need to remove unewanted folders on backup F drive

[Robert J. Lafayette]

Posted this in MS XP General forum and the only one posted solution was to
reformat the backup (F) drive which is not possible at this time: it is
functional with all my documents and pictures.

My C drive is not large enough to move the data over to reformat the F (
backup) drive.

The problem:

OS- XP Home, SP 2

Four year old computer,
Last week I did a reformat of my C drive, and appropriately backed my C
drive up, my
whole C drive,

to an external 250GB HDD, 'F' drive just in case.

Did several backups-- again, just in case.

The reformat and clean install of XP Home and SP2 went well onto my C drive,
I installed my
software and things seem fine on the C drive.


Now I wish to remove ALL my backup files/ folders, from my F drive, the
250Gb external HDD.

Most files were deleted.

However, there remains two folders, two hidden folders:

1) System Volume Information

Can not even access the System Volume Information folder on the F drive at
all.

2) Recycler (the one remaining file appears to be 3.2GB, and the system
seems to have set the size of this file/ folder to march my external hdd. I
have never seen this folder on my F drive before.)

Problem is these two folders are not deleting from my external HDD (F) and a
pop up
message is telling me I can not delete then as they are being used, which is
not/ should not be
the case.

Please advise the best way for me to access these folders to delete them.

I have changed attributes from read only but the hidden attribute remains,
and some files and folders remain hidden and disallow deleting.

Especially the one large file in the F drive Recycler that will not go away,
that large
3.2GB file.

There is a suggested MS solution to remove a recycled file, but:

In CMD.exe at C\documents and settings I typed cd f:\ and the command to
change directories from my c drive to my f drive does not take place to
allow me to access the file.

This is the MS suggested solution for the elimination of that recycler file
via DOS prompts.


I am OK with the RECYCLER and System Volume Information folders being on my
C drive and want to eliminate these folders only from my F drive.


Please advise. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Please be specific as to how to remove these unwanted F drive folders if it
is at all possible.

Thank you in advance,
Robert

 

[Guest]

The reason it was suggested that you format your backup (F) drive is because
you stated the following:

"Now I wish to remove ALL my backup files/ folders, from my F drive, the
250Gb external HDD."

You could "take ownership" of the remaining folders and give yourself full
control, replace permissions of all files/folders underneath. However, this
is not recommended.

My suggestion would be the same as the first person, except he probably did
not know you wish to keep some files/folders on your backup drive.

1) Copy the files and folders you wish to keep from F drive to C drive.
2) Format F drive
3) Move the files and folders you wish to store on backup from C to F

Using "Quick Format" it should not take more than 30 seconds or so to format
the F drive. This will make sure to erase everything on it, including any
leftover information in recycle and system volume information folders.

 

[Robert J. Lafayette]

Apologies for seeming confusing.


What I meant about removing ALL backup files is just that, only backup
files, related to the reformatting of the C drive.

However, I also have My Documents and my pictures and my movies and my music
on the F drive.

Moving the information over is not possible at this time. Not enough space
on the C drive.

HP help service (computer is Pavilion with XP Home SP 2 on it) suggested I
restart in SAFE mode and try then to remove the files.

Will do so later as I am defragging the F drive at the moment.

Then I will restart in SAFE mode to determine if that works.

Will advise,
Robert

 

[Nepatsfan]

In

Posted this in MS XP General forum and the only one posted
solution
was to reformat the backup (F) drive which is not possible at
this
time: it is functional with all my documents and pictures.

My C drive is not large enough to move the data over to
reformat the
F ( backup) drive.

The problem:

OS- XP Home, SP 2

Four year old computer,
Last week I did a reformat of my C drive, and appropriately
backed my
C drive up, my
whole C drive,

to an external 250GB HDD, 'F' drive just in case.

Did several backups-- again, just in case.

The reformat and clean install of XP Home and SP2 went well
onto my C
drive, I installed my
software and things seem fine on the C drive.


Now I wish to remove ALL my backup files/ folders, from my F
drive,
the 250Gb external HDD.

Most files were deleted.

However, there remains two folders, two hidden folders:

1) System Volume Information

Can not even access the System Volume Information folder on
the F
drive at all.

2) Recycler (the one remaining file appears to be 3.2GB, and
the
system seems to have set the size of this file/ folder to
march my
external hdd. I have never seen this folder on my F drive
before.)

Problem is these two folders are not deleting from my
external HDD
(F) and a pop up
message is telling me I can not delete then as they are being
used,
which is not/ should not be
the case.

Please advise the best way for me to access these folders to
delete
them.
I have changed attributes from read only but the hidden
attribute
remains, and some files and folders remain hidden and
disallow
deleting.
Especially the one large file in the F drive Recycler that
will not
go away, that large
3.2GB file.

There is a suggested MS solution to remove a recycled file,
but:

In CMD.exe at C\documents and settings I typed cd f:\ and the
command
to change directories from my c drive to my f drive does not
take
place to allow me to access the file.

This is the MS suggested solution for the elimination of that
recycler file via DOS prompts.


I am OK with the RECYCLER and System Volume Information
folders being
on my C drive and want to eliminate these folders only from
my F
drive.

Please advise. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Please be specific as to how to remove these unwanted F drive
folders
if it is at all possible.

Thank you in advance,
Robert

Right click your Recycle Bin icon and select Properties from
the Menu.
On the Global page, select "Configure drives independently".
Click the tab for your F drive.
Move the slider to the left until it reaches 0%.
Open your F drive and see if you can now delete the Recycler
folder.
If this doesn't work, you're going to have to boot into Safe
Mode and see if you can delete it.

Next, right click your My Computer icon and select Properties
from the menu.
Click on the System Restore tab.
In the "Available drives" box, click on your F drive to
highlight it and hit the Settings button.
Check the "Turn off System Restore on this drive" box.
Click OK.
Click Yes when asked to turn off System Restore for this drive.

Note: There is no reason to have System Restore monitoring an
external drive. You want to leave this turned off. Windows may
recreate the System Volume Information folder on this drive but
it will take up a minimum amount of space.

If you want to delete this folder, you're going to have to boot
into Safe Mode and do the following.
Right click the System Volume Information folder.
Select Properties from the menu.
Click on the Security tab.
In the Security page, click on the Add button.
In the box that pops up hit the Advanced button.
Next, hit the Find now button.
In the bottom pane, click on Administrators.
Click OK.
Back at the System Volume Information Properties sheet you
should now see the Administrators group added to the top pane.
In the bottom pane, make sure Full Control is checked.
Click OK.
You should now be able to delete the System Volume Information
folder.

While still in Safe Mode, right click the Recycler folder and
see if you can delete it. If not, follow the above procedure to
make sure you have Full Control permissions. You may also need
to take ownership of the folder.

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

"Access is Denied" Error Message When You Try to Open a Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810881

Here's another article you may find helpful.

How to gain access to the System Volume Information folder
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309531

Note: You can go back and reset your Recycle bin to have one
size for all drives or adjust each drive to your preference. At
the very least, go back and increase the size of the Recycle
bin on our F drive to a size greater than 0%.

FYI, the Microsoft article that suggested you enter cd F:\ at
the command prompt was in error. To change to your F drive all
you need to enter at the prompt is F:. You can leave out the cd
part and the trailing \.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Robert J. Lafayette]

Great thank you,

I will follow your very clear and specific suggestion and get back to you.

Robert

 

[Robert J. Lafayette]

Nepatsfan,

Thank you,
Did as you suggested and the Recycler folder deleted in Safe mode as did the
System Volume Information folder.

But when I went back into Regular Start up mode a shaded System Volume
Information Folder was there (but was previously gone when in SAFE mode)
and I attempted to delete it and then a new shaded Recycler folder
immediately appeared, along with an inaccessible shaded System Volume
Information folder.

I never before saw these two folders on this F drive before this formatting
the C drive (reinstall of XP Home) and backup to the F drive which I did
over the weekend to accommodate the format in case of a problem.

If these two folders have inconsequential amounts of data so be it, but I do
wish to control the computer and not have folders that do not belong on the
F drive. Or do they belong?

(Is it possible they were there all along and a setting was existing that
did not allow showing hidden folders?)

I went back and made sure the Recycle bin allowed a very small percentage
(3%) on the F drive, but again don't recall ever seeing this shaded Recycler
folder or the shaded System Volume Information folders on the F drive before
this recent reformat exercise.

By the way, your suggestion about simply using in cmd "f:" worked
beautifully and the drive changed to F.

Further Suggestions?

Do I care about the Recycler and the System Volume Information folders on
the F drive?

Thanks again,
Robert

 

[Robert J. Lafayette]

PS

System Volume Information for drive F appears turned off when right clicking
the C drive / properties and clicking on the Restore tab.

Evidently the System Volume Information folder appears on the F drive as you
indicated due to Windows, but monitoring is in fact OFF.


Robert

 

[Nepatsfan]

The Recycler folder is a hidden systems folder. It's only
visible if you go into Folder Options and change the
appropriate settings. Each hard drive partition on your
computer that's formatted NTFS will have a Recycler folder.
Within that folder will be a Recycle bin for each of the user
accounts that have logged on to your computer. If you delete
the Recycler folder Windows will, as you've seen, recreate it
when you reboot. Translated, what you're seeing is normal.

FYI, you should adjust the size allocated for the Recycle bin
on your F drive so that there is room for the largest size file
you might want to recover. With 3% allocated on your 250GB,
should you try to delete a file that's larger than 7GB, Windows
will tell you the file is too large to fit in the Recycle bin
and asks if you want to permanently delete it, effectively
bypassing the Recycle bin. Translated, if none of the files on
your F drive are greater than 7GB, 3% is fine. If not, you
might want to adjust the allocation to a higher percentage.

As for the System Volume Information folder, it's also a hidden
systems folder that will be recreated if deleted. Even if
you've turned off System Restore monitoring for your F drive,
you'll still see that folder. By default, you can't delete this
folder. If you right click on it and select Properties from the
menu it will, by default, show 0 KB for its size. To view the
actual size of this folder, boot into Safe Mode and use the
procedure I outlined earlier to give the Administrators group
Full Control permissions to this folder. When you reboot you
will now see the actual size of the folder displayed in its
Properties sheet.

Bottom line is that what you are now seeing on your F drive is
normal behavior.

Nepatsfan


In

 

[Robert J. Lafayette]

Great information and assistance.

3% on the 250GB is fine. But may raise to as high as 10% for comfort sake.

I feel better and assured all is well with my newly formatted setup.

Thank you once again.

Regards,
Robert




--

 

[Nepatsfan]

You're welcome.

Nepatsfan

In

Great information and assistance.

3% on the 250GB is fine. But may raise to as high as 10% for
comfort
sake.
I feel better and assured all is well with my newly formatted
setup.

Thank you once again.

Regards,
Robert