I have some weird folders taking up nearly 60 GB's of space on my hard drive--I have no idea what they are, but I can't delete them. Windows says it can't delete them because the "filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect."

Does anyone know what this means? I tried a program called "CyberScrub" to get rid of the files, but it didn't seem to do anything.

Does anyone know of a good program out there that might get rid of these files permanently?

THANKS!

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That's a mess all right ... have you got any decent AV s/w installed? Inexplicable phenomena like that shout virus to me.

Quote: Originally Posted by Jonny English That's a mess all right ... have you got any decent AV s/w installed? Inexplicable phenomena like that shout virus to me.

And oddball filenames to top it all. I am most certainly going to agree with Jonny. Get yourself some AV $oftware and scan that drive.

To me it looks like a hard drive heading South on a permanent vacation. When is the last time you ran CheckDisk?

Quote: Originally Posted by TekXoID Run CHKDSK/F Trend Micro Online A/V Scan (If oddball files/folders are still there) System Mechanic - Use the incinerator tool to permanently trash the files.

Thanks, Tek--that's more like it.

Yes, I have run AV and it didn't pick anything up--I should have mentioned that before. I will be replacing the hard drive regardless, but I am still trying to figure out what the hell is up with those files and how they got there. I mean, there's even a 35 gig backup of this garbage! AHH!

Bad clusters will make files that look like that.

Try booting into Safe Mode to delete the files.
If youre buying a new drive, I'd just scrub the thing and use it as a slave drive.

Quote: Originally Posted by BigAkita Bad clusters will make files that look like that.

"BAD" clusters? What the crap is that supposed to mean? Is it broken or something? I mean, it otherwise works perfectly fine, and over 60gb of "bad clusters" is an awful lot for the 160gb drive to still seem to work, don't you think?

WOAH there dawg, simmer down. Sheesh. Is it possible you forgot who BigAkita is? Maybe you're just havin a bad day. Relax man!

EDIT: By the way, have you tried booting to DOS and doing a manual delete from the promt? That would be the hard way but it might work. Just a thought.

A bad cluster means that the data was not written properly to the disk and the HD cannot retrieve the data. It can either be soft, which means that it was not written to disk properly due to an error with the magnet, or the magnet is not strong enough to make a positive or negative charge.

A hard error means that there is physical damage to the disk, most likely caused by the R/W heads making contact with the disk while it was spinning. Those areas cannot hold a charge anymore.

If it was a soft error, it's not uncommon to have a substantial portion of the drive affected. If you had done a little research on your own instead of being freaking lazy and relying on others to fix your problem you would have known this.

DON'T catch an attitude when people are trying to help.

You don't say WHO the hard drive manufacturer is or how OLD the hard drive might be. Go to the HOMEPAGE of the manufacturer and browse to the support section and DOWNLOAD the offered hard drive utility...for example, for WESTERN DIGITAL drives the tool is called DIGITAL LIFEGUARD TOOLS and for MAXTOR, the utility is called MAXBLAST...links are below. If you have a drive manufactured by another compny, then go to that company's HOME PAGE and look for a similar tool.

( http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp#dlgtools )
( http://maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm )

These tools are used to DIAGNOSE the health and condition of your hard drives (ie; determine if there are "Bad Clusters" etc...in other words, they tell you if the drive is shot or not. If the drive is shot and you are still within warranty, contact the company and request an RMA number and return the drive for replacement.

If these diagnostic programs find NO problem with the drive, then you can eliminate a hardware issue and concentrate on software. Ultimately, if you can't solve the problem, REFORMAT the drive and reinstall windows.

Jazzyjazz

BigAkita sounds like he's on the right track to me..........I had this happen a few years back on my old Compaq system, the files started to read "JUST LIKE YOURS". I tried several times to reinstall the OS but, it did the same after a few days of running and the hard drive finally crapped-out on me. So, guess what?......I think you need to start looking for a replacment.

Quote: Originally Posted by Jazzyjazz You don't say WHO the hard drive manufacturer is or how OLD the hard drive might be. Go to the HOMEPAGE of the manufacturer and browse to the support section and DOWNLOAD the offered hard drive utility...for example, for WESTERN DIGITAL drives the tool is called DIGITAL LIFEGUARD TOOLS and for MAXTOR, the utility is called MAXBLAST...links are below. If you have a drive manufactured by another compny, then go to that company's HOME PAGE and look for a similar tool. ( http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp#dlgtools ) ( http://maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm ) These tools are used to DIAGNOSE the health and condition of yur hard drives...in other words, they tell you if the drive is shot or not. If the drive is shot and you are still within warranty, contact the company and request an RMA number and return the drive for replacement. If these diagnostic programs find NO problem with the drive, then you can eliminate a hardware issue and concentrate on software. Ultimately, if you can't solve the problem, REFORMAT the drive and reinstall windows. Jazzyjazz

My old Compaq had a WD in it with the Lifeguard tools and at one time it read that the hard drive was fine...then it would say there was a problem. I'd reformat then it would say it was fine.......then it crapped-out and wouldn't even boot.

Quote: Originally Posted by Highperf15 My old Compaq had a WD in it with the Lifeguard tools and at one time it read that the hard drive was fine...then it would say there was a problem. I'd reformat then it would say it was fine.......then it crapped-out and wouldn't even boot.

Uhmmm...Western Digital's tool ALWAYS worked Great for me. I even RMA'd a hard drive based on it's diagnosis. ( I assume you followed the directions to the letter ie; making a bootable cd and copying the files to floppy and then booting off the floppy (also ensuring there was no AUTO.EXE or CONFIG.EXE present). I also assume your problem was indeed the hard drive.)

Not meaning to sound snobbish at all ( I apologize if I sound like it, I recognize from your system specs that you are a knowledgeable person...a Barton 2800+ overclocked from default 2.083 Ghz to 2.28 Ghz ) but I would be remiss if I didn't mention...

End Result???...it is a tool to be used to help gather as much info about the system as possible. It's results are to be taken into consideration, along with ALL other symptoms, by the person doing the repairs.

Sorry, it did not work for you.

Finally, this tool is at VERSION 11 now (did you use an earlier version?)...the "bug" that plagued you may in all likelihood been "updated" out.

Jazz

Quote: Originally Posted by Jazzyjazz Uhmmm...Western Digital's tool ALWAYS worked Great for me. I even RMA'd a hard drive based on it's diagnosis. ( I assume you followed the directions to the letter ie; making a bootable cd and copying the files to floppy and then booting off the floppy (also ensuring there was no AUTO.EXE or CONFIG.EXE present). I also assume your problem was indeed the hard drive.) Not meaning to sound snobbish at all ( I apologize if I sound like it, I recognize from your system specs that you are a knowledgeable person...a Barton 2800+ overclocked from default 2.083 Ghz to 2.28 Ghz ) but I would be remiss if I didn't mention... End Result???...it is a tool to be used to help gather as much info about the system as possible. It's results are to be taken into consideration, along with ALL other symptoms, by the person doing the repairs. Sorry, it did not work for you. Finally, this tool is at VERSION 11 now (did you use an earlier version?)...the "bug" that plagued you may in all likelihood been "updated" out. Jazz

Oh no Jazz......It did work for me.......but like anything else, it does have it's limits. That Compaq that I'm refering to was an old 475mhz that had a 10 gb hd and it just gave up the ghost. Naw, all I was saying is that sometimes, even the tools can't help yah, especially when the system is old.......and guess what....lol.....I'm still running W.D. and Lifeguard tools in my current system.

Quote: Originally Posted by BigAkita A bad cluster means that the data was not written properly to the disk and the HD cannot retrieve the data. It can either be soft, which means that it was not written to disk properly due to an error with the magnet, or the magnet is not strong enough to make a positive or negative charge. A hard error means that there is physical damage to the disk, most likely caused by the R/W heads making contact with the disk while it was spinning. Those areas cannot hold a charge anymore. If it was a soft error, it's not uncommon to have a substantial portion of the drive affected. If you had done a little research on your own instead of being freaking lazy and relying on others to fix your problem you would have known this. DON'T catch an attitude when people are trying to help.

LAZY?!?!? Give me a break! I think YOU simply misinterpreted what I said. I wasn't "catching an attitude," I just didn't understand anything about what you meant, and I don't know why you would assume anyone would have understood. I'm not lazy or dumb, but hard drive maintenence has always been anything but problematic for me in the past, and frankly I thought this would be the best place to go to first for advice. Thanksfully, I got some. So calm down--I don't care "WHO" BigAkita is, but I certainly appreciate the help.

For refference, the HD is a Maxtor 160GB drive barely 4 months old. I'm going to try their site AGAIN (I've tried A LOT of things besides pimprig by now), and maybe I can find something else.

Thanks again,

Greydawg

Quote: Originally Posted by Jazzyjazz You don't say WHO the hard drive manufacturer is or how OLD the hard drive might be. Go to the HOMEPAGE of the manufacturer and browse to the support section and DOWNLOAD the offered hard drive utility...for example, for WESTERN DIGITAL drives the tool is called DIGITAL LIFEGUARD TOOLS and for MAXTOR, the utility is called MAXBLAST...links are below. If you have a drive manufactured by another compny, then go to that company's HOME PAGE and look for a similar tool. ( http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp#dlgtools ) ( http://maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm ) These tools are used to DIAGNOSE the health and condition of your hard drives (ie; determine if there are "Bad Clusters" etc...in other words, they tell you if the drive is shot or not. If the drive is shot and you are still within warranty, contact the company and request an RMA number and return the drive for replacement. If these diagnostic programs find NO problem with the drive, then you can eliminate a hardware issue and concentrate on software. Ultimately, if you can't solve the problem, REFORMAT the drive and reinstall windows. Jazzyjazz

BTW, PowerMax REQUIRES a floppy drive, which I refuse to use b/c I've had two floppy drives fry two mobo's, and with bootable CD's I don't need a floppy anyway...unless I wanted to install Windows 98...

I'll have to keep looking for another HD diagnostic program, but thanks. If you know of any other good HD diag's, let me know!

Quote: Originally Posted by Highperf15 Oh no Jazz......It did work for me.......but like anything else, it does have it's limits. That Compaq that I'm refering to was an old 475mhz that had a 10 gb hd and it just gave up the ghost. Naw, all I was saying is that sometimes, even the tools can't help yah, especially when the system is old.......and guess what....lol.....I'm still running W.D. and Lifeguard tools in my current system.

Highperf15

I was happy to see your good natured reply...I was a little worried (when I re-read my post) that I sounded a little "too over the top"..peace out!

Now, about that "vintage" piece of equipment...You just gotta' let it go! (LoL)
Must have been painful parting, huh?

You are absoltely RIGHT...sometimes, "even the tools can't help yah" but we know you go to start somewhere, right? Right.

Yeah...I just got a WD 200 GB SATA drive (upgraded from a 100 GB WD Caviar for it) ...Whew...it SMOKES! Western Digital FOREVER!


NOW, for the man in the back wit' the
Greydawg...

Three letters for you with a 4 month old 160 GB hard drive...

R-M-A !!!

Contact WD Customer Support again and respectfully DEMAND an RMA number. They might try to put you off if their diagnostic tool finds no errors, but you got a right to be SATISFIED.
You also might try it in another computer first before you go this far just to ensure that the hard drive is indeed the problem.

Yeah, ain't it a kick in the pants when you got that many GB just the way you like it and you have to reformat??? My heart goes out to you. Grin and bear it.

Ref
"BTW, PowerMax REQUIRES a floppy drive, which I refuse to use b/c I've had two floppy drives fry two mobo's, and with bootable CD's I don't need a floppy anyway...unless I wanted to install Windows 98..."

Duh...I have not seen this happen before, but you 'de man and I believe. I have had my nForce2 chipset fry a cd-rom because it recognized it and ran it as a ATA 100 device and not an ATA 33. A device fried by the mobo...yes, but not a floppy frying the mobo. I guess if a graphics card can do it so can a floppy, huh?
BTW, WD LIFEGUARD tools also require a floppy (maybe they offer network support?).

Also, HOW do you upgrade your BIOS with bootable cd's? I tried this before and I could not get the bios upgrade to recognize or work from the cd-rom...it kept looking for a floppy no matter what I did. I now use Abit's FLASH MENU (automatic bios update program on line) but I am still curious.

Jazz

Quote: Originally Posted by Greydawg LAZY?!?!? Give me a break! I think YOU simply misinterpreted what I said. I wasn't "catching an attitude," I just didn't understand anything about what you meant, and I don't know why you would assume anyone would have understood. I'm not lazy or dumb, but hard drive maintenence has always been anything but problematic for me in the past, and frankly I thought this would be the best place to go to first for advice. Thanksfully, I got some. So calm down--I don't care "WHO" BigAkita is, but I certainly appreciate the help. For refference, the HD is a Maxtor 160GB drive barely 4 months old. I'm going to try their site AGAIN (I've tried A LOT of things besides pimprig by now), and maybe I can find something else. Thanks again, Greydawg

Greydawg,
First things first I would take a look at your attitude and adjust it. BA is one of the most highly respected members here so you should care WHO he is, if you don't believe me look at his join date and post count. Now post count don't me squat but look up a few of his threads and post and you will see why he is such a highly respected member.

Secondly, this is a very different community from all of the others that are out there, we follow rules, we have respect for our members, and we don't post crap (not that this post is crap), and finally we all we give everyone a fair chance to make a name for themselves. If you can't have some respect for the members here then you will be met with a ton of opposition that will convince you to look elsewhere to pull crap.

Lastly, if you need help the members here are most definetly willing to help out but you will need to provide all the information and then take the fact that the answers you are provided with may or may not be the correct solution to your problem.

Oh and one more thing double posting will not go over very well with most members here, that is why we have an edit button.

And by the way this is not meant to be an insult or yelling, just trying to point a few things out.