VDM Files?

[coover]

Today, I noticed 8 Directories located on my C: Drive that I do not think were there before ... The directories have strange names like

8f57efc509138e555a6a1e8672bbdad0

and have two files with names like

64367F18-DE9F-44D0-B53C-B213793C0789mpasdlta.vdm

Since they are new, i assume they are related to something I did yesterday. Two days ago, i tried to use Acronis True Image to backup my computer. After a short time, Acronis objected that it couldn't read something within a sector on the hard drive .. oh, oh, I thought. I opened Explorer, right clicked on the drive and selected Properties, went to the Tools tab and selected Error-checking. Several hours later, the Error-checker had found the problems, all luckily within the Recycle Bin, and repaired them. I then used Acronis to "Clone" the original hard drive to another, and replaced the old drive with the new drive. The computer booted right away with the 8 new directories, each with two VDM files.

Any suggestions?

 

[logicearth]

Those folders are temporary files that were extracted but never cleaned from by the installers the created them. You can delete them. Was probably from some of the packages Windows Update installed.

 

[coover]

My first guess was to delete them, but I don't like deleting files that I really do not know from whence they came.

 

[Peregrine]

Do you have Microsoft Security Essentials? MSE leaves folders like this with VDM files after every update. They seem to show up in odd places like this. Head over to the Microsoft forums and check it out. Apparently a fix is in the works so they get saved in the proper place.

 

[coover]

Thanks ... I've now deleted them without any apparent effect (yet).

 

[BeechV35Pilot]

Just an FYI since they are already gone but I suspect they may have been Acronis image files. Acronis also uses the VDM extension in their (at least) last two releases of True Image.

By chance did you run a backup mistakenly to the C drive when you last ran Acronis?

 

[ba5ik]

For everyone having problems with VDM files and folders go into MSE>options and uncheck "Check for the latest virus & spyware definitions..."

 

[logicearth]

For everyone having problems with VDM files and folders go into MSE>options and uncheck "Check for the latest virus & spyware definitions..."

Uhhh...no offense but that suggestion is just unwise. This issue with temp directories is not that bad to warrant such a workaround.

 

[coover]

To BeechV35Pilot ... No, the first attempt to clone was to an external HD using the latest version of True Image, 2010 Home and was intended to be a backup. After repairing the hard drive so it could be read, I cloned to a new drive I installed within the computer, itself.

I guess I was very lucky this time, that the files on the section that had to be repaired were all within the Recycle Bin.