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Author Topic: Cannot delete file from my hard drive  (Read 2771 times)

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computer1000

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    Cannot delete file from my hard drive
    « on: April 05, 2007, 02:38:11 PM »
    I have an external hard drive that is about 6 months old since I bought it but its been giving me problems recently.  I am trying to delete a video file on the drive but it constantly gives me the default error message "This file is in use please shut down any programs running it" But the problem is nothing on my system is running it or playing the video.  I cannot restart in Safe Mode since this is a hard drive and I tried using that Hotbox (I think thats the name) program deleter.  Nothing works.

    Now this hard drive has been giving me a few quirks when I ran it through the command prompt in chkdsk /f I occasionally come up with corrupt file segments/strings and deleting bad sectors and some of my files turn into crap that needs to be deleted.  But this is what is strange I can delete any other file just not this one.  And even worse is when I click/highlight the file my computer freezes up with "This program is not responding" message. I cannot open the properties of this video file or cut and paste it or copy it.  If I even touch this file or do any of the previous actions everything just freezes up or slows way down before I get that "file in use" error message.

    Is there any way to delete this possibly corrupt file?  Can I do something in the command prompt?

    soybean



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    Re: Cannot delete file from my hard drive
    « Reply #1 on: April 05, 2007, 02:51:53 PM »
    I cannot restart in Safe Mode since this is a hard drive ...
    Why can't you start in Safe Mode? Obviously, your computer has a hard drive.  They all do.   ::) ::)  Is the problem that you don't know how to start in Safe Mode?

    computer1000

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      Re: Cannot delete file from my hard drive
      « Reply #2 on: April 05, 2007, 06:49:28 PM »
      Dude this is an EXTERNAL hard drive.  I think its Maxtor.  You know the kind you got to plug into a USB port to access

      soybean



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      Re: Cannot delete file from my hard drive
      « Reply #3 on: April 05, 2007, 08:03:36 PM »
      OK, so the problem drive is an external HD.  But, what does that have to do with starting in Safe Mode?  Windows boots from your internal HD, not the external.

      Do have other USB devices?  Do they work on your USB ports?  Have you tried the external HD on all USB ports?  Can you test the external HD on another computer?

      computer1000

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        Re: Cannot delete file from my hard drive
        « Reply #4 on: April 06, 2007, 06:16:37 AM »
        Sorry I think you misunderstand.  The problem is a file saved in my external HD cannot be deleted for some reason.  I only mentioned the safe mode reboot because when my computer's internal HD had a file that cannot be deleted because it was "in use" as the error message would say I could delete it in safe mode.

        This is something wrong with the hard drive itself not the computer.  I think the file could be corrupt.  Now normally if the corrupt file was on my computer I could delete it in safe mode no problem.  But I have no idea how to delete a corrupt file on my external hard drive since theres no safe mode for that.  And I did try going to command prompt, typing the drive letter of the external HD, and running chkdsk /f which is normally supposed to get rid of the corrupt segments but it doesn't affect this particular file.  I was just wondering if anyone here knows of some program I can execute to erase the file on my hard drive without erasing any other files.

        soybean



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        Re: Cannot delete file from my hard drive
        « Reply #5 on: April 06, 2007, 08:12:10 AM »
        Try going to command prompt, typing the drive letter of the external HD, and using the Del command to delete that file.  http://www.computerhope.com/delhlp.htm

        patio

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        Re: Cannot delete file from my hard drive
        « Reply #6 on: April 06, 2007, 12:15:27 PM »
        Quote
          But I have no idea how to delete a corrupt file on my external hard drive since theres no safe mode for that.

        This is where you are missing soybeans point altogether...In safemode you still have access to the external...safemode doesn't need to be "on" that drive.
        " Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

        Joe_Flanagan

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        Re: Cannot delete file from my hard drive
        « Reply #7 on: April 06, 2007, 01:48:35 PM »
        Dude, soybean and patio know exactly what you are trying to do.
        Follow their instructions.
        Here is a link to a Safe Mode tutorial :
        http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chsafe.htm

        It's possible that Safe Mode deletion may not work. If that's the case, there are alternative methods.

        Please post back with your results.

        computer1000

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          Re: Cannot delete file from my hard drive
          « Reply #8 on: April 07, 2007, 08:07:42 AM »
          Ok I tried both without success.

          I rebooted into Safe Mode but when I turned on my external HD no new drive showed up in My Computer even after 10 minutes of waiting.  So Safe Mode cannot work since I can't access the drive...

          Command Prompt I managed to first turn the drive into my external drive which is :F.  Then I typed /cd to change the directory of drive F into Drive F/Video which is where my file is saved in the drive.  I then typed Dir to find the file which I could see in that drive.  But when I typed Del (filename) I got a message saying could not find (filename) in the drive. 

          patio

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          Re: Cannot delete file from my hard drive
          « Reply #9 on: April 07, 2007, 08:35:30 AM »
          Try it with the external already turned on when you boot up...
          Other than that you could try Killbox...be careful though.
          " Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

          Lurch

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          Re: Cannot delete file from my hard drive
          « Reply #10 on: April 07, 2007, 11:50:55 AM »
          could be a "shadow" of a file, something went wrong at original delete.

          try useing  Ccleaner, or something like that, see if it can find it. 
          There are other programs out there that can delete ANYTHING , but they dont chk to see if it will cause problems.  Be carefull.