Cyclic redundancy error

I have a folder on the hard drive that gives me this error when I try to do anything with it. I have Googled the error so I have a basic understanding of what means, and I have a good backup of the folder.

Problem is that Windows will not let me overwrite or delete the folder because of the error, so I'm going nowhere. What do I do?

PS I did a defrag recently - I suspect that's when the problem happened.

 

The folder is corrupt so you should check first for the cause. The first move is always a bad sector check and repair. Open My Computer and right click on the drive with the folder on it and choose Properties>Tools>Error-Checking and click the Check Now button. Put a tick in the box for "˜Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors’ and click Start.

This may repair the problem but if it doesn’t then I would go for your hard drive manufacture’s disk diagnostic utility and check the drive with that.

Failing that then you can try Chkdsk, but make sure you have a back up of all your data before hand because if your drive has a serious error then chkdsk can trash other files in its repair attempts. To run chkdsk go back to the Error-checking tool and tick the box for "˜Automatically fix file system errors’ the system will need to reboot to run the check.

If after all that the folder remains and you still can’t do anything with it you can safely delete it. http://www.diamondcs.com.au/index.php?page=dellater

 

Thanks very much McTavish for the reply. I did the scan as suggested - Windows gives me a popup saying it was unable to complete the check. ???

 

You can run the bad sector check and repair from the XP CD Recovery Console,
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314058
http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxprcons.htm
but I would suggest it is time for the Manufactures disk checking utility.

http://www.pc.ibm.com/ww/hdd/hddredirect.html
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/hutil.htm
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/index.htm
http://support.wdc.com

-----------------------------------

I have to go out for a while now Homer J

Only after you have checked the hard drive for errors and it is given a clean bill of health should you run Chkdsk.
After that if things are still not right you can try System Restore or System File Checker. http://www.networkclue.com/os/Windows/commands/sfc.aspx

If you still have problems then you should consider malware in your system. I assume you have an up-to-date anti-virus? Of course it could be a file table or partition problem, or even some other hardware issue, but these are the least likely causes. You need at least SP1 installed if your hard drive is over 137gigs in size.

If you need further assistance I’m sure someone else will jump in.

 

The problem seems to have been the beginning of a complete hard disk failure. The machine began doing it with other files/folders and on reboot it couldn't find any hard disk at all. I'm writing this from the laptop, and it's to the computer shop tomorrow. I don't think it was any form of malware - I think just a dodgy harddisk.

Thanks very much McTavish for the time it took you to help - I appreciate it very much.

 

Ah……that would do it. Good job you did not run chkdsk then as it really is a liability on a faulty hard drive. If you had received a bad report from the manufacturer's disk utility my next suggestion would have been to backup all your data as soon as you could.

If you are lucky it might be a bad cable or loose connection.