C panel "Data error" please help

[nit2winn]

Hello,

I am seeking some help. I have loaded ALL my files into public_html in my Cpanel.

I need to delete several pages but when I go in through the file manager the files try to load and then I get a "Data error" prompt and no files.

I have asked for help from my hosting company several times but it is clear they are not going to help me with this problem so I am reaching out here.

I need some direction on how I can get the files to load so I can delete them please. I have about 200 pages that need deleted.

The last thing my HOST told me was I couldnt put more than 200 files in any one file but if I want to be online they all have to go in that file. Before you ask I am suppose to have unlimited storage and bandwidth from my HOST so that shouldnt be a problem.

Thank you in advance for your help.

[Infopro]

First, find a new host.

To remove multiple files from your File Manager, navigate to the folder on the left menu till you see those files on the right side of the window. Now, click each file one time, while holding the control key on your keyboard. Once you have all files hilighted that you'd like to kill, right click the hilighted files and choose Delete.

Second, don't believe that unlimited thing.

HTH, GL

[Spiral]

I agree with Infopro to the extent that you need a new host.

Now regarding "unlimited", there is no such thing and that is a common
misconception among mostly naive users with little understanding of
what they are really getting. Unfortunately, you have a lot of hosts
who usually from lack of experience or trying to exploit these users as
a niche market cater to fueling that misconception.

In a nutshell ...

Unlimited does not mean infinite storage and bandwidth, it just simply means
that your host is not monitoring your individual usage or more specifically
did not setup any specific forced limits in advance. It does not mean that
you do not have any limits, just that they aren't setup ahead of time in
your account specifications but you are still subject to all physical limits
of the hardware resources and network bandwidth available and you can
be sure that your host will delete you if you use excess resources beyond
the typical average share of other users or otherwise make an impact in
their finite resources available to other users.

There is no such thing as "infinity drives" or "endless bandwidth" (I wish! )

It would be far more accurate to say "unmetered" than "unlimited" for these
hosts who choose to cater to the misconception and delusion of these users
as that is really what it is all about. They don't offer users endless resources
but rather just don't set any predefined imposed software limits.

The point to be made is that you are always subject to the physical limits
of the hardware and network capacity of the equipment where you are
hosted and that is not likely going to change. Also, no host no matter
what they advertise is going to let any single user utilize their entire
service capacity and capabilities.

You would be gone in a heartbeat -- end of story!

Now regarding the number of files you have in one folder, that is indeed
going to slow down performance of your account just because of the
physical hard drive indexing and you could crash the file manager
application since it's not the greatest handling that anyway. That said,
you have other options such as FTP which is far more equipped to handle
larger files and greater numbers of files in a given folder than any web based
file manager that exists.

Your host is wrong in that there is no "200 file limit" but at the same time,
I would recommend moving some of those files into separate sub-folders
as this will help the performance of your account and the hard drive heads
reading the files from your account and perhaps even make it so you can
continue using the file manager although like I said, FTP is better.

Infopro pretty much summarized everything but this should give you more
of the technical understanding behind why Infopro said what he said which
I fully agree with wholeheartedly incidentally.

[nit2winn]

Thank you for the input.

But let me explain again. I know where to find files and folders. I know how to navigate cpanel and the left side navigation in the file manager.

That being said, when I go to public_html and click that folder on the left which is where all my files are, files normally (and should) load on the right in the box. Instead of files loading so I can highlight them and delete them I get a "data error" at the top of the box and no files. I am never able to see the files at all as they do not load. I have 10 other websites and they every single one do this except this one which is the only one I have with this host.

As to FTP, I do not know html and have a WYSIWYG website builder from my host that has a built in FTP that I simply click a button to publish that page instantly.

I might have missed something as I am new to this but I cant delete files that I cant see.


I just signed in to try again.

1) I clicked file manager

2) The box that pops up I clicked Web root (public_html)

3) it takes me to into the file manager and in the box on the right side under name it says "loading data"

4) after 20 seconds where it did say "loading date" it changes to "data error" and no files

5) I checked my sub domain folders and the files load fine from those folders

6) I still need help please

Also please understand that my website is online and the world can see it. I am able to upload more files when ever I need to with no problem and it works fine. Once loaded I have zero access to them because the files wont show up in file manager.

I have a total of 296.15/∞ MB of disk space usage acording to my home cpanel page. Is that too much to crash cpanel?

I have 10 other websites with another host and have never had this problem and I simply want to fix it without changing host.

I do thank you for your help but If I am not explaining this correctly please tell me as I do need some help.

[nit2winn]

Originally Posted by Spiral

I agree with Infopro to the extent that you need a new host.

Now regarding "unlimited", there is no such thing and that is a common
misconception among mostly naive users with little understanding of
what they are really getting. Unfortunately, you have a lot of hosts
who usually from lack of experience or trying to exploit these users as
a niche market cater to fueling that misconception.

In a nutshell ...

Unlimited does not mean infinite storage and bandwidth, it just simply means
that your host is not monitoring your individual usage or more specifically
did not setup any specific forced limits in advance. It does not mean that
you do not have any limits, just that they aren't setup ahead of time in
your account specifications but you are still subject to all physical limits
of the hardware resources and network bandwidth available and you can
be sure that your host will delete you if you use excess resources beyond
the typical average share of other users or otherwise make an impact in
their finite resources available to other users.

There is no such thing as "infinity drives" or "endless bandwidth" (I wish! )

It would be far more accurate to say "unmetered" than "unlimited" for these
hosts who choose to cater to the misconception and delusion of these users
as that is really what it is all about. They don't offer users endless resources
but rather just don't set any predefined imposed software limits.

The point to be made is that you are always subject to the physical limits
of the hardware and network capacity of the equipment where you are
hosted and that is not likely going to change. Also, no host no matter
what they advertise is going to let any single user utilize their entire
service capacity and capabilities.

You would be gone in a heartbeat -- end of story!

Now regarding the number of files you have in one folder, that is indeed
going to slow down performance of your account just because of the
physical hard drive indexing and you could crash the file manager
application since it's not the greatest handling that anyway. That said,
you have other options such as FTP which is far more equipped to handle
larger files and greater numbers of files in a given folder than any web based
file manager that exists.

Your host is wrong in that there is no "200 file limit" but at the same time,
I would recommend moving some of those files into separate sub-folders
as this will help the performance of your account and the hard drive heads
reading the files from your account and perhaps even make it so you can
continue using the file manager although like I said, FTP is better.

Infopro pretty much summarized everything but this should give you more
of the technical understanding behind why Infopro said what he said which
I fully agree with wholeheartedly incidentally.

OK so I am learning but you have confused me. If I make a sub folder in public_html and load files there (a web page) that page does not show up online to the world as its in a folder. I dont understand what you mean, as the only way I can get them online is for them to be in the public_html folder.

I want to learn anything I can but being self taught you lost me.

Also I dont know what you mean by using FTP? I use filezilla to load files onto my other websites so I use FTP but I thought thats only a transfer tool to get files on the server.

[Spiral]

Originally Posted by nit2winn

Thank you for the input.

But let me explain again. I know where to find files and folders. I know how to navigate cpanel and the left side navigation in the file manager.

That being said, when I go to public_html and click that folder on the left which is where all my files are, files normally (and should) load on the right in the box. Instead of files loading so I can highlight them and delete them I get a "data error" at the top of the box and no files. I am never able to see the files at all as they do not load. I have 10 other websites and they every single one do this except this one which is the only one I have with this host.

You could have some other issue and I couldn't see with certainty
without seeing the issue directly but based on your comments and
your mention of the number of files, I'm inclined to think you are
overloading the array used in the file manager loading the file names
or possibly just exceeding an script time execution limit.

I think your only issue just may be too many filenames to read in the
same folder but not necessarily the files themselves. It would probably
help to move some of your files to a subfolder so that you don't have
so many files located in the same folder location.

As to FTP, I do not know html and have a WYSIWYG website builder from my host that has a built in FTP that I simply click a button to publish that page instantly.

That is fine, it still falls to the same recommendation that you
move some of your files to a different folder and try to limit how
many files you have stored in each folder for better organization
and performance of your web hosting account.

When you try to view the list of your files, the file manager program you
are using has to retrieve the full list of files from the operating system
which takes longer if you have a lot of files and then has to load up that
list into an array in memory and process that into some format to display
to you so you can click on whatever file you want to edit. That processing
could take too much time or break if the number of files it has to read
is too much for script memory, array sizes, or set time execution limits
to handle and the way to reduce that is to limit the number of files
that your file manager / web editing program has to handle at once.

I might have missed something as I am new to this but I cant delete files that I cant see.

Nobody here has advised deleting any files. I do however recommend
you moving some of the files and re-organize how things are stored
in your account a bit to be more efficient instead of lumping all your
files all into the same directory folder which in and of itself isn't a
problem but sounds like you are talking about having a lot of files
and then using web based programs to manage those files and
that can actually be an issue.

I just signed in to try again.

1) I clicked file manager

2) The box that pops up I clicked Web root (public_html)

3) it takes me to into the file manager and in the box on the right side under name it says "loading data"

4) after 20 seconds where it did say "loading date" it changes to "data error" and no files

5) I checked my sub domain folders and the files load fine from those folders

6) I still need help please

It is not necessary to list all that you just typed above but what you
wrote only serves to reinforce what I already suspect and that is
that you have too many files in one place and that is causing issues
for the web based manager program you are using to manage those files.

Also please understand that my website is online and the world can see it. I am able to upload more files when ever I need to with no problem and it works fine. Once loaded I have zero access to them because the files wont show up in file manager.

Again, the problem is not the files themselves or the space they take up!

The problem is the NUMBER of files that are in the same directory which
I think is slowing down the execution of your file manager script enough
that it is failing. Most servers are configured with script memory and
execution time limits and if your web management program is taking too
long to finish processing data when it is loading information such as for
instance the list of files in your account directory, it could terminate
abruptly and not work and possibly give you some kind of "data error".

I have a total of 296.15/∞ MB of disk space usage acording to my home cpanel page. Is that too much to crash cpanel?

The issue isn't the size of the files or the space they take up unless
you are talking about actually opening those files in your file manager
but I cannot imagine any web page being that large anyway.

Stop worrying about the space your files are taking. That shouldn't be
an issue unless your host's drives are oversold and full and if that were
the case, you would have a lot more problems to worry about.

I have 10 other websites with another host and have never had this problem and I simply want to fix it without changing host.

We both recommend your changing hosts based on the comments you
made in your original post which seem to indicate that your host either
isn't knowledgeable enough to assist you or doesn't care which means
finding a new host might be beneficial to you.

If you want to stay there then stay there. Regarding your problem
however, outside of getting your host's support to assist you or seeing
the problem myself, my best recommendation to you is to split up your
files into subfolders and update the links in your web pages to link to
the new locations for your files so that you only have a small number
of files in each folder instead of everything all lumped together in one
single place on the server's hard drive all in the same folder.

I do thank you for your help but If I am not explaining this correctly please tell me as I do need some help.

I think you are explaining things just fine. I am just not so certain
that you are fully understanding what we are saying to you.

[nit2winn]

Originally Posted by Spiral

You could have some other issue and I couldn't see with certainty
without seeing the issue directly but based on your comments and
your mention of the number of files, I'm inclined to think you are
overloading the array used in the file manager loading the file names
or possibly just exceeding an script time execution limit.

I think your only issue just may be too many filenames to read in the
same folder but not necessarily the files themselves. It would probably
help to move some of your files to a subfolder so that you don't have
so many files located in the same folder location.


That is fine, it still falls to the same recommendation that you
move some of your files to a different folder and try to limit how
many files you have stored in each folder for better organization
and performance of your web hosting account.

When you try to view the list of your files, the file manager program you
are using has to retrieve the full list of files from the operating system
which takes longer if you have a lot of files and then has to load up that
list into an array in memory and process that into some format to display
to you so you can click on whatever file you want to edit. That processing
could take too much time or break if the number of files it has to read
is too much for script memory, array sizes, or set time execution limits
to handle and the way to reduce that is to limit the number of files
that your file manager / web editing program has to handle at once.


Nobody here has advised deleting any files. I do however recommend
you moving some of the files and re-organize how things are stored
in your account a bit to be more efficient instead of lumping all your
files all into the same directory folder which in and of itself isn't a
problem but sounds like you are talking about having a lot of files
and then using web based programs to manage those files and
that can actually be an issue.


It is not necessary to list all that you just typed above but what you
wrote only serves to reinforce what I already suspect and that is
that you have too many files in one place and that is causing issues
for the web based manager program you are using to manage those files.


Again, the problem is not the files themselves or the space they take up!

The problem is the NUMBER of files that are in the same directory which
I think is slowing down the execution of your file manager script enough
that it is failing. Most servers are configured with script memory and
execution time limits and if your web management program is taking too
long to finish processing data when it is loading information such as for
instance the list of files in your account directory, it could terminate
abruptly and not work and possibly give you some kind of "data error".


The issue isn't the size of the files or the space they take up unless
you are talking about actually opening those files in your file manager
but I cannot imagine any web page being that large anyway.

Stop worrying about the space your files are taking. That shouldn't be
an issue unless your host's drives are oversold and full and if that were
the case, you would have a lot more problems to worry about.


We both recommend your changing hosts based on the comments you
made in your original post which seem to indicate that your host either
isn't knowledgeable enough to assist you or doesn't care which means
finding a new host might be beneficial to you.

If you want to stay there then stay there. Regarding your problem
however, outside of getting your host's support to assist you or seeing
the problem myself, my best recommendation to you is to split up your
files into subfolders and update the links in your web pages to link to
the new locations for your files so that you only have a small number
of files in each folder instead of everything all lumped together in one
single place on the server's hard drive all in the same folder.


I think you are explaining things just fine. I am just not so certain
that you are fully understanding what we are saying to you.

You have provided a lot of information and I thank you.

But its clear we are not on the same page. It doesnt matter if I have to many files in one place or not. I will be happy to move files to sub folders or even delete the unused ones. BUT how do I get access to these files to move them or delete them or whatever???

I have no access to anything in my public_html folder as I get a "data error" message and they dont load.

I honestly thank you for the help and am reading everything but it doesnt matter what caused it I am asking how to fix it?

I have a lot of new questions after I solve the problem, but the problem is I can do anything because I get a "data error"

I have as of yet to read a solution around that which is my current problem.


I have made sub folders and loaded things in them but anything in those folders to not show up online so its clear I dont know how to do that either.

[Infopro]

You mentioned:

Also I dont know what you mean by using FTP? I use filezilla to load files onto my other websites so I use FTP but I thought thats only a transfer tool to get files on the server.

That's correct. What happens when you use filezilla to connect to this account that you cannot see the files in public_html from File Manager? Can you see them then, from filezilla?

I have a lot of new questions after I solve the problem, but the problem is I can do anything because I get a "data error"

I have as of yet to read a solution around that which is my current problem.

You have to understand, this forum is for server administrators, not end users. End users are supported by the host they are with. cPanel does not host websites.

You already understand that your other host doesn't have this problem, but this one does. So really, that's you're answer. Your host on this account that has problems, does not understand how to provide support or refuses to support you, for whatever reason.

Instead of working around him, change hosts. A good hosting company can and will move you and make sure it all works well for you, in minutes.

And provide proper support when needed.

Trying to learn how to manage a website while working around a host who can't be bothered to assist you, IMHO, is too much. It could be file permissions, directory permissions, a misconfigured server, out of date cPanel with issues, any number of things.

[Spiral]

Infopro:

This is an update on this thread in a manner of speaking and I hope nit2winn doesn't mind this post but I wanted to let everyone know what has happened behind the scenes with this thread.

Late last night, nit2winn sent me a private message and told me what their host said to them when they called technical support and I am still in utter shock! Whoever their host is does not deserve to have any business treating clients as they did with nit2winn and I cannot believe they would talk to any client that way even if they do perceive that client to be an annoying nuisance which is what it seems to be the way they treated nit2winn!

I cannot post the name of the host as I do not know it and it would be unethical for me to do so if I did but nit2winn might want to consider letting the public know what happened.

Anyway ...

I was going to offer to step in and help nit2win straighten out their files at their current host but after what they told me privately about what their host's customer service said to them, forget that!

Among my other assets, I own a hosting company and I have already offered nit2winn a hosting account without charge, assistance with transferring everything, and I have arranged for a staff member to sit down and go over their site files with them on a one on one basis and help them sort out their account plus we can help them with marketing for their site and handle everything for them. I am hoping that nit2winn will accept the offer as there is no reason why anyone should have to endure what their current host said to them and, I would like them to at least taste what good customer service feels like!

Irregardless as to whether nit2winn takes us up on the offer to host them, I will help nit2winn get their account and hosting files straightened out so that I suppose this closes out this thread since the issue will be dealt with although this really should have been the job of the support department of their current hosting provider who apparently prefers to insult and call their client's names instead of actually helping their clients!

-Spiral

[OZsme Support]

I thought I was going senile, until I relaised that I wasn't the only person with this issue of "Data Error" in the 'new' File Manager.

My problem is remarkably similar to the OP
However, this issue doesn't appear with the legacy file manager.

Now before anyone says "change hosts", that isn't a valid option.

What i want to do is find the cause of the problem and solve it.

In the partuicular case, public html of this reseller account is visible to the world. Client accounts of this account, do not have the this problem.

perms for public_html are 501/99, and all the files are 501/501.
(perms for all other directories are 501/501 except /etc 501/12 and /www 501/99
FTP through mozilla works fine, as does an internal file explorer through a CMS

cPanel Version is 11.24.5-CURRENT

My server guru has gone throught the obvious permissioning issues, can't identify an obvious cause for me.

perhaps a solution to this one of those "blinding flashes of the obvious", or it requires some considered thinking.

Can anyone provide any insight

[Infopro]

Originally Posted by OZsme Support

I thought I was going senile, until I relaised that I wasn't the only person with this issue of "Data Error" in the 'new' File Manager.

My problem is remarkably similar to the OP
However, this issue doesn't appear with the legacy file manager.

Now before anyone says "change hosts", that isn't a valid option.

What i want to do is find the cause of the problem and solve it.

In the partuicular case, public html of this reseller account is visible to the world. Client accounts of this account, do not have the this problem.

perms for public_html are 501/99, and all the files are 501/501.
(perms for all other directories are 501/501 except /etc 501/12 and /www 501/99
FTP through mozilla works fine, as does an internal file explorer through a CMS

cPanel Version is 11.24.5-CURRENT

My server guru has gone throught the obvious permissioning issues, can't identify an obvious cause for me.

perhaps a solution to this one of those "blinding flashes of the obvious", or it requires some considered thinking.

Can anyone provide any insight

501/99 are the permissions for the public_html directory? The server guru checked this and told you that?

Correct me if I'm wrong but, 501/99 sounds like the user/group to me on that directory. 501/501 would be correct on files insdie as that means the user 501 owns the files.

You might want to check the actual permissions instead.

Also, check a directory where you upload files from the CMS you mention. Any files in there with user 99 listed instead of user 501?

[OZsme Support]

Thanks for the reply; I'll remeber next time to provide the correct info first, instead of hurrying.

you are correct 501/99 are the owner/group for the public_html directory, although all the files in the directory are 501/501.

public_html permissions are 750 for the dir, the directories within are all 644, and all the files appear to be 755. All files and folders appear to be 501/501 (o/g)

I can't find any other files or directories where the group is 99, except /.htpasswds, which is 501/99

[myBox]

solution:

try deleting the directory .cpanel/ in the user account

and that should solve your problem

[Infopro]

Originally Posted by myBox

solution:

try deleting the directory .cpanel/ in the user account

and that should solve your problem

Why would you want to do this?

DO NOT delete this directory unless you know what you're doing in advance of doing it.

[morteza]

hi everybody,
I think the main subject of this thread is somehow missed in some posts; I was wondering if -other than having too many files in a folder- anything else could result in the error Data error? The one I already have, has no more than 30 files/folders in its file structure. any idea everybody?

regards.