USB hard drive: "cannot delete file:file system error(1026)"

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mogster

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Hi Guys,

I have been searching the archives and found help in removing obstinate files from C: but my problem is a whole heap of files that I cannot remove on F: (my removeable HDD). The microsoft support site doesnt cover my exact problem either.

I am running Windows 98 SE (build 4.10.2222) on my PC and have a Sarotech FHD-253 Pocket Hard Disk Drive (USB2) which i use for transfering data between home and work.

On my removable drive (F: ) there are a number of folders which contain huge, unreadable files (hundreds of random characters such as Êzï×ðìûš.ñƒ¥ ). I have no idea where these came from but I suspect they got corrupted when i was transfering data to and from my home and work PC. Whenever I try a scandisk, defrag, virus check, spybot check, etc. on F: the computer just hangs with the egg timer when it gets to these files. If I try to remove, rename, or move these files i get the error message "cannot delete file : file system error (1026)". I tried to remove them using DOS commands from startup but because they are on F: when i try to change directory from C: to F: i get the DOS message "Invalid directory name".
All my data is visible on F: using windows explorer but I am worried that if there are any viruses, spybots or adware on F: it gets transfered to my home and work PCs when i connect it up through the USB port. Right now my home PC is running extremely slowly because F: is connected.

I normally synchronise all the data between my removeable drive and home PC using "Foldermatch v3.4.6" but this also hangs up now so i cannot tell how much has been synchronised.

Hope someone can help me out. I really don't want to have to format my hard drive. Thanks in advance.
 
try this:
http://www.bootdisk.com/usb.htm

Use these to get dos to see the hard drive. It's a great util. Then see if you can delete the files. It's possible that something, virus included, is accessing these files.
There are several tools from:
http://www.sysinternals.com
that might help you. Processexplorer is a good one for 98. Also Filemon is good to. If somethig is accessing the F drive folders, it will report it.

Best of luck to you
 
Either that or you can also try to boot up in safe mode and delete them from there. Worth a try in any case.
 
Still trying to work out how to use the info on the bootdisk website, though it looks to be what i need!

Zero - If I boot up in safe mode i cannot access F:

Cheers
 
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