Re: need to remove unewanted folders on backup F drive

Nepatsfan,

Thank you,
Did as you suggested and the Recycler folder deleted in Safe mode as did the
System Volume Information folder.

But when I went back into Regular Start up mode a shaded System Volume
Information Folder was there (but was previously gone when in SAFE mode)
and I attempted to delete it and then a new shaded Recycler folder
immediately appeared, along with an inaccessible shaded System Volume
Information folder.

I never before saw these two folders on this F drive before this formatting
the C drive (reinstall of XP Home) and backup to the F drive which I did
over the weekend to accommodate the format in case of a problem.

If these two folders have inconsequential amounts of data so be it, but I do
wish to control the computer and not have folders that do not belong on the
F drive. Or do they belong?

(Is it possible they were there all along and a setting was existing that
did not allow showing hidden folders?)

I went back and made sure the Recycle bin allowed a very small percentage
(3%) on the F drive, but again don't recall ever seeing this shaded Recycler
folder or the shaded System Volume Information folders on the F drive before
this recent reformat exercise.

By the way, your suggestion about simply using in cmd "f:" worked
beautifully and the drive changed to F.

Further Suggestions?

Do I care about the Recycler and the System Volume Information folders on
the F drive?

Thanks again,
Robert


"Nepatsfan" <nepatsfan@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uKpWV4YZHHA.808@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In news:Or$%23srVZHHA.4008@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Robert J. Lafayette <xyz1234@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Posted this in MS XP General forum and the only one posted solution
was to reformat the backup (F) drive which is not possible at this
time: it is functional with all my documents and pictures.

My C drive is not large enough to move the data over to reformat the
F ( backup) drive.

The problem:

OS- XP Home, SP 2

Four year old computer,
Last week I did a reformat of my C drive, and appropriately backed my
C drive up, my
whole C drive,

to an external 250GB HDD, 'F' drive just in case.

Did several backups-- again, just in case.

The reformat and clean install of XP Home and SP2 went well onto my C
drive, I installed my
software and things seem fine on the C drive.


Now I wish to remove ALL my backup files/ folders, from my F drive,
the 250Gb external HDD.

Most files were deleted.

However, there remains two folders, two hidden folders:

1) System Volume Information

Can not even access the System Volume Information folder on the F
drive at all.

2) Recycler (the one remaining file appears to be 3.2GB, and the
system seems to have set the size of this file/ folder to march my
external hdd. I have never seen this folder on my F drive before.)

Problem is these two folders are not deleting from my external HDD
(F) and a pop up
message is telling me I can not delete then as they are being used,
which is not/ should not be
the case.

Please advise the best way for me to access these folders to delete
them.
I have changed attributes from read only but the hidden attribute
remains, and some files and folders remain hidden and disallow
deleting.
Especially the one large file in the F drive Recycler that will not
go away, that large
3.2GB file.

There is a suggested MS solution to remove a recycled file, but:

In CMD.exe at C\documents and settings I typed cd f:\ and the command
to change directories from my c drive to my f drive does not take
place to allow me to access the file.

This is the MS suggested solution for the elimination of that
recycler file via DOS prompts.


I am OK with the RECYCLER and System Volume Information folders being
on my C drive and want to eliminate these folders only from my F
drive.

Please advise. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Please be specific as to how to remove these unwanted F drive folders
if it is at all possible.

Thank you in advance,
Robert

Right click your Recycle Bin icon and select Properties from the Menu.
On the Global page, select "Configure drives independently".
Click the tab for your F drive.
Move the slider to the left until it reaches 0%.
Open your F drive and see if you can now delete the Recycler folder.
If this doesn't work, you're going to have to boot into Safe Mode and see
if you can delete it.

Next, right click your My Computer icon and select Properties from the
menu.
Click on the System Restore tab.
In the "Available drives" box, click on your F drive to highlight it and
hit the Settings button.
Check the "Turn off System Restore on this drive" box.
Click OK.
Click Yes when asked to turn off System Restore for this drive.

Note: There is no reason to have System Restore monitoring an external
drive. You want to leave this turned off. Windows may recreate the System
Volume Information folder on this drive but it will take up a minimum
amount of space.

If you want to delete this folder, you're going to have to boot into Safe
Mode and do the following.
Right click the System Volume Information folder.
Select Properties from the menu.
Click on the Security tab.
In the Security page, click on the Add button.
In the box that pops up hit the Advanced button.
Next, hit the Find now button.
In the bottom pane, click on Administrators.
Click OK.
Back at the System Volume Information Properties *** you should now see
the Administrators group added to the top pane.
In the bottom pane, make sure Full Control is checked.
Click OK.
You should now be able to delete the System Volume Information folder.

While still in Safe Mode, right click the Recycler folder and see if you
can delete it. If not, follow the above procedure to make sure you have
Full Control permissions. You may also need to take ownership of the
folder.

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

"Access is Denied" Error Message When You Try to Open a Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810881

Here's another article you may find helpful.

How to gain access to the System Volume Information folder
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309531

Note: You can go back and reset your Recycle bin to have one size for all
drives or adjust each drive to your preference. At the very least, go back
and increase the size of the Recycle bin on our F drive to a size greater
than 0%.

FYI, the Microsoft article that suggested you enter cd F:\ at the command
prompt was in error. To change to your F drive all you need to enter at
the prompt is F:. You can leave out the cd part and the trailing \.

Good luck

Nepatsfan



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