Sauron, I'm pretty sure the one you're talking about (lost all preferences and stuff) is me... I deleted the post though since it had nothing to do with LW (these are LW posts after all) since it was not active when my Mac started acting up.

If you're looking for a link of the post (sberlin himself has replied to this here thread anyway) I was talking about, visit the "What a bummer" post: stief posted the right link.

I'm not sure which thread to respond to now. But before I nod off, & time really does seem to slow down when you're converting to mpeg2 & you have a 733mhz & a modem connection, the response in itself brings some questions I wouldn't mind being explored. For now I'll keep it brief until I can 'get a few winks' & review this with a fresh mind. However I must say I am elated to receive such a response from developers & the experienced in one/2 related threads. I greatly appreciate your times (outside of your work & families) & awareness to these issues.

Q.1 How can we personally utilize the file downloads.bak to help us?

Q.2 It sounds from your description that my assumption about links was correct. Otherwise how else can a file become a PFS. A simple deviation from what is hoped for is not a major issue to admit to so long as you are still looking into solutions for it.

Q.3 How can we finish/complete the downloads of PFS files. As suggested, force resume doesn't work. Although I'm still exploring this option.

Q.4 The issue of prefs becoming corrupted in some way, be it due to a conflict with another app or whatever, is there anythig we should do to help safeguard ourselves from this.

Any answers greatly appreciated & we would recommend others users to make an important note of our discussions directly/indirectly.

>Q.1 How can we personally utilize the file downloads.bak to help us?

LimeWire will automatically utilize it. There's no need to do anything yourself. (And, in fact if you try to do things yourself it likely will confuse LimeWire.)

>Q.2 It sounds from your description that my assumption about links was correct. Otherwise how else can a file become a PFS. A simple deviation from what is hoped for is not a major issue to admit to so long as you are still looking into solutions for it.

Hmm. After thinking about it a bit, I haven't stated the truth in its entirety. A red incomplete file means the file isn't eligable for PFS, but it doesn't necessarily mean LimeWire doesn't recognize the file as incomplete. There are rare cases where LimeWire can detect that a download has become corrupted, and in those cases it will unshare the partial file (making it turn red in the library), but the file will still be correctly listed in the downloads.dat, and LimeWire will remember what it has downloaded for the file.

I'm not positive what you're referring to when you say "still looking into solutions for it".

>Q.3 How can we finish/complete the downloads of PFS files. As suggested, force resume doesn't work. Although I'm still exploring this option.

PFS is an optimization to sharing & utilizes incomplete files. The files aren't really "PFS" files -- they're incomplete files, used by PFS. That aside, the only way to resume them is to click 'resume' on the file from the library. I have some ideas to add a progress column to the incomplete table so that you can easily see how far incomplete files have progressed (or how much of the progress LimeWire recognizes).

>Q.4 The issue of prefs becoming corrupted in some way, be it due to a conflict with another app or whatever, is there anythig we should do to help safeguard ourselves from this.

If the properties are corrupted, LimeWire should display a message letting you know that it detected corrupt properties and is reverting to the default ones. We'll likely add a warning box to clicking 'revert to default' so that people don't do it accidentally. I'm not sure what else could cause properties to revert, other than the operating system itself preventing you from writing the properties file (or reverting it every so often).

Thank you for giving such quick responses. I'm not sure if I should be responding now or later b'cause I'm hardly awake at present as suggested earlier. Not to mention ages for each page to open or for replies, etc. But I am keen to get your direct responses whilst I can.

How efficient is download.bak? Do you think the problem I or problems jordan2 have had recently could have been avoided? (Dare I ask, have you also read the thread 'What a bummer' which is very much about this issue about LW prefs?)

'A red incomplete file means the file isn't eligable for PFS, but it doesn't necessarily mean LimeWire doesn't recognize the file as incomplete. There are rare cases where LimeWire can detect that a download has become corrupted, and in those cases it will unshare the partial file (making it turn red in the library), but the file will still be correctly listed in the downloads.dat, and LimeWire will remember what it has downloaded for the file.'

Do you consider the file might not necesarily be corrupt (depends upon your definition of corrupt) for it to be listed in Red. I've still been able to download items in red either by using force resume or doing a source for resources & relisting/reselecting the item in the downloads window. Why is it that these items in red start to re-download from scratch & not from where they left off?
"Still looking into solutions for it" refers to a refinement toward maintaining the link b/w download items & their counterparts in the Incomplete folder. Surely there might be a solution to prevent items becoming red in the first place. I realise it's a complex issue when you're downloading from different sources & sometimes LW doesn't recognise one of the sources as being the same (despite it having the same file properties.) Perhaps it has something to do with the grouping concept. After all, even a simple search can end up with files listed that should have been included in a group of other files but isn't.

When you're refering to the OS affecting preferences, I'm guessing that might mean something to do with permissions (& certainly not everybody has permissions set the same way.) I haven't had an issue with permissions for a considerable time (as far as I know). The effects on the prefs for me was only partial but for jordan2 it was a total whitewash of his settings.

I'm not totally clear about the PFS's, (from your post on 11/4/04:)
"Red rows in the library mean that the file is not shared. For incomplete files, sharing means that the file is eligable for partial file sharing (PFS). A file being shared via PFS will not be found by normal querying methods, but is instead shared only through the "download mesh". When you download a file, you insert yourself into the download mesh. As other clients download a file, they try sources that are advertised in the mesh."

Can you possibly explain a little more about the "download mesh", & how we can maximize our efforts to fully access these files & not have their download percentage ignored at a later time? If I have misunderstood something please tell me.

Woh! You're using a modem connection?
...
You got guts man.

I am totally lost. I understand that it is incomplete files but for some reason when I opened specific folders for sharing most of the files I already had on my hard drive showed as red files. I know that they are not incomplete because I have opened them several times. So I guess my question would be.. Why would my files which were on my hard drive previous to me running LW be showing as incomplete?:confused:

When you add new folders to your shared list of folders, it can take LW a while to account for them. Firstly, when you add them, make sure you press Apply & not just ok. Next go to your LW Library window & press 'Refresh'. Click on the new folder's name. It will list the files (initially in red but after a few mins they'll turn to black.) Also the no. of files LW says it's sharing will gradually increase as it is accounting for them (particularly the new ones.) So your shared files in red is only a temporary display (don't forget to press Refresh.) This also applies to files added via a shared dwnld folder (may need to refresh the display.)

I'm going to stop reading because I'm only getting more confused! I reinstalled my OS and also LimeWire, and now each time I start LimeWire all of my files are in red, including complete files, just as if I hit refresh or rehash or whatever it is. Do I need to change something in preferences? What's a gal to do? I have like 1800 files and this is getting a little annoying....

:o)

Are u sure it's permanent? It can take LW several mins to account for all the files in the shared folders after LW opens. It's best to wait until the no. of files LW says it's sharing (bottom-left, front window) has been fully counted.

But then, if you trashed LW's dwnld prefs, your partially dwnlded files could be in a spot of bother. For shared folders, you might need to reAdd them. I don't suppose you made a backup of downloads.dat (found in the incomplete folder) before you reinstalled LW? When u reinstalled the os did u also reformat the HDD & change anything?