USB Thumb Drive Renamed PKBACK# 001

[harrismail]

Quite a few times recently I've seen my USB thumb drive being renamed PKBACK# 001 - without me doing it. I'm not sure which or what programme is doing this.

Does anyone have any ideas if it might be TC?

TIA Steve

[Hacker]

harrismail,
Perhaps some backup program (called PK or similar)?

Roman

[white]

Quite a few times recently I've seen my USB thumb drive being renamed PKBACK# 001 - without me doing it. I'm not sure which or what programme is doing this.

Does anyone have any ideas if it might be TC?

Well, the string is hard coded into TOTALCMD.EXE, but I don't think TC is to blame.

The labeling scheme PKBACK# ??? is a PKWARE standard used for spanned zip files (segmenting a ZIP file across multiple removable media).
See http://www.pkware.com/documents/APPNOTE/APPNOTE-6.3.0.TXT, look for section "K. Splitting and Spanning ZIP files".

I did some tests using floppy diskettes. TC does not use the volume labeling technique for removable media, but uses the file naming technique also used for split zip files. So it seems that TC does not create such volume labels, but probably can restore spanned zip files that were created using the volume labeling technique.

[harrismail]

Thanks for your thoughts.

I'll keep a closer eye on my thumb drive and see if I notice when it next happens and what I'm doing at that time!

Steve

[Hacker]

harrismail,
Here is a quick and dirty AHK script that watches for volume label changes, you just need to change the drive letter to watch for (the "C:").

Code: Select all

#Persistent

PreviousVolumeLabel = NONEXISTENTLABEL
SetTimer, CheckVolumeLabel, 1000

CheckVolumeLabel:
	DriveGet, VolumeLabel, Label, C:

	IfNotEqual, PreviousVolumeLabel, %VolumeLabel%
	{
		IfNotEqual, PreviousVolumeLabel, NONEXISTENTLABEL
			TrayTip, Volume Label Changed, %PreviousVolumeLabel% -> %VolumeLabel%, 10
		PreviousVolumeLabel = %VolumeLabel%
	}
Return

HTH
Roman

[harrismail]

harrismail,
Here is a quick and dirty AHK script that watches for volume label changes, you just need to change the drive letter to watch for (the "C:").

Code: Select all

#Persistent

PreviousVolumeLabel = NONEXISTENTLABEL
SetTimer, CheckVolumeLabel, 1000

CheckVolumeLabel:
	DriveGet, VolumeLabel, Label, C:

	IfNotEqual, PreviousVolumeLabel, %VolumeLabel%
	{
		IfNotEqual, PreviousVolumeLabel, NONEXISTENTLABEL
			TrayTip, Volume Label Changed, %PreviousVolumeLabel% -> %VolumeLabel%, 10
		PreviousVolumeLabel = %VolumeLabel%
	}
Return

HTH
Roman

Thanks!

[ghisler(Author)]

TC does this when you use the option "archive on multiple volumes" when packing, and let TC fill the entire stick with each part. This is done for compatibility reasons with pkzip (any maybe some other packers too).

[white]

TC does this when you use the option "archive on multiple volumes" when packing, and let TC fill the entire stick with each part. This is done for compatibility reasons with pkzip (any maybe some other packers too).

Really? As I said above, I tested this using floppy diskettes. It didn't happen.