Deleting Corrupt and Unreadable Files

After recovering from an HD failure, the restore added some corrupt files. I am unable to delete them and have used all the suggested methods I could find (e.g. chkdsk, disk cleaner, unlocker), what is left? TIA.

 

For a start I'd suggest you retrieve whatever data remains and bin the drive...

It failed, it will fail again.

If you're not willing to bin it then still copy the data and then reformat but (and I stress) DO NOT trust this drive with critical data in the future. If you do then at the very least add an extra backup to your existing policy because your primary backup will soon become your live data.

 

Hi gw1500se,

Could you give us some more info?
Like:
Is the restore on the same drive or a new one?
What form was the restore in? Image file ,clone , or other type backup?
What tells you the files are corrupt or unreadable? Error messages?
What programs are involved producing those messages?
What are the files that cause the messages? Names etc.

Just because you get those messages doesn't necessarily mean that the files are corrupt or unreadable.
It all depends what processes or programs are used to open them.

There is not a single file on a computer that cannot be deleted if the right tools are used.
Mind you ,some files just shouldn't be deleted unless you want a hosed system.

Unlocker should be able to do it on a reboot unless DEP is preventing it.
There are many other tools like Unlocker.
Eg. KillBox http://killbox.net/
http://killbox.net/help.html
You could also do it via command line or a boot-able rescue CD .

Come back with some answers and I'll tell you in a flash what you can- or should- or may want to do.

Pete E.

 

Thanks for the reply.

A new one.

It was from an image (Acronis).

The error occurs when I do a delete. It says cannot be deleted the file is corrupt and unreadable.

Just Windows Explorer and the delete key.

They are left over files in temp from a Acronis file restore. Specifically, I restored Documents and settings to temp.

I'm not trying to open them, I am trying to delete the **** things with their parent directory from temp.

That is why I'm here, to find some other tool. These are temp files so there is nothing that can hose the system by deleting them unless they hose NTFS itself.

I'll try that too.

Tried that but no good. The error message was really dopey, it said cannot delete, file already exists.

I certainly hope so and thanks again.

 

My apologies for my earlier mistake, I assumed incorrectly that you were trying to reuse a failed HD.

Anyway, can you please quote the exact error message and how you tried to delete the files.

"cannot delete, file already exists" is not a known error for windows or TBH any other utility that I know of.

 

I can't seem to find a way to paste the alert box image on this forum and it won't let me copy so I can paste the text. Here is the error retyped exactly:

Cannot delete 401caae9a347dd9.tif: The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.

FWIW the title on the alert box is "Error Deleting File or Folder. "

My mistake on the file exists error. I get the same error as above from command line. The file exists error occurs when I try to delete it via Cygwin command line.

 

Hi gw1500se,
Thanks for your detailed and organized reply.

Some more questions -sorry
I assume your normal Documents and Settings are ok and working?
Are you running Acronis on the restored drive too?

If so, it looks like Acronis may have the file locked.
Exit any Acronis applications and turn off all Acronis services in the Services panel.
What does the Property sheet say about the temp folder?

You also wrote:

So the message was identical with both methods?
What kind of rescue disc did you use?
If you work outside the active system ,you can delete anything you want,
unless you use EFS on the drive (Encrypted File System)

Pete E.
PS- You posted your reply just before mine ,but basically my answers apply. > tif = True Image File

 

That's better, can you confirm your OS as well please?

Actually...Please enter your System Details. It helps us in answering your questions!


From what I've read chkdsk should resolve this, what exactly happened when you tried that?

EDIT: I'll leave you in DiggerP's capable hands, no need to add noise to the thread.

 

Hi wildfire,

Just a quickie Thanks for the vote of confidence
My number of posts belie my knowledge

Pete E.

 

Correct.

Acronis runs from a bootable CD.

Nothing particularly interesting. Was there something specific you want me to look for?

Yes.

All I have is the Windows recovery console and Acronis but that only lets me set up restores.

One would think using the recovery console would let me delete the files but no such luck. Same message, corrupted and unreadable.

Thanks again for the reply. I still need to try the software you suggested.

 

Hi gw1500se,,

Thanks for your reply, it cleared up some unanswered questions.
Man, I was so close, had all my ducks in a row ,but failed to shoot ,haha.
Was getting late and tired,so missed adding the last essential detail in my PS.
I'll explain but will respond to your comments first:

Yes,but are there no Acronis elements left on the restored image apart from this 401caae9a347dd9.tif file?
This may well be a temp file ,but not in the normal sense.
It may be from Acronis TI ,but .tif is also a "Tagged Image File "
TI uses .tib for a proper backup image

That's why I asked about the Property sheet or Properties of the file.
That can tell you a lot about a file if the applications author has provided a proper Property sheet. Windows handles most of it tho.
This is what I look for: File association > iow ,which program opens it.
Attributes > Read Only or Hidden ,System ,Archive ,just to name the most common ones.

If this is a true TIF, Tagged Image File, it comes from using graphics programs
like PhotoShop and many others.

Then do a reinstall- download from here http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=8802

Try that route and see if succesful.
However ,I still feel that access via a rescue CD ,like UBCD4WIN
http://www.ubcd4win.com/ or Hirens BootCD http://www.hirensbootcd.org/hbcd-v150/ using the tools or the miniXP,
would delete this file.

Pete E.

 

How do you define "Acronis elements?" There are several files in this state but none are associated with Acronis per se except to the extent that Acronis wrote them in temp from the backup image.

To be clear, I call them temp files because I had Acronis restore them to the \temp directory. I then copied the needed files to the real Documents and Settings.

I know what the files are and where they came from. Since they are corrupt I accept that they are lost. What I need to do is delete them.

Thanks, I'll have to give that a try when I get a chance.

 

Hi,

I loosely define Acronis elements as parts of the Acronis TI aplication and in particular its services which might have a handle open on certain files.

If that's not the case, we can discard this angle and move to the more popular usage of the .tif extension ,which is the Tagged Image File.
You didn't mention the size of this file, but if you're sure that it doesn't contain material you want to save ,you can dispense with that too.

Since it's pretty clear that all you want is to delete this file,
my best suggestion at this point, is to use one of the repair/rescue CDs,
which you indicated you will try.
Good luck, I'm sure there are enough tools on those CDs to do the job.

Pete E.

 

I'm afraid I am not doing well at all. I've installed UBCD4Win and created a CD. Unfortunately when I boot it. it loads UBCD then I get the blue screen of death.

I don't know if it matters but since I only have 1 CD drive, I had to use the drive for the Windows install files and build an ISO on the hard drive. I then used FreeISO to burn the CD rather than have UBCD burn it directly.

 

Hi,

Sorry that the UBCD4Win didn't work out.There must be some flaw in the build.
It shouldn't matter having 1 CD drive or burning with another program.
But we're getting into another area now.
For faster results, I suggest getting the Hirens BCD and use the XP Mini once you burnt the iso and boot up from it.There are also DOS tools on this CD.

Pete E.

 

I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I was able to successfully build and boot the Hiren's BootCD. I ran a couple of different scans and no errors were reported.

The bad news is that I could find no way to get the drive mounted in DOS so that I could try to delete the bad files/directories. All that was ever available in DOS was the the floppy drive, the cd and ram.

While the scans indicated no error, Windows begs to differ and keeps wanting to run chkdsk on boot, which seems to never do anything useful.

 

Hi,
Good you got the Hirens going.There's really nothing to build ,just unzip and burn iso , unless you are trying to edit the iso.
Sorry, but several times I advised you to use the Mini Xp and delete the files via that.
No luck with that either?

Pete E.

 

Sorry, I forgot to mention that in the bad news section. No, that gave me the same error.

 

Wow ,absolutely amazing. I've never come across a file I couldn't delete while doing it
outside the OS ,unless the drive was encrypted and gave me no access.
There is an option in the right-click menu to change attributes and access.
Have you tried that?

Pete E.

 

No, but I looked and the attributes are not restricted.