I would try the following:

1. Run c:\chkdsk /X /R
2. Run c:\chkntfs /C C: to force a scan at the next boot before the OS is
loaded
3. Reboot and then try to remove the files with Explorer

If the above methods don't remove the files I would try the following:

Open a command line window
Close any open programs
Open task manager
Kill the explorer.exe process
Switch back to the command line window
Delete the files from the command line
Run explorer.exe to restore the GUI

You could also try running SDelete from Technet/Sysinternals

Hope this helps,
Brian



-----Original Message-----
From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org
[mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Dean.Benjamin at mm.com
Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 9:04 PM
To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org
Subject: [tclug-list] OT/WinXP: Can't delete folders/files; suspect bad MFT

I'm working on a friend's WinXP system with about a dozen files and folders
that behave weirdly.  Can't delete them, copy them, nor move 'em.  They
appear to be phantoms of the file system; that is, their names appear in the
directory, but the associated objects have no properties.  The bad files are
in an user's MyDocs folder on the C: 
drive, where WinXP is also installed.  The user is an Administrator, with
full privileges.

The good news: he doesn't need the data.  I merely want to delete these
"phantoms" and clean up the NTFS file structure, because I suspect that
these strange file-things are responsible for the misbehavior of a video
editing application.

My hunch is that the NTFS master file table is broken.  If so, the bad news
gleaned from the web is that my only way out is to reformat the disk and
reload the system.  This ordeal I hope to avoid.

Can anyone suggest a tool or method that will locate all the "phantoms" on
the C: drive, and repair the relevant NTFS structures?  (Recovery of
phantoms optional.)


SYMPTOMS

(1) Except for the filesystem glitches described here, the computer works
just fine.

(2) No malware detected by three scanners: AVG Free, Norton System Scan,
Sunbelt VIPRE Rescue Scanner.

(3) KillBox fails; message: "The file does not seem to exist".

(4) A double-click on one of the bad folders yields a glimpse of what looks
like the correct contents.  But within a second or two, the window opened on
the phantom folder vanishes -- just disappears, as though I had clicked on
the close button in the upper right corner.  No message, no nothing, just
poof/gone.

(5) For subsequent discussion, refer to this representative directory
structure:
	TopDir\		(the parent directory, contains the rest)
	  BadDir\	  (a "phantom" directory, behaving badly)
	    bad.file	    (a file within BadDir\)
	  OKDir\	  (a folder that behaves normally)
	    ... etc ...

(6) Ordinary Explorer Copy/Paste operation (ctrl+C/ctrl+V) fails on BadDir\;
message: "Cannot copy file: Cannot read from the source file or disk."

(7) Within a CMD.EXE window, after "cd TopDir\":

(7a) "dir /q /s" lists all files and subfiles of TopDir\, as expected.
However: whereas the owner of OKDir\ appears as expected, the owner of
BadDir\ is given as "...".  Stranger still: bad.file's owner appears as
expected.

(7b) "dir BadDir\bad.file" fails; message: "The system cannot find the file
specified."

(7c) "cd BadDir" fails; message: "The system cannot find the path
specified."

(7d) "cacls BadDir" fails; message: "The system cannot find the file
specified."

(8) In Explorer, right-click -> Properties of BadDir\ shows size 0 bytes,
and the create/mod/access dates are all blank -- even though the "dir"
command in (7a) shows a mod date, as expected.


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