A cautionary tale

[Skywise001]

I was quite happy with my mod archive I maintained. Every mod since I started modding was in there. My First Mods being one to make Preston spammy, a weight increase, and a preset I had no idea how to get to work :P

It was over 900 gigs - some 2000 mods.

When I was installing some mods I accidentally dropped my archive into Vortex. Out of amusement I trid to get them running (I think I managed around 800 of them sort of working together). But overall this broke Vortes something fierce. So after amusing myself I deleted the mods from Vortex, couldnt, so I went to reinstall Vortex.

What I didnt know is every mod thats placed into Vortex gets a file added to it - saying its managed by vortex. When I removed Vortex it scrubbed my drive of every single mod. Since it wasnt deleted normally the Windows options to recover it failed. I had a few empty folders left and that was all.

I search in my mod archive files for the vortex word and delete the files now. But it hurt to lose 4-5 years of mods. Mods I got from translating Japanmese and Korean websites to download. I havent the foggiest where I can find them again. All my lost anime

So be careful if you use vortex. Its pretty aggressive in adding the file to anything it downloads and it throws a royal fit if you dont want it to download everything.

Hopefully this can save someone else the pain :P

 

[Mystical Panda]

I was quite happy with my mod archive I maintained. Every mod since I started modding was in there. My First Mods being one to make Preston spammy, a weight increase, and a preset I had no idea how to get to work :P

It was over 900 gigs - some 2000 mods.

When I was installing some mods I accidentally dropped my archive into Vortex. Out of amusement I trid to get them running (I think I managed around 800 of them sort of working together). But overall this broke Vortes something fierce. So after amusing myself I deleted the mods from Vortex, couldnt, so I went to reinstall Vortex.

What I didnt know is every mod thats placed into Vortex gets a file added to it - saying its managed by vortex. When I removed Vortex it scrubbed my drive of every single mod. Since it wasnt deleted normally the Windows options to recover it failed. I had a few empty folders left and that was all.

I search in my mod archive files for the vortex word and delete the files now. But it hurt to lose 4-5 years of mods. Mods I got from translating Japanmese and Korean websites to download. I havent the foggiest where I can find them again. All my lost anime

So be careful if you use vortex. Its pretty aggressive in adding the file to anything it downloads and it throws a royal fit if you dont want it to download everything.

Hopefully this can save someone else the pain :P

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Geez. I'm so sorry to hear that. Hopefully, you'll find a way to get everything back. I'm coming across that same issue here... though not Vortex but backup wise. Since data storage and archive size will always increase, what's the most cost effective way to not only have a backup, but a full redundency or two.

 

[Skywise001]

I have a couple of terrabite drives I use as 'toss stuff here' drives. One was nearly all mods. Its empty now :P

Google does offer some free storage in their gmail system. Its not huge but you can use it to stash your most precious mods. If you trust Microsoft :P

 

[Mystical Panda]

I have a couple of terrabite drives I use as 'toss stuff here' drives. One was nearly all mods. Its empty now :P

Google does offer some free storage in their gmail system. Its not huge but you can use it to stash your most precious mods. If you trust Microsoft :P

If you have an older computer you can download, for free, TrueNAS. I use it here. You can use HDDs of different sizes to create a 'pool'(a combined size of all drives), then use that to store all your files. As like a backup.

When I first started downloading mods, to preserve them here, I needed to upgrade my drives, first from a few terabytes to 8tb. The next step was 12tb. Sooner or later,there won't be a single drive big enough- enter a NAS(network access storage). That meant I could buy cheaper NAS drives and use them as one giant 'pool'. Which now sits a 20tb(2 x 10tb drives). There's more room for expansion- just add another drive, add it to the 'pool' and your 20tb just went to 30tb, etc.,.

Though, you could use a 1tb, 2tb, 512mb drives as a single 'pool', or whatever spare or unused drives you have on hand. TrueNAS takes care of the rest.

I know it's a bit late for that, given the circumstances. I hope you get everything recovered.

 

[Mystical Panda]

Here's a bit on using TrueNAS as a simple inexpensive backup system- I know it's a bit late but maybe it might help. It'll take a bit before it uploads and processes.

Good luck and hang in there.

 

[Skywise001]

If you have an older computer you can download, for free, TrueNAS. I use it here. You can use HDDs of different sizes to create a 'pool'(a combined size of all drives), then use that to store all your files. As like a backup.

When I first started downloading mods, to preserve them here, I needed to upgrade my drives, first from a few terabytes to 8tb. The next step was 12tb. Sooner or later,there won't be a single drive big enough- enter a NAS(network access storage). That meant I could buy cheaper NAS drives and use them as one giant 'pool'. Which now sits a 20tb(2 x 10tb drives). There's more room for expansion- just add another drive, add it to the 'pool' and your 20tb just went to 30tb, etc.,.

Though, you could use a 1tb, 2tb, 512mb drives as a single 'pool', or whatever spare or unused drives you have on hand. TrueNAS takes care of the rest.

I know it's a bit late for that, given the circumstances. I hope you get everything recovered.

Sadly whatever method Vortex uses to delete stuff its not normal deletion. I went through all the steps to try and recover the files to find the computer had no logs of the deletion. My assumption is the size of the stuff they were deletion helped with that. Using the 'this file is too large for the garbage shall I delete it' option. Made the last few build contests a bit of hell.

The TrueNAS thing sounds really interesting if a bit technical for me. Really cool though

 

[Mystical Panda]

The TrueNAS thing sounds really interesting if a bit technical for me. Really cool though

It's super easy to setup. Honestly. If you have another pc, that you don't necessarily need or require any files off it, just install TrueNAS directly on the boot drive, overwriting whatevers on it. Then just add in a few other drives and go to the TrueNAS configuration menu on your web-browser(because it's a 'networked' drive) and tell it what all drives you want to add to a 'pool'. It's like combining all the drives into one giant drive- giving you tons of space. This should be the link.

I've never set one up before, so I was bit hesitant. But after doing it, it's super easy.

 

[Mystical Panda]

Sadly whatever method Vortex uses to delete stuff its not normal deletion. I went through all the steps to try and recover the files to find the computer had no logs of the deletion. My assumption is the size of the stuff they were deletion helped with that. Using the 'this file is too large for the garbage shall I delete it' option. Made the last few build contests a bit of hell.

I built in an user set option that allows deleting items to the trashcan(I term it 'safe' mode) instead of just wiping them. This way, in case there's a problem, you can easily restore them. Though, I don't remember doing that with really large files, and the user would need to go in and 'empty' the trashcan to completley remove the files.