This screen shot says a lot. It is from Macrium Image of users\aaaaaaa and uses\aaaaaaa\documents.
I note the black boxes for folders so this is exactly what you see when you navigate the 750GB.
That tells us the black folders were present before the crash.
So now we find the critical files.
For the steps in post #80:
Which copies are important based on the findings in Macrium?
The backup of the users folder had some file names that were too long, many duplicate files with different file size and dates, etc.
When can the trigger be pulled on the disk sanitizer or secure erase?
Sorry not understanding question.
I would be restoring all folders that do not have the Black icon.
For me the real question is why do you have duplicates. I think you copying Windows Junction points so you are re-copying data you all ready copied.
That said the LOCATION, date and size would be duplicated, not different.
So assume you restore the Macrium data which is excellent, you would be missing the files between the backup (July 18/18) and the crash date.
Are you giving up on them?
There was a Windows defender offline and windows driver verifier boot loop with windows 1607 and multiple Windows upgrade failures. The drive was backed up multiple times at a Microsoft store. There was a new users folder within Windows and a users folders on the desktop.
With the multiple backup and restore they were not performed in a consistent fashion. Over time there were files that were updated. I'm guessing that eventually there were files that were in different places with different file sizes and different dates that had the same file name.
The Users folder was backed up from the problematic 750 GB HD to the 4 TB HD.
In post #80 there were subfolders to be copied in addition to the Users folder.
Would these end up being duplicate files/folders?
Performing a Macrium backup I've not yet done.
The operating system is corrupt and may lead to the same problems before the chkdsk /r problems and failure to boot.
So I wonder what to do with the Macrium backup as compared to the Users backup.
If Macrium were to work then time should be substantially shorter for recovery.
Isn't the plan to restore the users subfolders?
At some point the drive needs to be sanitized.
What parameters can be used to decide whether the files are adequately or inadequately backed up?
Yes I would copy sub folders.
I hear you on the multiple backups, versions and dates but as they would be in different folders they should not be flag as duplicates.
I think you have a to determine how you want to approach your data restore. The choices are likely unlimited but I think the primary ones are
1) restore all the user files directly from the 750GB drive.
2) restore all the user files from the Macrium backup and add to that the Critical files created between July 18th, 2018 and the crash.
I would be inclined to use option 2 as the Macrium backup has been verified and should be complete without errors. Then I would add to it the limited number of critical files from the 750GB.
Assuming you were using "Standard" windows libraries for your data I would concentrate on Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos.
It sounds like there will be no easy bulk copy method, rather you will need to determine, using that split screen method I described previously to selectively copy folders. That is you will have to look at each folder before copying to target. When it comes to pictures you will have to use the Large Icon view to determine if they are duplicates through visual inspection.
Really a messy process but using folders names may allow you to speed up process, as in it won't be necessary to compare pictures from two folders call 2010-12 or Summer 2012
Sounds like this audit and reorganization is a long time in coming but you will have a nice organized data collection.
I strongly suspect this duplication is within pictures. Think in one screen shot there were hundreds of thousands of duplicates. Doesn't sound like documents folder but I could be wrong.
For clarity I do not see you using Macrium Image to restore anything related to system OS or programs.
Today I'll backup the users folder again to see if it displays the prompts and then use the snipping tool to post them into the thread.
The additional folders in the earlier post will then be copied to a folder named additional backup folders.
Once the above are ok the plan is to sanitize the drive.
The side by side comparison I do not understand yet.
There are thousands of files that were indicated as duplicates so there are too many to compare.
It seems to me the best option is to copy everything and then when a file is needed to use Everything voidtools to find files on the restored drive.
Macrium restore I've not yet performed and would need to read about if the Users subfolders are not going to be restored.
If the restore can be done overnight how do you compare the User subfolder restore to the Macrium?
Wasn't there incomplete data on Macrium as compared to the Users?
Agree there are thousands of files but if you open a folder and you see a folder called 2010-12 (assuming you store pictures by year by month) and then look at your target and see another folder called 2010-12 you have a high confidence that they are the same.
If you then open 2010-12 on the source it will tell you how many items there are within. Same with target, open 2010-12. Compare counts. Two folders with same name and same item count is the same. Create a checklist and cross off noting number of files in target.
I do it side my side so I have source on one side and target on the other. I can navigate both and see real time.
Once you start the actual work you will recall the structure and likely will be able to skip large portion. Example, if you come across another 2010-12 in a picture folder you will quickly open, see item count, see your checklist and move on.
You can copy everything and search with a tool but I would deal with this. Not even sure what you would search on if you have hundreds of thousands of files especially if pictures.
I should not have used the word restore from Macrium. Since you are looking at it within File Explorer it would be a copy.
Sure you could copy overnight but as I said I would do this manually and I would deal with this issue, that is copies of copies.
No there were no issues that I recall with Macrium other than it does not have critical files created between July 18/18 and crash. You would have to read back.
These are some current images of the interrupts when performing a copy and paste of the Users folder from the 750 GB HD to the 4 TB storage drive:
There were others that were related to permission denial, etc.
These are some additional interrupt samples:
The first copy of the Users folder displayed a very large number > 100,000 duplicate copies.
It was impossible to sift through them.
In copying and pasting this list in post #80 these are the start of some prompts to pick and choose with files of different sizes and dates:
Quote
