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View Full Version : Invalid folder... Need help...

skyhigh
7th January 2002, 13:32
I have this very weird problem on my harddisk now.

I was doing some basic maintenance on my computer and I see an extra folder which was there. So I attempted to delete but it returns me an error saying the folder was moved or removed. Therefore I did a search but no such folder turns up in the search. Thinking it might be a bug of Windows, I went into DOS and this folder appear but unable to access.

So I check the properties of the folder and discovered it does not exist at all. No time created and stuff. No name of the folder either. It's just like a phantom folder and I'm stuck on how to remove it.
chi
7th January 2002, 13:46
which os are you running? what's the name of the folder? winnt,win2x or xp have system folders which can't be removed...
DigDub
7th January 2002, 15:26
If you are using Win9x, you can probably try using DOS to do scandisk. I was ripping a movie when the program hanged and I had to reboot. Then I found that 1GB of space was unaccounted for. Did a DOS scandisk and it reported some files were taking up space. Fixed it and its OK now.
skyhigh
7th January 2002, 17:17
I'm running on Windows 2000.

I'm very sure it's not any system folder as it's a folder on one of my backup harddisk.

I suspect it was created when I batch download some mp3s from an FTP and it has a folder name like this "mp3s..."
LIGHTNING UK!
7th January 2002, 20:47
If u cant delete it, move the stuff to another drive (minus the dodgy folder of course!), format that one and then move it back
It might be the only way :(
gldblade
7th January 2002, 22:07
I think I know what might be going on. There a bug in Windows. You can create a folder in MS-DOS that is not accessible in Windows. For example, if I made a directory called "temp"+Alt+255, the character from Alt+255 will cause it so that Windows can not access it, but MS-DOS can.

However, the only way to access it in MS-DOS is to type in "temp"+Alt+255. The value I use, 255, might not be the value used to create the folder. Meaning it could be "temp"+Alt+127 or something like that. You have to know exactly what that value is to access it.

I'm not sure if this is what you're experiencing, but it's a possible explaination.