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I have a Windows Server 2016 acting as a file server with thousands of files in a well-defined tree. Different people have different access to different parts of the tree. The problem is that some users, by mistake, sometimes do drag & drop, and a project folder appears somewhere else, mostly, anywhere, not related to the original place. I have snapshots in case of disaster, but I've never used them because the folder that disappears is always found with a search. I'm getting tired of this, and my boss is going to have a heart attack in the near future because the first thing he thinks is that the folder was deleted. The problem is that the users need read-write access, folder creation, and delete permissions so the tree can be in good shape.

So, the question is: how can I solve this problem?

Fernando Suarez Ornani
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    The problem is that you’re allowing users to (accidentally) do something that should be prevented by the system. Switching to some kind of data management system which is more restrictive than the file system is probably the way forward here. – Mikael H Apr 30 '22 at 13:40
  • Thanks @MikaelH. File permissions are as restrictive as possible because users need to create, delete, rename, move files/folders so I don't think, as you suggest, that the system will provide me a way to block those mistakes. What data management system do you suggest/know/think that can do the trick? – Fernando Suarez Ornani May 01 '22 at 14:03

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Ideally, subject matter experts are empowered define things in a self service manner. Project managers know what the projects are called of course.

However, humans in a file browser will miss their target and make typos. People make mistakes. If these cause disruptions to the organization's operations, and stress to all involved, you might make a case for changing the procedure.

Discuss with users that you can improve their disappearing folders problem. Offer assistance and documentation for how to find moved folders. Come up with a short list of who really is responsible for maintaining these. Possibly there is an administrative process you can help automate, where at the same time a project in created in some other systems, a folder is created. By a script, or a least someone who takes care to put the tree how it should be.

File access control lists do not solve everything. NTFS allows removing delete subfolders and files, which also will prevent renames. However, this has additional possibly undesirable effects. The trick of the new folder in file explorer and renaming it will not work. Replacing the mystery of the moved folder, with New Folder that cannot be removed.

Fear of data loss can be overcome with a backup restore test. Do one to convince the IT side of the house that the recovery plan works.

John Mahowald
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