FTP agent shows site apparently empty - but browses fine

I have 3 web sites with one host. I went to update one of them this evening and found that FileZilla was reporting it empty, not even the structural folders that the hosting company provide. I then went to the hosts Website File Manager and that said the same. However I can browse the site, download files, etc. with no problem.

That is also the case for the second site, though it is, from the hosting point of view a subsidiary site of the first (for control and billing purposes I'd guess), though completely different domain.

However a third, completely different site shows fine with FileZilla and browses ok.

I've logged a ticket with the hosts but don't expect to see any progress until Monday.

Out of curiosity what might cause such partial 'invisibility'?

It sounds like, maybe, the Port 21 (FTP) and port 80 (HTTP) accesses are actually looking at different directories.

Have you double checked the full file paths?

I've no control over these, the hosting company does all that. I'm using the same FileZilla parameter file as 2 days ago when it worked fine; I'm using the hosting companies own Website File Manager interface. They're both saying it's empty.

Of course the hosting company may have screwed these up.

I've just noticed in the FileZilla message log window a message that says

226-Sorry, we were unable to read [.]

Maybe significant, maybe not.

Whilst I would like to be able to do some updates over the weekend, it's not a business site so waiting till Monday when their support guys are back in is ok.

In reply to a post by cheshire_man:

I've just noticed in the FileZilla message log window a message that says

226-Sorry, we were unable to read [.]

Maybe significant, maybe not.

That might explain the problem.

. is the current directory.

If FileZilla was unable to read the directory then it would appear empty. That could indicate a possible directory permissions problem.

Can you see the directory permissions?

The directory permissions are showing xxxx but that's also the case for the corresponding directory on a site with them that is working fine so suggests it's not actually meaningful in this case.

I've received an update asking for some information this morning for the ticket I logged last night so that suggests their support is on the case. Didn't expect that on a Sunday. So hopefully they'll sort it before too long.

filezilla is a sod when it comes to caching - not wanting to sound patronising but have you tried doing a view->refresh?

Even a PC reboot didn't clear the problem. But as the hosting company's own Website File Manager couldn't see the folders and files it looked mightily likely a hosting fault.

They'd cleared the fault by 10 o'clock this morning. All working just fine now (just rechecked )