I'm a convert to Mac from earlier this year after decades of Windows. I've mostly adapted but I still come across some things that perplex me. In most cases I can find my answers here and/or other sources, but I've not found a satisfactory answer to this one and I am concerned about a repeat behavior.
These two items may or may not be related, although they are the same pdf. Apologies for the long post, but I want to try to include all relevant information.
Back in October, I needed to download a pdf from a government (State of NJ, US) website. The file came down as a folder called "filename.pdf.download", which I found odd. It was not in a zip format. This was a time sensitive matter, so after a few attempts at getting to the pdf, I downloaded the file from a Windows machine, no problems, it came down as filename.pdf as expected. I eventually moved that file to my Synology NAS. I think I went from the Windows machine to the NAS, and then opened the file from my Mac, while it was on the NAS.
This NAS has been in place since September 2020, prior to me having a Mac. It is a dual hard drive RAID 1 configuration formatted as Btrfs.
Last week, I attempted to access that pdf only to find that it was corrupted. I was unable to open it with any program, Preview, Foxit, Adobe Reader, or PDF Expert. Luckily I was able to redownload the file from the State website. Once again, it came down as a folder and I could not open it. This time, I discovered, I was able to right-click on the file to view the contents. I then copied the pdf and relocated it. Earlier this week, I needed to download a file from a Federal (US) website, it again came down as a folder. I dit the right-click to view, copy & move again.
Additional information: I have never had a pdf come down as a download folder from any other website, only these two government run ones. I did download a pdf from a different Federal website, and that one came down as a pdf. Back in October when I first came across this, the Mac was still running OS14.x. In between downloading that file and discovering it was corrupt, I'd upgraded my Mac to 15.1.1, I'd also done an update to the NAS. I do not run Beta versions.
Brings me to my questions. Of lesser concern, why the odd download of a pdf? I'm somewhat comfortable with writing it off as a government software incompatibility with Mac, now that I know how to access the pdf. My bigger concern, which I hope someone will have some insight on, is what could have caused that first pdf to become corrupted and do I need to be concerned about it happening with other pdf files? Is there anyway I can determine if the Mac or NAS caused the corruption? Also, how would I even know, until I tried to open that file again. Meaning, if I backup the corrupted file, having a backup does no good.
I'm still thinking of how I want to move forward. I've purchased another external HDD to backup my NAS and am considering purchasing additional Cloud storage. But again, if I am just backing up a corrupted file, that does me no good. I'm also questioning my overall file storage procedures. Since I obtained the NAS, I store the bulk of my files there. I also run the Synology software which backs up my Mac and my wife's Windows laptop automatically. I'm questioning that behavior now. Should I store the files locally and then backup to the NAS and/or Time Machine and/or a Cloud service. Not knowing if I should blame the Mac or NAS for corrupting the file, makes it harder for me to answer that question.
Short term, any critical files like the one that started this, I am saving locally on the Mac, on the NAS, on a separate external SSD Drive as well as emailing it to myself, while I research other solutions.
These two items may or may not be related, although they are the same pdf. Apologies for the long post, but I want to try to include all relevant information.
Back in October, I needed to download a pdf from a government (State of NJ, US) website. The file came down as a folder called "filename.pdf.download", which I found odd. It was not in a zip format. This was a time sensitive matter, so after a few attempts at getting to the pdf, I downloaded the file from a Windows machine, no problems, it came down as filename.pdf as expected. I eventually moved that file to my Synology NAS. I think I went from the Windows machine to the NAS, and then opened the file from my Mac, while it was on the NAS.
This NAS has been in place since September 2020, prior to me having a Mac. It is a dual hard drive RAID 1 configuration formatted as Btrfs.
Last week, I attempted to access that pdf only to find that it was corrupted. I was unable to open it with any program, Preview, Foxit, Adobe Reader, or PDF Expert. Luckily I was able to redownload the file from the State website. Once again, it came down as a folder and I could not open it. This time, I discovered, I was able to right-click on the file to view the contents. I then copied the pdf and relocated it. Earlier this week, I needed to download a file from a Federal (US) website, it again came down as a folder. I dit the right-click to view, copy & move again.
Additional information: I have never had a pdf come down as a download folder from any other website, only these two government run ones. I did download a pdf from a different Federal website, and that one came down as a pdf. Back in October when I first came across this, the Mac was still running OS14.x. In between downloading that file and discovering it was corrupt, I'd upgraded my Mac to 15.1.1, I'd also done an update to the NAS. I do not run Beta versions.
Brings me to my questions. Of lesser concern, why the odd download of a pdf? I'm somewhat comfortable with writing it off as a government software incompatibility with Mac, now that I know how to access the pdf. My bigger concern, which I hope someone will have some insight on, is what could have caused that first pdf to become corrupted and do I need to be concerned about it happening with other pdf files? Is there anyway I can determine if the Mac or NAS caused the corruption? Also, how would I even know, until I tried to open that file again. Meaning, if I backup the corrupted file, having a backup does no good.
I'm still thinking of how I want to move forward. I've purchased another external HDD to backup my NAS and am considering purchasing additional Cloud storage. But again, if I am just backing up a corrupted file, that does me no good. I'm also questioning my overall file storage procedures. Since I obtained the NAS, I store the bulk of my files there. I also run the Synology software which backs up my Mac and my wife's Windows laptop automatically. I'm questioning that behavior now. Should I store the files locally and then backup to the NAS and/or Time Machine and/or a Cloud service. Not knowing if I should blame the Mac or NAS for corrupting the file, makes it harder for me to answer that question.
Short term, any critical files like the one that started this, I am saving locally on the Mac, on the NAS, on a separate external SSD Drive as well as emailing it to myself, while I research other solutions.
