can't delete corrupt file

  • Thread starter Thread starter eots
  • Start date Start date
E

eots

I have a corrupt data file in a users directory on the
server that's 0 bytes and can't be deleted. Is there
anyway to remove this file from the server?

I've already tried using a delete utility called Killbox
as well as CHKDSK.
 
There is probably an easier way of doing it but generaly if you open the
task manager and kill explorer, you can then select the open program dialog
and browse to the file/folder and right click and delete. Then all you
should have to do is browse to the explorer and open it. all shoudl be back
to normal and this shouldn't interupt any services your server is
performing.
 
That doesn't work either, the file will not delete and
it's also interferring with our backups because the file
can't be read.
 
i guess the other solution would be to get a dos ntfs reader/writer
(sysinternals.com should have one) and boot into a dos mode to delete it.
Maybe try deleteing it from within the recovery consol first.You can get to
it by booting to the install disk and following the prompt for recovery and
repairs. You might be stuck going in with a hex editor and physicaly
removing it too. That would get a little complicated for me to explain and
i'm not entirly sure if it can be done on a ntfs drive like it can on a fat
drive.

Usually the closing explorer down does the trick on anything i have seen.
maybe someone else would have another solution. of course you can always
backup and reformat the drive. that seems a little drastic but if it is
causing alot of issues, it might be somethign worth thinking about. I would
love to have access to the drive just to play around with it. try deleting
it from a recovery console and let me know if it gives any errors. those
errors might be a little more intuitive and offer more to go with in finding
a solution that would work.
 
I don't think recovery console will work either. I can
delete the directory the file is in if I create a new
file in the same directory with the same name as the 0
byte file, which shouldn't be possible since you can't
have 2 files with exactly same name in the same
location. The only problem with this solution is that
once the directory is in the recycle bin you can't empty
it. It's like there's a pointer to a file that doesn't
actually exist, which is why it can't be deleted and
allows a duplicate file name. As far as the operating
system is concerned the file doesn't exist, the file name
is visible but it has no properties. Our backup software
see's the file name but can't back it up because it's not
really there. It's a ghost file.
 
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