Remove directory Issues

[Tuck]

Hi,

I'm recovering from a nasty hard drive crash and I need to delete some corrupted directories. I'm encountering a problem when using Rmdir(rd) on a specific folder. In an elevated command prompt I type,

RD /S /Q "G:\Folder\Folder\TargetDirectory"

but even with the /s switch I still get the "The directory is not empty." message for each subfolder within the directory. I have also tried shift+delete and deleting in safe mode to no avail. Thanks for any response.

-Tuck

 

[Brink]

Hello Tuck,

You might see if you may be able to delete the folder using a command prompt at boot instead.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/55721-folder-delete-command-prompt.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Tuck]

Thanks for the quick response,

I tried deleting from the safe mode command prompt, but I encountered a similar problem. The command prompt listed each subfolder and for each it said "The directory is not empty," except for the last one where it said "The request could not be completed because of an IO error."

-Tuck

 

[Brink]

Safe Mode is not at boot. Give it a try it from a command prompt (click on link) opened using your retail Windows 7 installation DVD instead.

 

[Tuck]

I booted from the install disc and entered the command prompt. Upon trying to change to the drive with the undesired directory in it, by typing "G:", I received the message "the system cannot find the drive specified." The drive is external, which I should have mentioned before, but I don't know if that would make a difference.

Thanks,
Tucker

 

[Brink]

Ah, I see.

See if you may be able to manually delete the contents of each subfolder in the TargetDirectory, then see if you may be able to delete the TargetDirectory.

 

[Ztruker]

You can also try running chkdsk g: /f against that drive to see if it fixes any file system errors.

 

[mjf]

I booted from the install disc and entered the command prompt. Upon trying to change to the drive with the undesired directory in it, by typing "G:", I received the message "the system cannot find the drive specified." The drive is external, which I should have mentioned before, but I don't know if that would make a difference.

Thanks,
Tucker

You are aware that drive letters "change" when booting from system repair or install disk?

 

[Tuck]

In response to Brink: If I try to open the subfolders, explorer freezes up for ten minutes or so and then displays the message "You need to format the disk G: before you can use it. Would you like to format it?" If I try to delete the subfolders themselves, even outside of the command prompt, I still get the "This directory is not empty," message.

In response to Ztruker: I have tried running chkdsk /f /r, which hangs in step 2 while discovering indexes.

In response to mjf: I do not understand what you mean. I noticed that the command prompt started in the X: drive, but I could switch to my C: drive with no issue. Would other drives letter's change?

Thanks to everybody for their suggestions,
Tuck

 

[mjf]

I thought earlier Brink was talking about booting from your install DVD or System Repair DVD. Then you get an X: prompt.
Windows is not being booted by your HDD. It's using the Winre version of windows on your boot disk.
Most of the drive letters will not coincide with what they are normally when you do a normal boot. In your case C: appears to coincide.

At the X:\...\ prompt
type
>diskpart
>list volume
then you get a list of drive letters next to the label descriptions. Your external (G:will probably have another letter assigned. This is the letter you use until you eventually reboot back into normal Windows 7.
> exit
get you back to
X:\....\

 

[Ztruker]

That's the main reason I name my drives/partitions as I do. It's a Dell Precision 370. When Win 7 is booted, they are:

D370_C (C: )
D370_D (D: )
D370_E (E: )
D370_F (F: )
D370_G (G: )
D370_H (H: )

That way I know no matter what actual drive letter is assigned in other environments, D370_C is always my Win 7 C: drive, etc.

 

[Tuck]

It turns out that the drive letter did change, however I was still unsuccessful in deleting the folder from the installation disk command prompt. I think I'm just going to have to format the thing. Thanks to everybody who helped.

 

[mjf]

It might have been interesting to see if the super hidden administrator account made any difference.
Hidden Administrator

Certainly not an account for day to day use.

 

[Brink]

It turns out that the drive letter did change, however I was still unsuccessful in deleting the folder from the installation disk command prompt. I think I'm just going to have to format the thing. Thanks to everybody who helped.

What did it say when you tried deleting the folder?

 

[Tuck]

The system could not find the folder specified. See the event log for details or something to that effect.

 

[Brink]

Tuck,

Do you have enough free space to temporarily copy everything on the corrupted drive that you want to keep to another drive/partition? Afterwards, format the currupted drive and copy everything back.

 

[Tepid]

You could have some really nasty corruption going on.

I don't know how adept you might be, But i can tell you that a Linux Live CD would probably delete those folders.
That is if they actually exist. ... they could be (not saying they are) ghost directories that are stuck out there and may not actually exist... cause by really nasty corruption.
Chkdsk could help remedy that issue. But if not, you may need to take more drastic measures...

One of those being... back up what data you can,,, then Nuke and reload.

Or......

If you are adept enough to learning,,,, you could try Puppy Linux Live CD.

Just download the latest release lupu-511.iso and burn to CD
Then boot your system with the CD like you would 7
just let the boot process go till you either get to a prompt (just select US or English) this is just language keyboard locations stuff
you may also have to select video resolution. just read what it says and follow the instructions.

Or it may just boot you right into the OS.

Then you will see an Icon called Mount,,,, click it once
There you should see your Drive or drives
You will have to mount each one to find what you are looking for or try going by size, or generally they will be listed in order like....

sda1 = C: (the boot drive)
sda2 = D: (the OS drive)
sda3= E: (other drive)

etc. or something similarly equal to that.

Then you can try right clicking those folders and find delete and delete then choose Quiet.
They should disappear.

Why?

Cause Linux does handle these things differently. It ignores much of the problems that Windows does not.
Linux is a good tool to have for situations just like this one.


Personally,, in these situations,, I would recommend the following very highly....

Back up data.....
Get Hard Drive Diags from Manufacturer
Run the diags a couple of times, just to be sure that there are not problems with the drive/drives themselves.
Format and reload windows from scratch.

If you have this kind of crazy corruption, there is no telling what else could be happening or might happen later

 

[Tuck]

Ha I'm actually in the process of doing that now. I'm still encountering errors here and there, but these ones are more google-able.

 

[Tuck]

Thanks for the suggestions Tepid, however, formatting seems so much easier at this point. I've already sunk enough hours of my life into this mess.

 

[Tepid]

hahaha,.,,, yeah, you might want to refresh the screen and re-read my post,, I edited and added stuff,, sorry,, bad habit of mine.