktop stored in the form of the invisible files Desktop DB and Desktop DF or something?

Yes, it is, but the Finder won't rebuild them on a network mounted volume.

 

[macgeek417]

Why not delete them?

Then it'd have to!

 

[CelGen]

The thing is that I can't find those two hidden foles/folders.

my mac likes to put them on every other disk I feed it that came from another system but it's not appearing on my server at all.

OR there is the chance I do see them but they are hiding in plain sight. What are the names of the files/folders you are telling me to get rid of to force a rebuild?