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I foolishly used Dupemerge to change all my duplicate files into hard links. Now Windows XP is not running right, eg, explorer won't start.

Is there a utility which would traverse the filesystem looking for hard links, copy the file, delete the original link, and rename the copy, keeping the original attributes and name?

edited Nov 1 at 13:25

Diago♦
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asked Nov 1 at 7:10

tOM Trottier
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I don't know how to find them, but I assume you'd only need to undo them for hard links in the Windows folders? No errors in the Event Log, to indicate why Explorer won't start? – Arjan van Bentem Nov 1 at 9:10

Oops, maybe you cannot truly undo it, especially if for some reason the file date is important: Dupemerge creates a cryptological hashsum for each file found below the given pathes and compares those hashes to each other find the dupes. There is no file date comparison involved in detecting dupes, which might cause troubles. -- schinagl.priv.at/nt/dupemerge/dupemerge.html (Chances to find the same hash for different files are very low, but not exactly zero...) – Arjan van Bentem Nov 1 at 9:14

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Like @Bender wrote: find out whether hard links are the cause of problems Unless the file date is important, or if something else went wrong while creating the hard links, I don't see how hard links would make Windows Explorer (or anything else for that matter) fail. – Arjan van Bentem Nov 1 at 10:38

Bender · Answer 1 · 2009-11-01 08:42:03Z

I doubt that there's a utility for undoing what was done. You can search for duplicates again, check their link counts and attributes (or maybe Dupemerge can help identify hard links to the same files) and do the copying by hand. This may at least help you find out whether hard links are the cause of problems.

Redandwhite · Answer 2 · 2009-11-01 10:29:02Z

Since you've converted them into hard links, you might be in luck and they might still show up as duplicates using something like DoubleKiller.
Either way, I doubt there's a utility for this exact task.

If all else fails I recommend a re-install...

Molly · Answer 3 · 2009-11-01 13:10:53Z

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to fix the operating system use the system file checker:

insert the windows xp installation CD

press CTRL + ALT + DEL to bring up the task manager, go to File > Run (New Task) and type sfc /scannow and click OK.

note: this will only restore the system files, but it will get you going again. as for other software affected you'll have to re-install or repair install where necessary.

edited Nov 1 at 13:10

answered Nov 1 at 12:53

Molly
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	sfc /scannow with repairs can really screw-up a Windows installation. It will try to return to the state of the CD, regardless of any Windows Update or service packs applied since. The OP will have to wade through heaps of dialogs to find out which ones he really needs, and might still end up with a non-bootable system. – harrymc Nov 1 at 13:02
	thanks for reminding me, that explorer doesn't start. and if you're asking me, this windows installation is already thoroughly screwed up. that's why people make backups from their system before pulling such stunts. :) – Molly Nov 1 at 13:13
	Quite right. I give high chances for a total reinstall if he can't go back to a restore point. – harrymc Nov 1 at 15:58
	seriously, by the time you'll have it all figured out (and there might be still some surprises in store for you), you'll have windows installed on a dozen or more machines. – Molly Nov 1 at 17:46

tOM Trottier · Answer 4 · 2009-11-13 15:00:52Z

Update. Things that didn't work: 0. I didn't find any nice tool to undo hardlinks (ie, id hardlinks, copy the file, delete hardlink, rename copy to the hardlink name). 1. Ran chkdsk in Recovery console (after uncompressing all files)
2. My Lenovo system disk wouldn't let me reinstall windows xp home, and Lenovo's Rescue and Recovery program would not reinstall Windoze 3. copying out (to a 2nd partition) and back didn't help

What I did:

copied out my C: drive to another partition in a directory "\c-drive-2009Nov4 using Richcopy
In may I installed a new bigger disk, creating a partition on the new disk the same as my old C: partition. Then I copied, using a USB holder, from my old c: to the new C: partition on the new disk. Then I moved the data & installs out to a new large data partition, leaving a 70GB c: system partition on the outer faster ring of the HD. So I just did it again, using a live boot linux GParted to copy my partition from May to my trashed partition.
Then I used the copy I made of my current C-drive to bring back any simple files I needed, eg, updated BAT files, and reinstalled any more recent programs.
I was using FEBE to backup my Firefox profile, so I used the backup to reset my FF settings, in windows, and in Ubuntu, which I installed on another partition. Ubuntu is how I still had web access and some utility. Worked pretty well, even if stuck on the slow portion of the HD.

Losses: some "giveawayoftheday" programs I cannot reregister, some program settings.

tOM

harrymc · Answer 5 · 2009-11-01 07:57:50Z

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Try Hard Link Magic, it might help.

Also Microsoft's Junction has the ability to recursively traverse directories and list/delete junction-points.

Just be careful to create a system restore point before you do these manipulations.

answered Nov 1 at 7:57

harrymc
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	Hard links aren't junction points. That program seems to work with junction points too (it's actually called Junction Link Magic). – Bender Nov 1 at 8:19
	@Bender, you mean that after installation it's called "Junction Link Magic"? (All downloads seem to refer to "Hard Link Magic".) – Arjan van Bentem Nov 1 at 9:08

How can one undo many hard links?

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