Disappearing Folders after download and cleanup by NB

[OldGuyWalking]

Currently on nb680B11. Was on nb680B6 and skipped to nb680B9 early October and then to nb680B10 and nb680B11 as soon as they came out.

I have two folders setup for downloading and processing files from NB.

F:\A-Qued Up - In NB Options this folder is entered in the fields for Main Folder and Download Folder for NZB downloads.
F:\A-UnRar - In NB Options this folder is entered in the field for UnRAR Folder.

I created a third folder to dump any files that NB typically leaves in the F:\A-Qued Up folder that NB does not UNRar or otherwise process and move to the F:\A-UnRar folder. (i.e. .cbr, .mp3, .avi, files etc.).

Sometime after installing nb680B9 I noticed the F:\A-Qued Up folder would occassionally disappear from my drive. At the time I thought it might be caused by some setting in NB that I accidently set but then NB suddenly stopped deleting the F:\A-Qued Up folder. I think it was around the time I'd installed the nb680B10 update and thought that might have corrected the problem.

I figured out today that it stopped because after initially cleaning out the F:\A-Qued Up folder (during which time the folder was being deleted) I started leaving some .cbr files and .mp3 files in the F:\A-Qued Up folder that I got behind on reviewing and filing. That meant the F:\A-Qued Up folder was no longer empty.

Today I downloaded a single .avi.001 file into a *different* folder (F:\TempHold) using NB's Download to Existing Folder option. The file downloaded into the F:\TempHold folder and was then moved to the F:\A-UnRar folder and the F:\TempHold folder was deleted.

I've tested this four times, twice with .rar file's (both contained .mkv files), once with a single uncompressed mp3 file, and once with a .mp4 file that had .par2 files.

Each time NB cleaned up any leftover .par2 and .rar files and no files were left in the F:\TempHold folder after it finished processing, that folder was deleted.

When any files were left in the F:\TempHold folder, the F:\TempHold folder was not deleted.

Note: I cleared the folder of any leftover files that NB didn't cleanup between each download.

1. First .rar file - NB downloaded the file, UNRar'd and then moved the .mkv file to the F:\UNRar folder. NB left 2 .par2 files from the .rar file in the folder and the F:\TempHold folder stayed put.

2. Second .rar file - NB downloaded the file, UNRar'd and then moved the .mkv file to the F:\UNRar folder. NB then cleaned up after itself and the folder was deleted.

3. .mp3 file - Since there was no UNRar needed and no .par2 files were downloaded the .mp3 file was downloaded and stayed in the F:\TempHold folder and the F:\TempHold folder remained.

4. .mp4 file - The file was downloaded with two .par2 files. The mp4 file was moved to the F:\UnRAR folder. NB cleaned up the .par2 files and the F:\TempHold folder was deleted.

I've looked through NB's options to see if there is an option that tells it to delete an empty empty folder once it finishes UNRARing. If it's there I'm missing it.

It's a pain to have to keep recreating folders I routinely use for managing NB files. I'm hoping this isn't some kind of default behavior by NB.

Please let me know if I'm missing something here.

Thanks,
Bill

[Quade]

It's a pain to have to keep recreating folders I routinely use for managing NB files. I'm hoping this isn't some kind of default behavior by NB

Newsbin automatically generates the folders if they aren't there so there's really nothing you have to do. If it bugs you, you can toss some scrap file in there to prevent the delete.

[OldGuyWalking]

It's a pain to have to keep recreating folders I routinely use for managing NB files. I'm hoping this isn't some kind of default behavior by NB

Newsbin automatically generates the folders if they aren't there so there's really nothing you have to do.

Agreed but you missed my point and then pointed out something obvious that has nothing to do with what I wrote.

NB does NOT automatically generate folders that a user creates outside of NB. BUT, NB will delete the folder anyway if the user uses the "Download to Existing Folder" option and NB empties the folder after downloading and processing files.

i'm not clear why you'd think it's a good idea to delete a download folder that is in regular use even if it's listed in NB. Erasing the folder once it's empty doesn't save any space, doesn't speed up the system, and doesn't serve any reasonable purpose

Now, of course I'd expect NB would create a folder that doesn't exist. But automatically deleting folders without providing an option to the User to turn off that behavior makes no sense. You provide an option that asks if I want RAR's and PAR's deleted after processing. Deleting folders is at least on par with that action.

For the regular download folder I've written an app to check to see if NB deletes it and then put it back.

I was already aware that I could, as your suggestion stated, "toss some scrap file in there to prevent the delete." Again, while I know that would work, it doesn't make sense and seems pretty sloppy.

I know you won't bother with this. So far, most issues I've raised have largely been ignored which is why I rarely come into this forum. While I've tried to participate and try to provide detailed info you almost consistently cherry pick some part of whatever issue I raise, and then respond with statements or suggestions that are either obvious, don't address the issue (either intentionally or unintentionally I've never figured that part out), or address some other non-issue that had nothing to do with the specific issue I'd raiesed.

I get the distinct impression that if a user doesn't use a feature the way you use it then the user is wrong. Or, at least that's the level of condescension I've felt from you.

One of the more annoying situations are when a question is raised and it involves some piece of information that is not documented or is not explained clearly anywhere and, since you know the internal working of the system, your response comes off as though it should be common knowledge to everyone. It's easy to be the smartest person in the room when you're the only one that has the rule book. It's also easy to withhold information to enhance your status as the god of all things NB and us mere mortals should not question anything that you say no matter how illogical it is.

In my experience, trying to provide additional information or clarification has been pointless because user issues I raise that you don't want to deal never gets resolved no matter how often the issue is raised.

I've raised issues about filters and how slow the response was with moving from one filter to the next or just in saving the filters. Your response was invariably that I had too many filters and since I apparently didn't use filters the same way you did I was the one with the problem. The problem with that was that there was nothing documented that clearly laid out NB Filter limitations. Because I figured you'd never get around on fixing the problem, I wrote an app that lets me filter on multiple columns during a single pass (i.e. I have a filter file that will filter on subject, poster, and group). The filters are stored in text files so I can edit them in the app or using a text editor. I've eliminated most of the NB filters or deleted a lot of the data. My apps is obviously going to be slower but it's alot easier to use and update and more flexible.

I've waited for years for a fix on the search screen that ignores the Display Setting of Hide Old when doing a search or changing filters. The workaround I found was that I had to click on the Status column and then re-select the Hide Old option to get it to Hide the Idle/Old statuses. But, I was having to repeatedly do that because if I changed filters or sneezed wrong the Hide Old filter wouldn't filter. So I wrote an app that goes through and selects all Idle/Old, Incompletes, and Downloaded statuses and then does a Mark Old (basically presses Delete) which Hides them. It seems to stick better. Note: The Status column still doesn't sort correctly.

Like most users, there are issues or problems I've had that were caused by me. Mostly out of ignorance or lack of understanding regarding some limitation or feature. I've received some relevant information but most of that I could probably have researched myself if the documentation was up to date and was clearly explained.

Anyway, I won't be back in this forum. Not that I think anyone is going to notice. But it's not out of anger or sense of outrage but because I'm disappointed that trying to be a part of this forum has generally been pointless. I've still got a subscription to the NB search engine for the next couple of years I think. It's one of the better features of the NB program.

But it's a whole new obfuscated and scattered world in the land of newsgroups. There's going to be more and more reliance on finding files through services that provide NZB files. I think there was some brief conversation that NB might work on that as part of its NB search engine service but that's gone silent. So, for the time being I'm going to continue to use NB but there's alot of automation tools, including downloaders that don't have all the bells and whistles that NB has but are more integrated and focused on the retrieval of files that are typically being zapped by the DMCA.

So, while, overall, I like the program and have a couple of years left on the search engine side of things, I give up, you win.

I'm out.

[Quade]

In my experience, trying to provide additional information or clarification has been pointless because user issues I raise that you don't want to deal never gets resolved no matter how often the issue is raised.

Would you say that the summary of the first post is "When I use download to existing folder to folders I created by hand, when the folder empties out, newsbin deletes it?" I re-read your first post and that certainly doesn't stand out. It wasn't till your second post where the meat of the issue came out.

I can see why you wouldn't want manually generated folders to be deleted when they go empty. Any switch would have to be all or nothing though. Newsbin doesn't know whether a folder was manually generated or generated from the NZB or per group download path settings. So, the switch would be something like "prevent post unrar download path removal".

Something to keep in mind is that any kind of files that have PARS are treated like they're unraring. So CBR or any other file formats will get moved to the unrar folder if they have par files.