When I'm connected to a file server I can't see certain files...
So there’s a LaCie Ethernet mini disk which is basically a self-contained file server. All the clients currently connect using the SMB protocol despite being on iMacs running Mac OS X 10.4. The file server has support for AFP but when I try to mount the server share using AFP I only see files at the root level; all the root folders are empty after that.
When mounting it as an SMB all the files show with no problem. I would like to have clients connect through AFP as an all Apple environment it would be better – what’s the best way to fix the problem?
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3 Answers
This sounds like it could be one of two things:
1. Special characters are messing up AFP. This seems unlikely given that all your folders are empty and not just a few.
2. I believe that the Ethernet disks have permissions and user accounts. It sounds like when you are logging in via AFP that you don’t have permission to read the contents of the root folders. You can make user and permission changes via the web administration by entering the IP address of the LaCie disk in your browser.
Building on your (astutely helpful) response lewis:
1. That’s actually likely – it’s the main filestore so there are literally hundreds of files in multiple levels under each main folder at the root level. What are illegal characters under AFP? I know the root folders themselves are named “1. XXX, 2. XXX, 3. XXX” and so on… The users also likely don’t understand the concept of ‘illegal characters’ either.
2. There are indeed user accounts but the interface only has one user account list so that leads me to believe that the account privileges are the same regardless of protocol. Also, everyone (including me) uses the same account. Bad practice I know, but it was established that way and is actually easier for the purposes of troubleshooting this problem.
I can’t find a definitive list, but here is a good set to avoid based upon what I remember.
/ \ * & @ # $ % ? < > : ; ( )
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