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.
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.