I intend to repurpose an old Maxtor external hard drive and want to erase the old files that are on there now. I viewed the contents of the Maxtor Backup folder from Windows Explorer and simply deleted all the files there. There are 2 small gif files that will not delete. The error message says: Access is denied. Make sure the files are not full or write-protected. The files are 00000.gif (6kb) and t.gif(1kb). They were downloaded to my machine in 2000 when I copied an entire web page containing an article of interest. The rest of the web archive downloaded at the same time deleted with no trouble. I'm using Windows XP SP3. I'd like to delete these files. I'd also like to understand just what it is about these files that they're clinging to the backup drive in this manner.
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No, interestingly enough. When I right click on the gif file I don't get a Delete option, and when I select the Edit option or the Edit With option nothing happens. When I select Preview I get a "No preview available" message. In the Send To option (with a right click) the Desktop suboption only allows the creation of a shortcut.
Try deleting the two .gif files in Safe Mode. Restart your computer and press or tab the F8 key. Once you have done that you should get a selection to choose from Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking and ect. Select Safe Mode, once you are in Safe Mode, try deleting the two .gif files from your external hard drive. You are using USB correct? If so your external hard drive should work in Safe Mode.
Hi savvycarol,
Also, double check and make sure that your external hard drive is not full or write-protected, also make sure that none of the files are currently in use by another program. That's what usually causes these errors. Make sure that there's no spyware on the drive, that might cause this error as well.
Try using Unlocker and see if this helps.
http://ccollomb.free.fr/un
The Maxtor hard drive is not recognized in safe mode (with or without networking) so I can't delete the file that way. The external hard drive is not write-protected. The files have been deleted from my internal hard drive with no trouble (except the 6kb file seemed to take longer than one would expect from such a tiny file ... the 1kb file deleted easily), but they stubbornly sit on my external hard drive. I'll try unlocker next.
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by: cwhessPosted on 2009-09-12 at 16:22:53ID: 25318352
Can you just format the drive?