Folder copy, source/destination contents do not match in Explorer

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hello!

for some reason, after doing some successful folder copies (ie no errors) from my external USB drive to my RAID 1 NAS, the contents of some source folders and their respective destination folders do not match in windows explorer, ie file/folder count and size are different. other folder copies do not appear to have this issue, only a select few.

the USB drive is FAT32, the NAS is EXT3, though windows explorer sees it as NTFS.

for example, here's what i'm seeing in windows explorer when i right-click/properties on a source and destination folder..

- source folder
folders = 575
files = 75
size = 28.5 GB (this is not size on disk)

- destination folder
folders = 583
files = 80
size = 31.6 GB

if i hover the mouse pointer over the source folder, the tooltop shows 33.8 GB, which more closely matches the destination folder properties (tooltip for the destination folder also shows 33.8 GB).

if i look at the folder properties for the source folder under linux (parted magic live disc), the numbers are closer to what the destination shows in windows explorer, size is a couple GB higher under linux vs windows- not sure if linux serves as a good test.

my question, is what i'm seeing for the source folder properties in windows explorer a "misread", or is it possible that there was an issue with the copy process that i'm not seeing? the USB drive contains important data and i want to make sure i have an exact copy on the NAS before i wipe the USB drive to reuse it.

i've done the folder copy using a few other file managers (explorer++, xyplorer) but i get the same results.

thanks for your time!
 
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Hi Matt,

I would say your problem lies with the EXT3 file system, Windows won't read them as far as I know?. Did you copy any EXT3 files to FAT32 or NTFS folders?. :)
 
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Hi Matt,

I would say your problem lies with the EXT3 file system, Windows won't read them as far as I know?. Did you copy any EXT3 files to FAT32 or NTFS folders?. :)
Thanks for your response! I thought about that as well, though I'm not sure that's the culprit since I can definitely access/read the EXT3 file system to make the folder copies in the first place.. plus, this issue only seems to affect some folders- other folder copies have been fine and show exact matches between source and destination folder properties.

I have not tried copying from EXT3 to NTFS/FAT32, though I may try copying from the USB drive to another FAT32 drive to see if the results differ, I don't expect them to..
 
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seems like maybe a FAT32 issue based on my readings, more specifically maybe related to large files (like 4+ GB). as a test, i formatted a spare 60GB USB drive as FAT32, then copied one of the problematic source folders to this drive- my theory being that if FAT32 is the issue, the destination folder in this test should show the same "misread" of folder properties as the source (ie, show file, folder and size counts as lower than actual); unfortunately this didn't happen- the FAT32 test drive showed the folder properties accurately, so i'm at a loss.. i wonder if i were to plug the source USB drive into a computer with a FAT32 OS, would that make a difference? i just wish i could find a way to either get windows explorer to show the folder properties correctly, or find a third party alternative that can- i'd use linux, which appears to read the problematic source folders accurately, but linux (ubunutu anyways) doesn't give file and folder count details, just size- and only in GB, doesn't show byte count..
 
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HI Matt,

open Explorer and look for the device (the USB stick), right click its icon > Properties > Tools > Scan now > tick both boxes and see if it can fix anything?. :)

(I'm not using Windows 10 currently (doing some Linux stuff right now) but hopefully will be able to post a screenshot of what I mean a little later!). ;)
 
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Click on "Check" then tick the boxes (this is C: drive but you get the idea!. :)

error checking.JPG
 
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Click on "Check" then tick the boxes (this is C: drive but you get the idea!. :)

View attachment 7215
thanks, i didn't think of that! this makes some sense to me, because i have had intermittent issues with the source USB drive (would disconnected/reconnect to the computer randomly, drive not accessible/readable at times). plus, the test USB drive i formatted to FAT32 shows the copied folder properties accurately, and maybe that's why- because it's a freshly formatted drive with no errors- i'll have to try this and see what happens!
 
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unfortunately scanning the USB drive for errors didn't pan out- scanned and found no errors, checked one of the problematic folders just in case, same results on the folder properties.

i'm wondering if this might come down to how Windows 10 is seeing the folder properties- if i look under Linux it sees a more accurate data size on the folder properties- i wish i had a FAT32 system to power up and connect the USB drive to, i'm curious if i would then see the correct folder properties. the fact that Linux shows the folder properties more accurately leads me to believe this is more to do with the OS reading the data vs the drive that the data is on, or the data itself. but then why do i see the folder properties correctly when i copy the folder to another USB drive formatted as FAT32??
 
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HI Matt,

copy the ilfes you have on the USB stick and then paste them in a new folder, re-format the USB sticks to FAT32 and copy them back and see what happens, it might work?. :)
 

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