So as per my posts about the effort to recover files, journaling for files includes all the information about where to find the file, the history of where it has been etc. But there is more information connected to files and folders than even that. I’ve had issues with files taking forever to show in a folder and it’s always blamed on end user for having too many thumbnails. Except it happens with icons too. Too many files lol is not a serious answer.

Instead what happens is some program is triggered and/or stalled while those thumbnails are loaded and if you clear them then they all suddenly appear. So it’s not that you’ve got too many files it’s that one or more of them is holding the rest up. I can’t find any specific information but my suspicion has been raised a few times. One was that the pdf editor I loved created its own sort of journaling file right in there with my documents, and everywhere I had a copy of that file. Yeah. And it was a broken file. It never actually updated when I moved a file out of the folder.

And the built in sort of journaling related file did the same. So I had to batch delete all of them. They were misleading apps as to what files to look for, causing them to keep looking rather than give up. Over the years we’ve also had databases of thumbnails inside the folders that are no longer used, and I still have to batch search and delete those.

So then my second suspicion was raised when I got errors that if I moved a file the path would be too long. The full path was under 50 characters from drive letter. But my fresh install did autoselect my computer name and that sucker was as long as allowed which is like 15 characters. Shortening that shouldn’t affect things but the pretty path as displayed in the folder? Yep, from desktop (that’s 7 characters there) to This PC to my drive name through each folder to the file. And I suspect that’s the path at issue. Okay. But it doesn’t explain why the same file, same drive, same folder structure, would be fine in one folder and not the other.

So then comes a humdinger. I needed admin permission to move some files (like a scan I did through my printer and not the third party app the full and custom install comes with) that I created as this same user for some reason. Now both of these issues result in a dialogue box explaining the error. So these interrupt the movement (and journaling) of these files.

Ownership did work recursively, but permissions did not. That is fortunately possible from the first subdirectories and then yes recursively.

I swear I never had any issue like this with the pro version I initially installed. I don’t know when this broke, but it shouldn’t have. I might be able to see if I can figure that out.

Anyway. So I’m still struggling and yesterday I was ready to throw it all away. There is a limit I can do each day due to pain, but also focus. And this has stolen far too much time. I hate how I don’t have the day to even think any more. It used to be that I could at least mull ideas over once pain stopped me. Now I can’t even watch a tv series because it requires investing memory to the plot. And focus to even get through a show. I’m not a social media scroller really. But I’ve had to start destressing by watching things I don’t need to dedicate to memory. I stick to a few accounts, only checking in on news I need to know.

So I am very good at managing stress, and using my free time. But my on time? That’s being stolen by all of this tech fail and my poor body being so limited by the damage in my Achilles. One would be tough but you have many more options for being able to move. But both? And it’s not like my RA has gone. I have retreated in the last few years but it’s more complicated than I think people can really imagine.

If you have limited time for your mind to focus and learn then the instinct is you can use your body. But I can’t, and vice versa.

At least for right now I know that my consolidated back up drive is safe. It’s allll mine. And I can try to sort each individual drive later. So I know how to try to get control of what I can. It’s that in this case that control should have been there from the start.