Folder has become database!
 

I have - or had - a folder in ~ called Pictures where I keep RAW files before I process them.

I wanted to download some from the camera but I just noticed that the folder has become a database - any ideas how I can turn it back into a folder? I'm guessing it would have happened while one of my sons was randomly bashing the keyboard. Very weird.

Thanks for any help

what does it mean? How could it become a database? What kind of database? How do you know it is a database?

I wish I knew - here's a shot from the Properties dialogue. It's not strictly speaking a database but it's been wrapped up like a sqldump I think.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/78885605/Scr...%3A28%3A51.png

It may just be that a file in that folder has a certain extension that makes the file manager think it is an SQLite database. Googling I found http://www.sqlite.org/fileformat.html but it is not very illuminating.

If you open a terminal and cd to there and do ls or ls -l or ls -al, does it look like a regular directory?

Michael

What says "file Pictures"?

It says;

Pictures: SQLite 3.x database

I don't think so - it contained RAW and pngs.

The ls -a and similar just return the value Pictures.

Then I'd try to open it with sqlite3.

Thanks - it's such a weird problem that I think I'll just delete the folder-cum-database and pretend it never happened! I think I have the pictures backed up.

First I'll see if I can find a way of reading what's on there.

Yep, all backed up - I don't see any useful learning experience from this one so I'll discard the errant database I think.

Thanks for your help though people, much appreciated.

It would be a good idea to force an fsck of that filesystem. Directories don't somehow turn into ordinary files without leaving a mess behind.

Furthermore, check for bad blocks on the hard disk, and a memtest wouldn't be out of place either.

Thanks both of you - tests suggest that the partition is OK.