Skip to main content ↑ ↓

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily? (Read 6801 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Hello All

Just wondering why Foobar's profile corrupts so easily?
Often my computer is not always shutdown correctly or I've used "Shut Down Anyway", yet Foobar always seems to corrupt itself requiring me to restore the backup.
What is annoying is it managed to write the backup and then corrupt itself.
Is there a way to stop this? (It should not require perfect shutdown to not corrupt itself so much!)

It's the only program that does it.

Thanks
Scott

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #1 –
shut foobar properly and then you wouldn't have this problem. seriously, how hard is it to do that?

or if foobar is the only program that is a problem for you, perhaps you should find something else.

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #2 –
This is, it's mostly shut down properly. The program is exited. That being said it should not corrupt so easily.

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #3 –
What is the source of those improper shutdowns?

Common journaling file systems are not designed to protect your data in case of things such as sudden power failures (they only protect the integrity of the file system). If you have frequent power losses in your area, get a UPS.

EDIT: and I think it would be completely reasonable of FB devs to assume you terminate the program gracefully.
 

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #4 –
That's fine. I've just never seen a programs that corrupts so easily.

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #5 –
Why don't you try complying with the Support forum rules and providing some useful information that might help get to the root of the problem?

That said, my first guess would be you've downloaded some configuration that either hacks foobar or makes use of outdated/buggy/banned components. Providing your component list could help narrow down the issue.

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #6 –
It may corrupt easily for you, though I am going to assume your term 'always' was not intended to mean every time. On the other hand, I have had one instance of playlist corruption in 4 years on a fairly old xp based computer.

In my opinion, without providing more information, you have a thread focused on generalities with no specific point. Not sure how anyone can help without you providing more information.

Is this a default installation or one with 3rd party components?
What components?
What OS?
What computer specs?
Which user interface? 
Anything else of interest based on reading the sticky attached to this forum?

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #7 –
Exactly. The problem may be hardware and not related to foobar at all. Be sure more than less details as possible.

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #9 –
I've never seen config corruption in foobar. I might have some strange things with playlists but always after manual manipulation over files in config folder and I was never sorry for that. I even used several plugins that were unstable and foobar crashed many times but I've never experienced anything worse than lost of unsaved playlist. If you have any errors then check you HDD for bad sectors and RAM for faults.

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #10 –
I have the same experience as EpicForever. Sometimes my computer will lose power or foobar will crash from an unstable plugin. Afterward, foobar asks to start in safe mode the next time I run it. Regardless of which mode I choose, the worst that happens is I lose the playlist I was working on. The program itself is fine; I don't have to reinstall foobar.

It would be helpful if you said exactly what was happening...what do you mean by "Foobar always seems to corrupt itself"? What is corrupt about it? What happens when you try to run it? What messages or strange behavior do you get?

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #11 –
Quote from: EpicForever on
I've never seen config corruption in foobar. I might have some strange things with playlists but always after manual manipulation over files in config folder and I was never sorry for that. I even used several plugins that were unstable and foobar crashed many times but I've never experienced anything worse than lost of unsaved playlist. If you have any errors then check you HDD for bad sectors and RAM for faults.



Indeed I can vouch for this. In my 9 years using Foobar as my main 'everything' in the audio department i never had problems apart from unsaved playlists when computer crashes or hangs because of other programs. I've used it in about 7 different computers now with no problem at all.
Mostly is your installation has some kind of problem or is a hardware issue as all above mentioned.

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #12 –
Wow, such thick-headed and unhelpful advice given here.
It's a simple problem with some straightforward solutions.

The problem: foobar2000 is woefully sloppy with its configuration file.
Of course you don't want any program to terminate unexpectedly, but guess what? This is WINDOWS. Do I seriously need to remind people how often the OS and programs crash?
As one poster smugly put it, "I think it would be completely reasonable of FB devs to assume you terminate the program gracefully." That's total BS.
It's a fact of life that developers ignore at their peril. That is to say, the developers ignore it to the users' chagrin.

So the reality we're stuck with is that foobar2000 loses all your settings, playlists, etc. periodically. If it hasn't happened to you yet, it could at any time. Pay attention.

Solutions:
1) If you have Windows Backup enabled, you can go to your %appdata% directory (for me on Win7 it's C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming) and right-click the foobar2000 folder. Select "restore previous versions" and select the most recent.

2) Unless you have a SSD, you can find various programs to scan the hard drive for deleted files which haven't been overwritten yet with other data. You might get lucky and find old versions of your configuration data.

3) Don't get fancy with UI customization, and only load songs from saved playlists. Doesn't fix your problem, but makes it sting less the next time.


*mic drop*

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #13 –
Quote from: attachmentDownload on
Do I seriously need to remind people how often the OS and programs crash?

Please do. Sounds like you have a faulty setup that you should investigate.

As for the topic, anyone in OPs shoes can 1) investigate what causes bad shutdowns and corruption as neither of those are normal, especially at the frequency OP seems to suggest 2) use foo_jesus to regularly back up their stuff (as far as foobar is concerned).

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #14 –
happend to me and others aswell, very annoying, forced me to always have a decent backup of foobars %appdata% directory

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #15 –
^  That's what foo_jesus does.
Quote from: Daeron on
Quote from: attachmentDownload on
Do I seriously need to remind people how often the OS and programs crash?

Please do. Sounds like you have a faulty setup that you should investigate.

As for the topic, anyone in OPs shoes can:

[pleaseSomehowGetFutureReaderAttention][blinking_text]
1) investigate what causes bad shutdowns and corruption as neither of those are normal, especially at the frequency OP seems to suggest

2) use foo_jesus to regularly back up their stuff (as far as foobar is concerned).[/color]

[/blinking_text][/pleaseSomehowGetFutureReaderAttention]

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

*drops mic* 

[edit]IIRC, TxF filewriting was considered for configuration files, but the speed was much too slow, especially for massive playlists fb2k is designed to handle.
elevatorladylevitateme

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #16 –
It's a pity that foo_jesus's default setting of "Files and directories to back up"

Quote
configuration;playlists;index-data;theme.fth;PlaybackStatistics.dat

is outdated now, and that's not mentioned anywhere. Instead it should be

Quote
configuration;playlists-v1.3;index-data;theme.fth;library

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #17 –
Quote from: lvqcl on
It's a pity that foo_jesus's default setting of "Files and directories to back up"

Quote
configuration;playlists;index-data;theme.fth;PlaybackStatistics.dat

is outdated now, and that's not mentioned anywhere. Instead it should be

Quote
configuration;playlists-v1.3;index-data;theme.fth;library

Is yirkha AWOL? If not, I guess updating the defaults and repacking the componentwill take him 5 minutes.  Otherwise, since you can easily extract components, it should be possible to act as a maintainer for now and upload an updated version.
It's only audiophile if it's inconvenient.

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #18 –
Quote from: Kohlrabi on
Otherwise, since you can easily extract components, it should be possible to act as a maintainer for now and upload an updated version.
This would be illegal without the permission of yirkha in the first place and you also cannot just extract a component and update some settings. You need to have the source code of the component and recompile it with the new default settings.

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #19 –
i have no idea how it was done but romor updated foo_softplaylists with a new last.fm API key when the built in one stopped working and caused the component to crash. this happened before the source was published.

https://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php...st&p=811096

see post #392 as well.

edit: i didn't mean to skip over this like i did...

Quote
This would be illegal without the permission of yirkha in the first place


that's a very valid point.

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #20 –
Quote from: marc2003 on
i have no idea how it was done but romor updated foo_softplaylists with a new last.fm API key when the built in one stopped working and caused the component to crash. this happened before the source was published.
With a hex editor you can, of course, directly patch the component dll, but such kind of hacks should only be the very last option (and it is also illegal to distribute such patched components without the permission of the author). Also this is not always possible.

In this case a moderator could create a sticky entry in the foo_jesus thread and provided a foo_jesus.dll.cfg file with proper settings and a short description how to copy it to the foobar2000 configuration folder, as long the component will not be updated by yirkha.

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #21 –
Quote from: fbuser on
Quote from: Kohlrabi on
Otherwise, since you can easily extract components, it should be possible to act as a maintainer for now and upload an updated version.
This would be illegal without the permission of yirkha in the first place and you also cannot just extract a component and update some settings. You need to have the source code of the component and recompile it with the new default settings.
I guess the settings are plain text? And of course you'd need the permission of yirkha to become a maintainer.
It's only audiophile if it's inconvenient.

Why Does Foobar corrupt so easily?

Reply #23 –
> Faulty ram can cause corruption.

I've had faulty ram for a while, with the daily bluescreen that entailed, on Win8.1

It left foobar entirely unaffected.