.dat files filling the hard drive [Closed]

[Shield]

Hi there,
We currently have around 25 users of MainType that all experienced the same issue. Their local hard drives were filling with thousands of .dat files in the fonts folder and the only way we were able to stop it was to un-install MainType.
The way we had it set up was, all of the fonts were stored in a share on the server and the software was set up to pull them from there. This was great as it allowed us to only have to install new fonts in one location instead of 25. It worked really well for a little while, but then users were getting messages that there were no resources available, and finding their hard drives full.
We used Windirstat and found 84,000+ .dat files in the font folder taking up 164 GB of space. After manually deleting them, they would just start regenerating. We contacted High-Logic support and they gave us a patch, but it didn't solve the issue. The only thing we could do was to remove MainType completely.
Has anyone else experienced this, or have any idea what would be causing this?
If more info is needed, please let me know.

[Erwin Denissen]

I'm sorry to hear you still have issues with our font manager.

I remember the issue was reported back in November 2016. In the mean time we further improved the software, so the most recent release should solve the problem. Have you tried MainType 7.0.0.1032?

If you still experience this issue, do let us know, so we can further look into this.

[Shield]

I'm sorry to hear you still have issues with our font manager.

I remember the issue was reported back in November 2016. In the mean time we further improved the software, so the most recent release should solve the problem. Have you tried MainType 7.0.0.1032?

If you still experience this issue, do let us know, so we can further look into this.

Thank you for your quick reply! Yes, the original ticket was submitted a while ago and then unfortunately got pushed to the back burner.
The last update we tried was 7.0.0.1022. I will reinstall the software on a workstation and update it to the most recent version and test it out.
I'll let you know the results.

[Erwin Denissen]

Just curious if the issue is now solved.

[Shield]

Just curious if the issue is now solved.

Yes! I figured out what was causing the problem! There was a sub-folder in the main Fonts folder on the server and in it there was another folder that was called "Broken Fonts". Because I had recursive indexing turned on, every time it would do a folder sync, it would grab the "broken fonts" over and over again.
I turned off recursive indexing and problem solved!

I do however still have one problem that I'm not sure how to fix, and it's probably as simple as ticking a box or changing a setting, but I haven't been able to figure it out.
When I add a new font to the server folder, and do a manual sync, the font will show up in the list, but it won't automatically install.
I have checked off the box for "Automatically install all fonts after synchronization" and we have the pro version, so I'm not quite sure what I'm missing.
Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks!

[Erwin Denissen]

The auto install feature has a maximum per sync folder.

This is to prevent a system from accidentally flooding it with fonts.

We are interested in your broken fonts to further improve MainType.

[Shield]

The auto install feature has a maximum per sync folder.

Would it be possible to develop a way for the software to look only for changes to the server folder since the last sync and add those?
Like a Delta/differential Sync?

I'd be glad to share the broken fonts info with you, but I have to confirm that it is okay first because the client technically owns them. I will let you know asap.