Hi Everyone, Basically, I cannot delete a folder/directory that is on an external USB drive. I'd like to ask for your help. Symptom: Whatever I try to delete, I get an error message "The File name you specified is invalid or too long. Specific a different file name" . There are two buttons for the action. "Try Again" or "Cancel" .. (I captured the screen shoot here.) Environment: It is just on a stand-alone Windows 7 client, not connecting to any domain or Workgroup. How it happens: Basically, I did a "Copy and Paste" from one Ext. USB drive to another Ext. USB drive. There were mulitple of files ONLY, there shouldn't have any folder when I select the lists of files. The total files size was approx. 12GB. Unfortunately, it stopped half way. The "copy process" indicator was halt for over 2 hours. However, it stopped in a way that it looks like it is still processing. The "green" bar was still fleshing, but the number of file size stopped. I waited for another 3 hours. Still on change. I press the "Cancel" buttom on the "Copy process". It had no response. I brought up the Task Manager, and tried to kill it the task and process, still no response. But the Toolbar on the bottom disappear. I brough up the Task Manager again, it already clearly show "not responsding" under Window Explorer or explorer.exe . I tried again... still no luck. I waited another 30 min, and tried again. During this 30min, I was still able to use other applications, without problem. So, MS did good job in multi-tasking. However, Windows Explorer and the toolbar just never comes up again. I think it was time to restart, I brought up the Task manager and use the "Shut Down" from there. Windows closed all the other apps, but still got stuck when trying to close the "Copying" task. I waited like another 15 min. No response, I was force to do a Power cycle shut down. When the System is back, I checked the Destinated copy location. I found not only a lot of files were corrupted, but also a folder/directory appeared on the ext. USB drive. Within the folder, there are a lot of sub-folders with non-readable text/ symbol. I am attaching the image here. I tried to change the file name and/or delete all the sub-folders. Still no luck. I got the same error message. Note: all the date on the folders are messed up too. Would someone please let me know how I can go around it and delete the folder? Thanks

I suspect USB power brownout problems. The contents of the N: drive is a mess use disk manager to redo the disk from blank Windows MVP 2010-11, XP, Vista, 7. Expanding into Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server, SharePoint, Cloud, Virtualization etc. etc. Hardcore Games, Legendary is the only Way to Play Developer | Windows IT | Chess | Economics | Vegan Advocate | PC Reviews

Hi Vegan, Thanks for your response. Actually, what you see is the files within the " H" folder. It is all a mess. I have tested other files, folder on the base directory and other folder before the crash, everything seems ok. There are over 300GB stuffs on the USB drive, and I really have no other HD space to back up the stuffs to and reformat the drive. I was hoping for a more simple solution, which I can just delete the folder. I tried to change the attributes and permissions, it doesn't help. I just won't let me do any other stuffs, but reading the folder.

"xin008" wrote in message news:92c7b582-6b0d-40cf-93f0-debc2fcdce8e... Hi Vegan, Thanks for your response. Actually, what you see is the files within the " H" folder. It is all a mess. I have tested other files, folder on the base directory and other folder before the crash, everything seems ok. There are over 300GB stuffs on the USB drive, and I really have no other HD space to back up the stuffs to and reformat the drive. I was hoping for a more simple solution, which I can just delete the folder. I tried to change the attributes and permissions, it doesn't help. I just won't let me do any other stuffs, but reading the folder. Try doing the deletion from within an Admin Command Prompt window you may be able to shorten the name there first, or use the 8.3 filename to delete the file. Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi | CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth

Hi, Also, try to boot into Safe Mode to see if you can delete this directory. If all steps fail to delete it, try to use rmdir command to check the result: rmdir /S N:\messedUpFolder Rmdir (rd) Alex TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tnmff@microsoft.com.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi, I am just writing to check the status of this thread. Was the information provided in previous reply helpful to you? Do you have any further questions or concerns? Please feel free to let us know. Regards, Alex Zhao TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tnmff@microsoft.com.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi Alex and Noel, Thanks for your suggestion. apparently, none of those work. I even tried connecting to other OS computer, like Linux, and try deleting it. Other system can't see the folder at all. :-( So, after numerous tries, unwillingly, I did the "fix disk" and bad sector" command at windows. It does fix the problem, however, it also messed up/corrupted other files that were originally good. That's why I don't understand. Isn't the Fix disk and bad sector feature only affect the "damange" problem area? I'd like to try avoiding to use the Fix Disk and bad sector command at all cost..

I suspect that the problem was corruption of the MFT table which holds the 'directory' for the disk - which means that while files may have been showing as bein gpresent, they were actually inaccessible to the OS. I assume you mean that you ran CHKDSK H: /R ?? Did the report (look in the Event Viewer logs - filter on Wininit output) show anything physically wrong with the drive? Bad Sectors? Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi | CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth

Hi, To understand what the status of disk is, as Noel said, check the Event Viewer logs with filtering Wininit, this should be useful to help us find out the real situation. Alex TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tnmff@microsoft.com.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi, As this thread has been quiet for a while, we assume that the issue has been resolved. At this time, we will mark it as ‘Answered’ as the previous steps should be helpful for many similar scenarios. If the issue still persists, please feel free to reply this post directly so we will be notified to follow it up. You can also choose to unmark the answer as you wish. BTW, we’d love to hear your feedback about the solution. By sharing your experience you can help other community members facing similar problems. Thanks for your understanding and efforts. Regards, Alex Zhao TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tnmff@microsoft.com.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.