Can't delete folder from external harddrive

Matthew Wai · 08 Apr 2021

What is the file in the "sub sub folder"? Did you open the file? See whether it can be deleted manually.

Delete File in Windows 10

beginner99 · 08 Apr 2021

dalchina said:

See post #3.

hdsentinel didn't report any issues and unlock IT upon deleting the folder requested a reboot but it was still there after reboot (and it's not reported as locked).

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Matthew Wai said:

Try using the batch file to delete the "sub sub folder".

Also did not work. The file "used to be" a m3u playlist but it's marked as 0 bytes and displayed as a folder. hm...

FreeBooter · 08 Apr 2021

Can you rename the folder and try deleting it again.

dalchina · 08 Apr 2021

Thank you for your reply.

Suggests something amiss with the file system on the disk. You've already run chkdsk. You said

it's 4TB and almost full

but normally Windows should be able to cope with that.

It may end up being quicker to copy everything to another disk...

As it wasn't deleted on restart, there's little point trying e.g. from a live boot disk.

beginner99 · 08 Apr 2021

FreeBooter said:

Can you rename the folder and try deleting it again.

I can rename but still not delete. If I hit delete kick just nothing happens.

In fact the other folder in the trash, I restored it, used the batch file from Matthew and it turns out said folder contains multiple additional similar issues. A file that has 0 bytes and is displayed as a directory but can't delete it. some sort of ntfs directory structure issue? no idea. never seen something like this.

EDIT:

I gave up. Just formatted the disk on recreating from original sources (it was a external hdd containing backup of media files)