ScanDisk Problem

4harpers · 13th September 2005

Hi, I am running Win98SE. My daughter tried to download a song and it locked up the computer. When I did a restart it did a Win not shut down properly, scandisk started and I get a error "detected an invalid long filename entry on this drive (C) but was unable to fix it-to fix run scandisk in windows" I have tried running in windows normal and safe mode with same result, after about six bars it stops. How long should I wait to let it run? It seems the hard drive is clicking but nothing moves for ten min. so I canceled it. What would be the proper setup in advanced. Should I uncheck "auto fix" ? How can I repair this "invalid long filename". I would consider my computer skills as basic so any help would be great. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Here is a copy of my Log:
Log file generated at 09:36PM on Monday, September 12, 2005.

ScanDisk checked drive C for problems, with the following results:

Directory structure

ScanDisk detected one or more invalid long filenames.

ScanDisk did not correct the directory entry.

File allocation table

ScanDisk did not find any problems.

File system

The free space was being reported incorrectly.
ScanDisk successfully fixed the free space count.

Surface scan

ScanDisk did not perform any tests.

**mattman** · 13th September 2005

Hi,

You should open Windows Explorer and go to the folder that the file was being downloaded to. You should see a file with a very long name. Highlight the file, hold down the Shift key and press Delete. This should completely remove it, it will be a partial download so will not be of any use.

Another would be to run Scandisk with "Automatically fix errors" turned off. When it asks what to do with the file, tell it to delete it.

Matt

oshwyn5 · 13th September 2005

Quote:

ScanDisk detected one or more invalid long filenames.

Back in the days of DOS, file names were of the 8.3 type, meaning that they had a name with eight characters (letters and numbers basically) and three character file type extension.
When the number of files reached the limit, they gave windows the ability to use longer file names by abbreviating them so reallylongfilename.txt became really~1.txt (or maybe reall~24.txt depending on how many files starting with real there are) .
But there was a second restriction in dos which windows does not share, but which you run into when running scandisk. THe full path to a file is limited to 256 characters,including the name. (Path is the location , address, like C:\Program Files\mozilla.org\Mozilla\chrome)
Now, many times these days, because there are folders within folders, you get a path well over 256 characters.
Normally, scandisk offers to fix this by moving the file somewhere else. Do not do this, it can cause the program using that file to malfunction (like make all your email mysteriously dissappear).

Quote:

File allocation table

ScanDisk did not find any problems.

File system

The free space was being reported incorrectly.
ScanDisk successfully fixed the free space count.

This basically means that everything is okay now. The free space was reported incorrectly, since it had reserved space for the file to be downloaded to go, but it never finished and saved the file. Scandisk fixed this.

Quote:

Surface scan

ScanDisk did not perform any tests.

Basically do not worry . This is testing the empty part of your drive by writing to and reading from it. If everything else is okay, no need for scandisk to test the empty part.

I would uncheck the automatically fix option, and see what file it says has to long a name.

4harpers · 13th September 2005

Thank you all for you great and quick responses. I will try them and report back.

4harpers · 19th September 2005

Thanks for all your help. Did what you said and everything is OK