A thousand fragments in a 1.5GB file

[Guest]

On completion, Defrag reports that I have 1,083 fragments in a 1.5GB file,
\FOUND.001\FILE0000.CHK.

I presume it's a system file and cannot be deleted?

 

[Guest]

This is a CheckDisk/ScanDisk file that contains file fragments that are
cleaned from your disk. Chances are that if your system is running fine then
you can delete this file. However if you want to keep this file just in case,
and defrag can't defragment this file then get and run Contig from
Sysinternals. This will defrag this file even if Windows Defragmenter can't.

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Contig.html

-Dan

 

[Alec S.]

On completion, Defrag reports that I have 1,083 fragments in a 1.5GB file,
\FOUND.001\FILE0000.CHK.

I presume it's a system file and cannot be deleted?

Actually, it's not. What has happened is that there was a problem at some point which caused Windows to scan the disk for
corruption. It found what it believes to be a 1.5GB chunk of space that was allocated but not assigned. That means, that it is set
aside (is not free space), but no filename is associated it with. These "lost clusters" are then assigned a filename (the system
has no way of knowing what the filename should be so it assigns a generic filename) and put in a generically named folder to prevent
data loss. The system has done all it can at this point, and leaves the lost files it finds for you to check to see if you need
them or not. Are you missing any large files? Perhaps some big file you had got damaged was lost. If not, then what that may be
is a pagefile or something (how much RAM do you have?)

Defrag reports that the file is heavily fragmented because the file is so large and you probably didn't have enough space for the
whole thing when it was created. It's not uncommon for such large files to be so fragmented. Your main concern should be with how
big the file is, it's taking up a lot of space.

The best thing to do is to get a copy of a hex editor (a simple, basic one is find for your purpose.) Open the file in the hex
editor and take a look around. Do you see anything familiar? Do you see anything that you know is from a file you want or need?
If you can't find anything important or irreplaceable, then just delete the folder (and the file in it). If you do find that it is
a file of yours, then you can rename it and move it, but be aware that it will not necessarily be perfect, it may be corrupt. In
fact, best case scenario, the file will be fine but have some extra junk at the end. Depending on what kind of file it was, it may
or may not work; a lot of programs will work, but some may complain if you try to open it.


HTH

 

[Guest]

Although I set the WE search to find system files, and the folder options to
view hidden files, I cannot find \FOUND.001\FILE0000.CHK.

It appears at the top of a list of problem files in the post-defrag report,
which also tells me that I have 42% file fragmentation and 22% total
fragmentation.

I am thinking that without saying so, it is a summary of what follows, and
perhaps was a temp file, now deleted.

I had no better success with Contig, which when invoked with Run just took a
millisecond or two to flash a black DOS screen, but nothing else. I then
contrived a command line like contig -s c:\FOUND.001\FILE0000.CHK and a
message followed that the file had not been found.

Perhaps I should just accept it and, like Raylen (see 8/31/2006
'Defragmentation Message') try and be happy? :|

 

[Robert Moir]

On completion, Defrag reports that I have 1,083 fragments in a 1.5GB
file, \FOUND.001\FILE0000.CHK.

I presume it's a system file and cannot be deleted?

I think this will be related to the hard disk problem we were discussing in
another thread (if you're that Roger K, that is).

 

[Guest]

Well, yes, I mentioned it in my last reply on that thread ('Pagefile.sys
entry).

 

[Guest]

Thx for yr knowledgeable reply. But I cannot find the 1.5GB file (see my
reply earlier today to Little Moo), and am uncertain how to go about finding
and using a hex editor. My RAM is 1GB.

I am pretty sure, from what you say, that the file is a no-longer
troublesome page file (see my post in this newsgroup 'Pagefile.sys entry'
last week), so I would be happy to delete it if I could locate it. Defrag
took 6 hours to complete a day or so ago, but if I ran it again now, I wonder
if the big file would again be listed.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Roger

The MFT ( Master File Table ) is invariably is in two or three fragments
and is not listed.

How many folders does it say are fragmented?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Alec S.]

Thx for yr knowledgeable reply. But I cannot find the 1.5GB file (see my
reply earlier today to Little Moo)

Open an Explorer window and click in the address bar. Type C:\FOUND.001 and press enter. It should open the folder in question and
you should be able to see the file.

I am pretty sure, from what you say, that the file is a no-longer
troublesome page file (see my post in this newsgroup 'Pagefile.sys entry'
last week), so I would be happy to delete it if I could locate it.

If you're sure that it is unnecessary, then you can delete it like this: open the Run dialog and type:

deltree /y c:\FOUND.001

That will delete the folder and file. You should now see that your drive has 1.5GB more free space.

Defrag took 6 hours to complete a day or so ago, but if I ran it again now,
I wonder if the big file would again be listed.

Doubtful; defrag did not create the file, the disk checker did. Defrag just reported that it was unable to completely defragment
the file because it's too big.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Gerry

Folder fragmentation
Total folders = 11,424
Fragmented folders = 87

But I am unable to find the 1.5GB file reported by Defrag on completion.

 

[Guest]

Thx Alec.

The Defrag report reads:
Fragments File Size Files that cannot be defragmented
1,083 1.50 GB \FOUND.001\FILE0000.CHK

But I still cannot locate the file, or the folder, which I think was a
pagefile.

My incident began with boot warnings suggesting a corrupt pagefile (my post
last week, 'Pagefile.sys entry'). It was not easy to locate and delete the
pagefile so that it could be rebuilt by Windows, but at the time I ran Defrag
for 6 hours I had temporarily set a minimum level. So the Defrag reported:

Pagefile fragmentation
Pagefile size = 0 bytes
Total fragments = 0

Could the defrag time be due to the lack of a pagefile? Could the big file
have been created by CheckDisk to act temporarily as a pagefile?

Anyway, the space on C: (capacity 40GB) is in line with my expectation, and
I am inclined to dismiss the problem. Thanks for your help.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Roger

How large is the drive / partition and how much free space? Disk
Defragmenter needs 15% free space to perform!

Run Disk CleanUp, More Options, System Restore and see if that has any
effect.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Thx Gerry, I ran Disk Cleanup at the time I ran Defrag.

There is 15% free space, Defrag won't complete and produce the completion
report without it!

See my reply earlier today to Alec S.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Roger

When searching with Windows Explorer have you also checked "Search hidden
files and folders" and "Search sub-folders"? If not do so.

To investigate how you are using hard disk space you need to make sure that
you can see all files. Go to Start, Control Panel, Folder Options, View,
Advanced Settings and verify that the box before "Show hidden files and
folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating system files " is
unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the second item. You should
also make certain that the box before "Hide extensions for known file types"
is not checked. Next in Windows Explorer make sure View, Details is selected
and then select View, Choose Details and check before Name, Type, Total
Size, and Free Space.

You still will not see the System Volume Information folder.
How to Gain Access to the System Volume Information Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309531

I would also try HD Tune (freeware).
Download and run it and see what it turns up.
http://www.hdtune.com/

Select the Info tabs and place the cursor on C:\ under Drive letter
and then double click the two page icon ( copy to
Clipboard ) and copy into a further message.

Select the Health tab and then double click the two page icon ( copy to
Clipboard ) and copy into a further message.

Also do a full surface scan with HD Tune.


--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Alec S.]

The Defrag report reads:

Fragments File Size Files that cannot be defragmented
1,083 1.50 GB \FOUND.001\FILE0000.CHK

That's irrelevant, defrag has nothing to do with it; like I said, that's a file created by chkdsk.

But I still cannot locate the file, or the folder, which I think was a pagefile.

Did you do what I suggested? Open an explorer window and type C:\FOUND.001 in the address bar. That should work whether or not you
have view hidden folders enabled.

My incident began with boot warnings suggesting a corrupt pagefile (my post
last week, 'Pagefile.sys entry'). It was not easy to locate and delete the
pagefile so that it could be rebuilt by Windows, but at the time I ran Defrag
for 6 hours I had temporarily set a minimum level. So the Defrag reported:

Again, defrag has nothing to do with it.

Could the defrag time be due to the lack of a pagefile? Could the big file
have been created by CheckDisk to act temporarily as a pagefile?

Definitely not. Chkdsk has nothing to do with pagefiles, it only looks for disk corruption and optionally fixes the ones it can
handle.

Anyway, the space on C: (capacity 40GB) is in line with my expectation, and
I am inclined to dismiss the problem. Thanks for your help.

Did you run the command I suggested? Run this command:
deltree /y c:\found.001

This is of course assuming that this is your C:\ drive. If not, then change the drive letter.

 

[Guest]

That's irrelevant, defrag has nothing to do with it; like I said, that's a file created by chkdsk.

The Defrag report provided the only evidence of the existence of this large
file.

'Did you do what I suggested? Open an explorer window and type C:\FOUND.001
in the address bar.'

My reply to you 'I still cannot locate the file, or the folder, which I
think was a pagefile' implies pretty clearly that the approach you suggested
had not found anything. 'Still' means despite your suggestion. But thanks, I
did not know of this handy method of searching in WE.

'Did you run the command I suggested? Run this command:
deltree /y c:\found.001'

Since I cannot find the folder \FOUND.001 I am reluctant to run a command to
delete it, who knows what it contains, if indeed it now exists?

As I said, I am prepared to let the matter rest. I don't now believe that
the 1.5GB file is present on my C: drive.

 

[Alec S.]

:
'Did you do what I suggested? Open an explorer window and type C:\FOUND.001
in the address bar.'

My reply to you 'I still cannot locate the file, or the folder, which I
think was a pagefile' implies pretty clearly that the approach you suggested
had not found anything. 'Still' means despite your suggestion. But thanks, I
did not know of this handy method of searching in WE.

Open a command prompt (Run->cmd.exe), then type this:
c:
cd c:\found.001
dir /s/a/p

That will switch to the C drive (in case it's not already), change to the directory in question, and display it's contents. You can
then type the following:
cd c:\
attrib -r -a -s -h /s /d found.001
exit

That should strip the folder in question of all attributes (so now it won't be hidden, etc.), and close the command prompt. Now
open an explorer window and navigate to it.

'Did you run the command I suggested? Run this command:
deltree /y c:\found.001'

Since I cannot find the folder \FOUND.001 I am reluctant to run a command to
delete it, who knows what it contains, if indeed it now exists?

Then let's hope it doesn't happen again or else you'll find your drive full pretty quickly. (Let's say you did locate it, what
would you do with a 1.5GB file? How would you check it out?)

 

[Guest]

I did this:
'Open a command prompt (Run->cmd.exe), then type this:
c:
cd c:\found.001

Steps 1 and 2 OK, but after 3 the return is 'The system cannot find the path
specified.'

It can no longer be there, for whatever mysterious reason. But thank you for
persisting with my perceived problem.

 

[Alec S.]

I did this:
'Open a command prompt (Run->cmd.exe), then type this:
c:
cd c:\found.001

Steps 1 and 2 OK, but after 3 the return is 'The system cannot find the path
specified.'

It can no longer be there, for whatever mysterious reason. But thank you for
persisting with my perceived problem.

Wait, a second, all this time I thought that you had used defrag again and every time you did, you got the same results (the message
about the folder). If you run defrag now, does it still mention the folder? If not, then it's long gone and we've been spinning
our wheels for nothing.

 

[Guest]

Yes I replied to you on 2 Oct surmising that 'the file is a no-longer
troublesome page file (see my post in this newsgroup 'Pagefile.sys entry'
last week), so I would be happy to delete it if I could locate it. Defrag
took 6 hours to complete a day or so ago, but if I ran it again now, I wonder
if the big file would again be listed.'

'If I ran it again' implies that I had not. When I can identify a 6-hour
window in which to run Defrag again, I will. If the big one shows up, I will
be back!