"The directory name is invalid"

[Chris]

A problem with a cross linked cluster (corrected by checkdisk, files recovered)
has left two apparently empty, but un-accessible and un-deleteable directories.

I can rename them and move them to/from different folders on the same disk but
any attempt to open or delete them just produces a "The directory name is
invalid" message.

This is a NTFS disk. I tried booting the PC from a DOS floppy disk with NTFS
support, but DOS could not access/delete them either. I have run CHKDSK several
times but no luck. Booting to Windows "Safe mode" does not help either.

Anyone have any ideas how to get rid of them?

Microsoft's suggestion was to re-format the disk. Wonderful!

Chris.

 

[CS]

A problem with a cross linked cluster (corrected by checkdisk, files recovered)
has left two apparently empty, but un-accessible and un-deleteable directories.

I can rename them and move them to/from different folders on the same disk but
any attempt to open or delete them just produces a "The directory name is
invalid" message.

This is a NTFS disk. I tried booting the PC from a DOS floppy disk with NTFS
support, but DOS could not access/delete them either. I have run CHKDSK several
times but no luck. Booting to Windows "Safe mode" does not help either.

Anyone have any ideas how to get rid of them?

Microsoft's suggestion was to re-format the disk. Wonderful!

Chris.

You might try a low level disk editor if you can find one that
understands NTFS. NTFS is great until you run across a problem like
this. If the HDD was using FAT-16 or FAT-32, you could use the Norton
Disk editor to remove the bad directory names.

 

[Chris]

recovered) >has left two apparently empty, but un-accessible and
un-deleteable directories.
but >any attempt to open or delete them just produces a "The directory name
is >invalid" message.
several >times but no luck. Booting to Windows "Safe mode" does not help
either.

You might try a low level disk editor if you can find one that
understands NTFS. NTFS is great until you run across a problem like
this. If the HDD was using FAT-16 or FAT-32, you could use the Norton
Disk editor to remove the bad directory names.

Yes... the wonders of NTFS!
I will have a hunt for a NTFS disk editor, but I wanted to avoid messing about
like that if I could! I would have thought that checkdisk should have been able
to correct such an error...

I could just ignore the two folders, but I dislike having things like that
hanging about on the disk. Experience tells me they can cause trouble when you
least expect it.

Chris.