"System Volume Information" the inaccessable folder in win2k

[seer]

Thats where XP keeps all its System Restore information.

It's also a folder that is responsible for "mystery space usage" meaning, because normally you have no rights to view this folder, you also don't have the rights to know how big it is, so when you add the size of all files on the drive it equals to less then the Windows displays (IE, you have a 50Gb drive, 30Gb is used, but when you list all the files you only have 24Gb in files, the other 6Gb is in use by folders the users have no acces to..)

[mikeymike]

Thats where XP keeps all its System Restore information.

You might not have noticed, it's been mentioned already, this folder exists on Win2k.  And I've already accessed it.

[ottomobiehl]

mikeymike wrote:
Hmm, perhaps it's something to do with the fact that even the first time I installed Win2k, I uninstalled the Indexing Service.  I don't see anything under the Indexing Service in Comp Managment that suggests that tracking.log has anything to do with it.

I was assuming the tracking log was  part of the indexing service.  Wasn't really sure about it.   :-D

I was wondering if getting rid of the indexing service was going to free up system resources (ie. run a little bit quicker and free up HDD space) if I got rid of it or would it be negligable as far as performace go or does it matter one way or the other?  I sometimes worry about removing something from an OS and it crippling my computer.  

[mikeymike]

I was wondering if getting rid of the indexing service was going to free up system resources (ie. run a little bit quicker and free up HDD space) if I got rid of it or would it be negligable as far as performace go or does it matter one way or the other? I sometimes worry about removing something from an OS and it crippling my computer.

It improves filesystem performance and lowers CPU load a bit.  Every little counts :-)

[ottomobiehl]

It improves filesystem performance and lowers CPU load a bit. Every little counts

Consider it gone.



 :-D

[Glaucus]

MS Windows NT is not quite Linux i.e. “root” (god mode) user. One must think the Microsoft way.

True. The Microsoft way is that the Administrator is just a special user who has all the usual privileges that other users may have, plus one extra privilege that only admins have: the right to take ownership of a file. Under Windows/NTFS, even an admin can not access a file he does not have permission to access, HOWEVER, he may still take ownership of it - at which point he can do anything he wants with it. That's the key to Windows' file system security. Once you understand that it's all quite simple after that. Well, not really, there's tons of extra crap piled on top of that, but that's the basic gist.  :-)

  - Mike

[Glaucus]

Download a util from the MS / windows2000 site called 'xcacls'. It allows you to modify permissions from the command line. Use the /? switch to work out how to use the command, give your user the permissions you need

Or you could just right click on the directory, click on the Security tab, select the Add button, enter your userID (or the Admin's user ID, or who ever happens to be the owner of the directory, assuming your an admin), then give this new ID full control, and viola, full access! Now delete the directory and reboot, and then let us know if your system still works!  :-)

Just kidding there, don't delete anything, in fact, don't even give yourself permission to look at it. The fact that even admins don't have access to this should be a good indicator all on it's own.

As an aside, I just converted two partitions from FAT32 to NTFS, and when it created that System Volume Information directories it gave them inherited permissions, which were full access to Everyone. Weird eh? Anyway, I fixed it so I can no longer accidentaly access it.

  - Mike

[ottomobiehl]

Just kidding there, don't delete anything, in fact, don't even give yourself permission to look at it.

Oops!
 :-D

[mikeymike]

Just kidding there, don't delete anything, in fact, don't even give yourself permission to look at it. The fact that even admins don't have access to this should be a good indicator all on it's own.

Erm no.  My computer, I have full access to it.  It isn't up to Microsoft to decide what files I can see or not "for my own good", because I trust them about as far as I can throw them.  I'm surprised a virus that uses admin privs to hide itself in that directory hasn't been created yet.
Then there's NTFS streams, I'm surprised they haven't been used for hiding viruses yet either.