Arrrrrgh! Corrupted Files/Folders Will Not Delete

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BobH
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Arrrrrgh! Corrupted Files/Folders Will Not Delete

Post by BobH »

After spending 40 years working with computers and then playing with them for 10 years since I retired, I have come to believe that I have learned nothing from the process.

In trying to recover fully from my failed HDD, I've created back-up images using Acronis True Image Home. I tried to recover files and folders into a newly created directory on my C:\ drive only to discover that Acronis failed and abnormally ended. (Does anyone use the term "abend" anymore?) Not noticing that the root problem was too little available disk space, I created another directory leaving the first one, and tried again. It was at this abend that I discovered the allocation problem.

Thanks to Big Al's recommendation I downloaded and used EASUS Partition Manager and expanded the partition to use all available space, except the Acronis Secure Zone which I must yet investigate to determine its utility to me. At present the Properties of my HDD show 93GB in use and 239GB available. Of the 93GB in use, about 70GB are consumed by the folders created by Acronis before I expanded the partition.

I want to get rid of the directories and all that they contain, but I get error messages indicating that one of the directory trees has a corrupted directory entry which I take to mean a corruption in the NTFS file system. The other directory contains a file which is protected and not accessible. Both errors abend the deletion process and the disk space remains, consuming good real estate needlessly.

I googled the error messages and found that I should run chkdsk /f on the device, which I did. It said that it found and fixed or deleted bad records, but I get the same problem trying to delete the directories after a reboot. I checked further and found that there is an NTFS fix utility with I ran and got similar indications but have the same results.

I've posted on the Acronis forum for help, but at this point I'm a bit snake-bit about Acronis. From all indications it was Acronis that corrupted the file system pointers in those directories as no other application has written to them . It XP was the culprit it's the first time I've had the problem in nearly 10 years of using it.

Add to that the fact that I could not get Acronis to 'see' the WD Passport that I backup to for about 3 days. Today, magically it found it and I was able to do the incremental backup, which, of course, is going to have the two corrupted folders in it.

Before trying to recover the Acronis archive, I want to delete the 2 large directories. Does anyone have suggestions for doing so? Do I need to proved more specifics?

TIA
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John Gray
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Re: Arrrrrgh! Corrupted Files/Folders Will Not Delete

Post by John Gray »

You could try Unlocker 1.9.1. It sometimes gives the impression that nothing is happening, so you have to be patient.
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BobH
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Re: Arrrrrgh! Corrupted Files/Folders Will Not Delete

Post by BobH »

Thank you very much, John!

It worked!
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Re: Arrrrrgh! Corrupted Files/Folders Will Not Delete

Post by viking33 »

What version of Acronis are you using?
I'm using 2012, which has a method to remove the protected partition that SZ resides in.
One of those directories is probably Acronis Secure Zone.
-----------------------------(from the help files )
Acronis Secure Zone
The Acronis Secure Zone is a secure partition that lets you keep backups on a managed machine disk space. This lets you recover a disk where the disk backup resides.

When you create an Acronis Secure Zone, an icon appears under My Computer in the Other section. Double-clicking on the Acronis Secure Zone icon opens the Secure Zone and you can view all the backups it contains. You can also open the Secure Zone by right-clicking on its icon and choosing Open in the shortcut menu.
---------------
This is only a small portion of the Help file. There is a TON of info in there, without me trying to quote each section but I suggest you try asking for Tech help direct instead of posting in the forum. I assume they still have the direct tech support available, since I haven't had to avail myself of it in some time.
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BobH
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Re: Arrrrrgh! Corrupted Files/Folders Will Not Delete

Post by BobH »

Thanks, Bob!

I'm using ATIH 2010. I really wish that their documentation was more comprehensive. It seems they are relying on user forums to support purchasers and I fif this slw, cumbersome and somewhat unreliable
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Re: Arrrrrgh! Corrupted Files/Folders Will Not Delete

Post by Roderunner »

BobH wrote:Thanks, Bob!

I'm using ATIH 2010. I really wish that their documentation was more comprehensive. It seems they are relying on user forums to support purchasers and I fif this slw, cumbersome and somewhat unreliable
If you navigate to the file highlighted, right click and copy, then right click desktop and paste, you can read it at your leisure.
RR.jpg
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BobH
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Re: Arrrrrgh! Corrupted Files/Folders Will Not Delete

Post by BobH »

I have the documentation, I just find it less than desirable for a purchased product.
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BobH
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Re: Arrrrrgh! Corrupted Files/Folders Will Not Delete

Post by BobH »

For John Gray,

As I reported in an earlier post, Unlocker allowed me to delete the directories that I complained about. Although these directories were on the C: drive they were not in the Windows installation directory, but deleting them has screwed up the disk drive.

I cannot start Windows from the hard drive or from a CD. I get a black screen with [XLDR]ATA error. I believe this means that the Master Boot Record (MBR) has been corrupted.

I can't load Windows so I can't run any Command line processes like FDISK or eveN FORMAT. Does anyone have suggestions for overcoming my problem? It seems the more I try to recover the worse I make it.
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Re: Arrrrrgh! Corrupted Files/Folders Will Not Delete

Post by viking33 »

Did you maybe create an Acronis Recovery CD?
If you did, you could boot to it and advance to GO ( like monopoly) and make a new start with files and MBR.
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BobH
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Re: Arrrrrgh! Corrupted Files/Folders Will Not Delete

Post by BobH »

viking33 wrote:Did you maybe create an Acronis Recovery CD?
If you did, you could boot to it and advance to GO ( like monopoly) and make a new start with files and MBR.
Yes, I did make an Aconis recovery CD and I have one that came with the product plus 3 different slipped WinxP disks that Ive found so far but none will load. All give the same error, and, yes, I have setup reading Optical and USB drives first.
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Re: Arrrrrgh! Corrupted Files/Folders Will Not Delete

Post by viking33 »

BobH wrote:
viking33 wrote:Did you maybe create an Acronis Recovery CD?
If you did, you could boot to it and advance to GO ( like monopoly) and make a new start with files and MBR.
Yes, I did make an Aconis recovery CD and I have one that came with the product plus 3 different slipped WinxP disks that Ive found so far but none will load. All give the same error, and, yes, I have setup reading Optical and USB drives first.
Holy smoke! You're saying you can't even boot to a CD? That shouldn't be a MBR trouble then, since at that point the HD isn't yet in the picture yet.
Go into the BIOS and look around there.
Hope you haven't created a new anchor for your boat! :groan: :sad:
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BobH
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Re: Arrrrrgh! Corrupted Files/Folders Will Not Delete

Post by BobH »

Yes, you are probably right - the laptop is probably now a boat anchor and I'm afraid it won't even be very good for that use.
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