Errors after collection repair: "Too many errors" message
Summary
If you see "too many errors" while doing repair, or if you see pictures (like below) that indicate that the text registry might have been lost, you may need to urgently return to your most recent backup.
Repair collection can restore data using data redundancies, and data rules. For texts, pictures and video, the size of data is too large to keep in duplicate (it would double the size of the collection). This is why when texts are lost, recovery is not possible. It is equivalent to deleting files from Recycle Bin.
Many titles like this "#Topic #2,935: 2022:07:13 23:30:02: #2935" indicate that the text registry is missing or damaged. A registry may be lost due to a corrupted files, malware, or even can fall victim to an anti-virus quarantine action (e.g. if virus signature is recognized in one of the texts).
However, in this case, almost certainly Elementinfo.dat file has been filled with zero (e.g. due to a crash while writing to file).
See also:
Picture
Too many errors when executing repair collection
Name: Gerard
Country: Spain
Hello,
I have been a happy user of the application for 5 years and now I am writing to you to ask for help with a problem I am having with one of my collections. A few days ago, I ran the repair collection command and unfortunately multiple error messages came up (the message "too many errors" came up during the repair process). Below you can see an extract of the report showing the errors (a group of 5 errors is repeated over and over again). After the repair I have detected two anomalies: the first one is that a folder has appeared in the collection called "Recovered" in which there are 16859 empty topics with auto-generated titles (see picture). The second is that the priorities of the items were modified and my most important items now have a priority of 78%. My question is whether these errors are a serious problem for the normal functioning of the programme beyond the change of priorities (I don't think it is so serious to have to set them by hand again) or to have to leave the folder "recovered". The alternative I have is to go back to a fairly old backup, which would waste a lot of time (more recent backups give the same errors, to my surprise). On the other hand, I would also not like to have to send the collection as it contains information of a private nature.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer and congratulations on the software and its support pages.
Errors detected
The report
SuperMemo Report Activity: Checking the integrity of the collection Collection: c:\supermemo\systems\reseña Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2022, 11:29:58 PM SuperMemo 18 (Build 18.05, Oct 29, 2020) Checking 21,856 element records (ElementInfo.dat) Verifying integrity of element data (21856 elements in ElementInfo.dat) ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #1 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Non-zero parameters in a dismissed item #1859 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #2 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Non-zero parameters in a pending item #2187 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #3 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Empty element #2187 contains non-empty component pointers ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #4 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Wrong A-Factor: 0.000 at Topic #2187 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #5 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Element missing from the pending queue: #Topic #2,187: 2022:07:13 23:29:59: #2187 (reseña) ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #6 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Non-zero parameters in a pending item #2188 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #7 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Empty element #2188 contains non-empty component pointers ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #8 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Wrong A-Factor: 0.000 at Topic #2188 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #9 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Element missing from the pending queue: #Topic #2,188: 2022:07:13 23:29:59: #2188 (reseña) ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #10 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Non-zero parameters in a pending item #2189 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #11 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Empty element #2189 contains non-empty component pointers ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #12 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Wrong A-Factor: 0.000 at Topic #2189 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #13 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Element missing from the pending queue: #Topic #2,189: 2022:07:13 23:29:59: #2189 (reseña) ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #14 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Non-zero parameters in a pending item #2190 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #15 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Empty element #2190 contains non-empty component pointers ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #16 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Wrong A-Factor: 0.000 at Topic #2190 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #17 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Element missing from the pending queue: #Topic #2,190: 2022:07:13 23:29:59: #2190 (reseña) ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #18 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Non-zero parameters in a pending item #2191 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #19 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Empty element #2191 contains non-empty component pointers ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #20 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Wrong A-Factor: 0.000 at Topic #2191 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #21 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Element missing from the pending queue: #Topic #2,191: 2022:07:13 23:29:59: #2191 (reseña) ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #22 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Non-zero parameters in a pending item #2192 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #23 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Empty element #2192 contains non-empty component pointers ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #24 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Wrong A-Factor: 0.000 at Topic #2192 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #25 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Element missing from the pending queue: #Topic #2,192: 2022:07:13 23:29:59: #2192 (reseña) ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #26 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Non-zero parameters in a pending item #2193 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #27 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Empty element #2193 contains non-empty component pointers ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #28 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Wrong A-Factor: 0.000 at Topic #2193 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #29 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Element missing from the pending queue: #Topic #2,193: 2022:07:13 23:29:59: #2193 (reseña)
[...]
++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #2996 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Wrong A-Factor: 0.000 at Topic #2935 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #2997 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Element missing from the pending queue: #Topic #2,935: 2022:07:13 23:30:02: #2935 (reseña) ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #2998 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Non-zero parameters in a pending item #2936 ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #2999 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Empty element #2936 contains non-empty component pointers ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #3000 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Too many errors!!! Verifying knowledge tree (21,856 elements in Contents.dat) Reviewing children and descendant counts due to errors in the tree structure 16859 children at Topic #21,857: Recovered Verifying the priority queue of 4,734 elements Verifying repetition schedule (Workload.dat and ElementInfo.dat) Verifying pending queue (Intact.dat) Verifying A-Factor, Lapses and Repetitions distributions Verifying OLE filespace Verifying image filespace Verifying sound filespace Verifying video filespace Verifying stylesheet filespace Verifying script filespace Verifying binary filespace ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #101401 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Slot files missing Slot=27\9\8196 Binary #27: Selz, Marion et Machillon, Florence (2009) Le raisonnement statistique en sociologie.pdf Verifying text filespace ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #101402 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Slot files missing Slot=1\11\13\12438 Text #4798: (cibois, 2007) acm aspectos previos (cibois, 2007) acm aspectos previosQue es un fichero tematico y como utilizarlo Referencia bibliográfica Cibois, 2007 (pdf) Nota/Cita ... ++++++++++++++++++++++ ERROR #101403 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Slot files missing Slot=1\11\13\12439 Text #6360: (Cibois, 2007) acm aspectos previos Size: 3384 bytes Date: ago. 23, 2019, vi., 21:38 C:\Totalizing\Index Cards 5\(cibois, 2007) acm aspectos previos.HTML Inspecting 24205 filespace slots Transferring stray file 9378.HTM From: c:\supermemo\systems\reseña\elements\1\1\7\9378.HTM To: c:\supermemo\systems\reseña\recover\9378.HTM Unused filespace slot count: 16805 Checking for empty filespace slots Inspecting 16805 empty filespace slot(s) Verifying repetition history Repetition history compressed from 372.684 kB to 366.483 kB Deleting temporary folders The size of remaining temporary files is 6.568 MB These files can be deleted with File : Tools : Garbage Removing empty collection directories Process completed at 11:31:54 PM in 00:01:55 sec (Wednesday, July 13, 2022) 101403 ERRORS (Checking the integrity of the collection)
Comments
- this looks more like damaged or missing file \info\ElementInfo.dat. This file keeps pointers to text registry (e.g. titles), and may make an impression that the text registry is missing. Many errors indicate this file is filled with zeros, which can happen if a power failure occurs at the moment of writing to the disk
- The error "Wrong A-Factor: 0.000 at Topic #2188" indicates element info record in elementInfo.dat file is reset (to zeros). "Non-zero parameters in a pending item #2187" is also new, previously a report with "Non-zero parameters in a dismissed item". However, this does not mean that a record is actually non-zero. Pending items store a non-zero grade, because 0 is a legal grade in SuperMemo. ElementInfo.dat file might have simply been set with zeros due to a software crash, hard disk problem, virus, etc.
