Ghost file will not remove

[cwdjrxyz]

Several months ago my XP crashed when processing a large video file.
Since then there has been a ghost file that will not remove. I have
tried many methods and tools, but nothing works.

The file is on the C drive and is labeled badvideo/MOVIE. Anytime you
attempt to delete, move, rename, shred, etc you get a popup that the
operation can not be done because it cannot read from the source file.
If you bring up properties, you get; Type of File File; Location C:
\badvideo ; Size: 0 bytes. I have tried several free tools, including
command line ones while in safe mode. Some of these appear to be doing
something, but, when finished, no changes have been made.

When you go to the defragmenter and analyze you find that the MOVIE
file has 2065 fragments and has a file size of 3.55 GB. This size
would be about right for the video file being processed when the
computer crashed. If you defragment, all fragments are removed except
those associated with the MOVIE file, and the display shows the many
thin red lines. I have seen the MOVIE file being moved when
defragmenting as indicated by the text at the bottom of the screen.
This is very fast - not nearly long enough for a 3.55 GB file.

My guess is that there is no file, as would be indicated by the second
paragraph that found 0 bytes for the file. However, some file used by
the defragermenter has remembered what the file was before the crash.
I have no idea where such information might be stored. I am not
adverse to going into regedit, but I have no idea where to look. A
search there under MOVIE turns up nothing of interest. Likewise, a
general search turns up nothing of interest other than where the rogue
file is supposed to be located.

 

[Guest]

Hi -

Are you able to right-click on this file to read properties, esp security
and/or ownership information? Also, is your antivirus able to scan it, and
what does it say?

CCC

 

[cwdjrxyz]

Hi -

Are you able to right-click on this file to read properties, esp security
and/or ownership information? Also, is your antivirus able to scan it, and
what does it say?

When you right click and select properties, there is only the general
tab, and no sharing or other tabs. The size is 0 bytes. The file type
is just called File, and the icon you right clicked has those multi-
colored dots you get for an unknown file type. A virus scan of this
file finds 0 problems, and I have had no problems detected on complete
scans of the C drive since long before this problem arose. I have
expanded my description of the problem with several more details just
below.

Several months ago my XP crashed when processing a large video file.
Since then there has been a ghost file that will not remove. I have
tried many methods and tools, but nothing works.

The file is on the C drive and is labeled badvideo/MOVIE. Anytime you
attempt to delete, move, rename, shred, etc you get a popup that the
operation can not be done because it cannot read from the source file.
If you bring up properties, you get; Type of File File; Location C:
\badvideo ; Size: 0 bytes. I have tried several free tools, including
command line ones while in safe mode. Some of these appear to be doing
something, but, when finished, no changes have been made.

When you go to the defragmenter and analyze you find that the MOVIE
file has 2065 fragments and has a file size of 3.55 GB. This size
would be about right for the video file being processed when the
computer crashed. It likely contained .VOB and/or .mpg and associated
files, some being up to about 1 GB size. I was away, and do not know
exactly at what stage of a multi-step processing the crash occured. If
you defragment, all fragments are removed except
those associated with the MOVIE file, and the display shows the many
thin red lines. I have seen the MOVIE file being moved when
defragmenting as indicated by the text at the bottom of the screen.
This is very fast - not nearly long enough for a 3.55 GB file.

My guess is that there is no content in the MOVIE file, as would be
indicated by the second
paragraph that found 0 bytes for the file. However, some file used by
the defragermenter has remembered what the file was before the crash.
I have no idea where such information might be stored. I am not
adverse to going into regedit, but I have no idea where to look. A
search there under MOVIE turns up nothing of interest. Likewise, a
general search turns up nothing of interest other than where the rogue
file is supposed to be located. Also a search for large .VOB and .mpg
files turns up nothing likely to have been contained in the MOVIE file
before the crash. An attempt to restore to an earlier date after the
crash did not solve the problem. A check of local disk C: set to fix
system errors and to scan for bad sectors was normal. I have searched
hundreds of references at Microsoft and found nothing that works. A
Google search produced nothing useful.

The problem is not severe enough to make me want to reinstall XP and
the huge number of programs I have on it.The computer otherwise works
in a quite normal manner, although it may have about 3.55 GB of
unavailable space on C: because of the rogue MOVIE ghost file.