Undeletable directory... Please help!

[cyberguru 0]

I recently cancelled an unzip operation in PowerArchiver and now I cant delete the directory it made; the best explination I can come up with is

 

I dragged the file with the right mouse button and clicked "Extract to <name of zip>".

As soon as it started I clicked cancel and I think it didnt quite make the directory name properly.

I tried to delete the directory and the only message I get is "cannot read from the source file or disc"

I have looked at the name in command prompt and there is a space on the end of the directory name, which windows doesnt allow. I cannot rename or delete or move the directory.

Does anyone know how I can remove this directory without formatting the drive as its a 120gig drive with about 60gig of data on and its just not practical.

 

Thanks

 

-Mark

[adamvjackson 0]

Run chkdsk/scandisk. Or, you could boot into the recovery console and remove from there.

[cyberguru 0]

I tried scandisk from the drice properties->tools page and I ran 'chkdsk /f' but I think it may have only done the C drive because I didnt tell it which drive... Ill run it again and then try recovery console.

 

Thanks

 

-Mark

[ViolentGreen 0]

Quote:

I recently cancelled an unzip operation in PowerArchiver and now I cant delete the directory it made; the best explination I can come up with is

I dragged the file with the right mouse button and clicked "Extract to <name of zip>".
As soon as it started I clicked cancel and I think it didnt quite make the directory name properly.
I tried to delete the directory and the only message I get is "cannot read from the source file or disc"
I have looked at the name in command prompt and there is a space on the end of the directory name, which windows doesnt allow. I cannot rename or delete or move the directory.
Does anyone know how I can remove this directory without formatting the drive as its a 120gig drive with about 60gig of data on and its just not practical.

Thanks

-Mark

I am sure you have tried this but I will ask anyway... Have you tried rebooting? I have ran into that problem many times...it is usually solved with a reboot or stopping whatever app/service is accessing the file. In my case it has been explorer

[Bursar 0]

The Windows Resource Kit comes with a few handy utils for stuff like this. They're basically ported from POSIX (IIRC), and will happily let you delete files and folders that have characters in them that Windows doesn't like.

 

The resource kit contains a file called rm.exe and this is the tool you're after.

 

It doesn't seem to be available from the MS website, but I'm sure you could find a version of it on the web somewhere that will do the trick.

[cyberguru 0]

I tried rebooting.. Thats what I tried first but the directory cannot be read, its not in use.

 

Thanks for the info about the res kit. I will have a look and see what I can find.

 

Thanks for the help

 

-Mark

[nebulus 0]

Quote:

The Windows Resource Kit comes with a few handy utils for stuff like this. They're basically ported from POSIX (IIRC), and will happily let you delete files and folders that have characters in them that Windows doesn't like.

The resource kit contains a file called rm.exe and this is the tool you're after.

It doesn't seem to be available from the MS website, but I'm sure you could find a version of it on the web somewhere that will do the trick.

http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/

[Christianb 8]

Hi CyberGuru,

If the directory can not be read it sounds like you either have a file system corruption issue. Have you tried running ScanDisk thorough? Also deleting from the recovery console works great I've used that before. You just boot off your Win2K (probably WinXP too) CD and you're set.

Good Luck,

Christian

[cyberguru 0]

Ive managed to do it using those UnixUtils. But I had to emtpy the directory that this directory was in and delete them both.

I couldnt boot to the recovery console, my PC has a raid controller that makes a blue screen when I boot the XP CD. Also tried running scandisk and chkdsk, but neither of them reported any problems.

 

Thanks for all the help, Im gonna keep hold of those Unix tools. Handy little buggers.

 

-Mark