Cannot Rename File Because File (Doesn't) Exists

[superman859]

I'm having a really strange problem and am wondering if anyone has encountered this. I tried to save a file and got an error on saving it, so I quit the program. The file appears as if it was never saved and doesn't show up in directory listing (GUI or cmd.exe).

However, if I try to rename any other file to that filename, it says "Cannot rename file, because file exists" and appends a number to the end. I cannot remove the number. This happens both in the GUI and cmd.exe as well.

So, basically cmd.exe del says the file does not exist, but ren says a duplicate file name exists....

Tried restarting as well.

I have no idea how to delete that "ghost" of a file so I can actually use the filename. I checked folder options and it's not a hidden file or anything like that - it just (doesn't) exist, but it does?

 

[madtownidiot]

open disk management ..if you don't know how to find it, just right click on "computer" from the start menu and select manage, then scroll down to disk management to open it.
right click on the partition where you tried to save the file.. or C:\ if you don't have extra partitions or more than one HDD
select properties and click on the "tools" tab
click "check now" under error checking, and on the next pop up, check 'automatically fix file system errors' and press start.. select yes when asked if you would like to schedule for the next restart, then restart your computer and let the disk check run.
If that doesn't work there are other options

 

[superman859]

open disk management ..if you don't know how to find it, just right click on "computer" from the start menu and select manage, then scroll down to disk management to open it.
right click on the partition where you tried to save the file.. or C:\ if you don't have extra partitions or more than one HDD
select properties and click on the "tools" tab
click "check now" under error checking, and on the next pop up, check 'automatically fix file system errors' and press start.. select yes when asked if you would like to schedule for the next restart, then restart your computer and let the disk check run.
If that doesn't work there are other options

Sorry for the slow response. That didn't work. It didn't find any errors. It's actually happened now with a few other files. I saved them as EPS files in Photoshop, and they show up when I use File - Open within Photoshop, but they do not show up in windows explorer or any other apps (even after a restart).

 

[Jacee]

Have you tried renaming in 'safe mode'?

 

[Undun]

I had trouble moving and renaming my Favorites once. I found the file name in the registry and deleted it and that was the end of my problem. Search your reg for the name of the file and delete it..as always make a backup of the registry first..Good Luck

 

[superman859]

Files do not show up in safe mode (same as regular mode), and files are also not listed in registry when performing a search....

It seems like they were not fully created properly? I can view the original format (a PDF file) just fine, but I'm trying to convert it to EPS by opening in Photoshop and saving it as an EPS - this worked fine in the past. The PDF is visible everywhere, but the EPS is only visible in photoshop file - open. Nowhere else, including registry. The file obviously exists on the file system though, considering I've restarted several times over the past several days and I can still open the (non) existing EPS in Photoshop.

Deleting the files from the photoshop open menu also sends them to the recycling bin, where I CAN see them in there. However, if I restore them, again they do not exist. Strange.

One thing to note is I am working on two different partitions if it makes a difference (I've run the disk checks on all partitions). C has Photoshop and Windows, and D partition is purely data (where these files are / should be)

Now, CUTTING from the recycling bin and pasting to the original directory (instead of hitting restore) DID fix the problem. They are now visible.

So, while I may have access to my ghostly files now - it makes me wonder! What was going on? Is there a better way to fix this? Is there a bigger problem and this is just a symptom?

 

[G1LLY]

Files do not show up in safe mode (same as regular mode), and files are also not listed in registry when performing a search....

It seems like they were not fully created properly? I can view the original format (a PDF file) just fine, but I'm trying to convert it to EPS by opening in Photoshop and saving it as an EPS - this worked fine in the past. The PDF is visible everywhere, but the EPS is only visible in photoshop file - open. Nowhere else, including registry. The file obviously exists on the file system though, considering I've restarted several times over the past several days and I can still open the (non) existing EPS in Photoshop.

Deleting the files from the photoshop open menu also sends them to the recycling bin, where I CAN see them in there. However, if I restore them, again they do not exist. Strange.

One thing to note is I am working on two different partitions if it makes a difference (I've run the disk checks on all partitions). C has Photoshop and Windows, and D partition is purely data (where these files are / should be)

Now, CUTTING from the recycling bin and pasting to the original directory (instead of hitting restore) DID fix the problem. They are now visible.

So, while I may have access to my ghostly files now - it makes me wonder! What was going on? Is there a better way to fix this? Is there a bigger problem and this is just a symptom?

Bit late now but,

Have you ever tried the 0 byte file deletion method using CMD?

I had a problem once where I downloaded a file using Chrome & it didn't save properly & I was left with a 0 byte file that you couldn't delete or do anything (Don't know if it's the same as your ghost files???) with so I used CMD and basically located the file directory (Desktop in my case) & then used the command DIR /X and found the short name of the file then typed DEL SHORTFILENAME~1.EXT which worked.

 

[superman859]

No - the files actually had file sizes and everything. In fact, I could still work with them in Photoshop. I could open them from within Photoshop (or Adobe Bridge), edit them, re-save them, etc. as if they were fine without problems. However, they just didn't show up in anything else, such as explorer, Powerpoint, registry, etc.

 

[whs]

Delete your temporary files - e.g. with CCleaner.