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easybFlag for United States of America

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Recycle bin won't empty completely.

After some file system problems (fixed by CHKDSK) I deleted some nonsensically
named files from drive C (FAT16).  Ever since when I select Empty Recycle Bin from
Windows Explorer I get "Cannot delete dc16: access denied".   By selectively deleting
the files visible in the detail panel I can get the bin to appear empty but the dc16 message always comes up.

By going to DOS and using cd, dir, attrib, del, remdir and deltree I find two files
in c:\recycled:  dc16.new and dc248.845.  Attrib -r -h -s will work on info2 and desktop.ini but it returns "access denied" on dc16.new and dc248.845.  ANY operation on these files returns "access denied" or the equivalent.

What I've tried to no avail:
1) deltree  recycled: no error messages, but no results either
2) remdir & deltree info2 and desktop.ini: deletes these but problem not solved
3) set bin maximum size to 0, reboot, restore bin: bad files still there

I'm running  Win 2000 sp4, 750MB memory,  Award BIOS (latest version for motherboard, a SOYO K7VTAProV1.0, Athlon 2100+), 1 FAT 16 primary partition, 8 FAT 32 logical artitions.

I have tried all the suggestions in EE forums in every combination and scenario I can think of, all to no avail.  Anyone know how to get rid of those pesky dc..... files?
Thanks - easyb (San Diego)
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Jay_Jay70
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Hi easyb,

you can delete them straight from the recovery console of the windows 2000 cd    just navigate to c:\recycler,   have you tried deleting in safe mode
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NicoLaan

Things I'd try:

1 Restart with DOS (or win98 or win95) disk or Knoppix CD and delete.

2 Change to NTFS and try delete.

The 2nd option is a good idea if you don't NEED FAT16, why is it FAT16? Linux or Win98 on that machine? Try deleting from there.
If you don't need FAT16 to avoid future problems and get better disk performance I'd suggest moving to NTFS.
Type "convert /?" from command prompt for help.
This is what you need I guess:
convert c: /fs:ntfs
I think it will convert it next time you restart because the drive would be in use now.
Make sure the drive is not to full when you start this.
Most likely you'll have more space available when you've converted.
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ASKER

Response to Jay_Jay70:

At your suggestion booted to the Win2K CD and went in through
the Recovery Console.  Dir c:\recycled lists the dc... files (which are
only on drive c:) but attrib and del produce "Access is denied".

I had tried safe mode before with the same results.

Response to NicoLaan:

This machine dual boots to Win98 and Win2K using System Commander.
I need a file system both can see, so NTFS is out.
Some of my software needs actual DOS for certain operations and that's
why I keep Fat16 on the root.  The logical drives are FaT32.

As for DOS, it can see the dc... files in c:\recycled but can't access them
for attrib or any other operation that would modify them ("Access denied").

I'm not familiar with Knoppix CD.  I'll look into it.
Thanks to both - easyb.

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NicoLaan

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To Nicolaan: Having no luck with anything else,  I have ordered the Knoppix CD.  
Its going to be a month or two before I can go further since I will be out of town all of June, then upon return I'll have to start learning about Linux.  I'll see if I can put this question on hold and resurrect it later.  Thanks for your suggestions.  If Knoppix leads somewhere I will be indebted. - easyb
Knoppix can also be downloaded and installed on CD quite easily. I had it within a few hours that way with the slowest ADSL subscription I could get.
Also I really don't know if Knoppix is gonna work, just hope it doesn't have the quircks MS software does.
Furthermore, no need to learn any Linux for it unless you got less than 128MB of memory. (I think it is 128, could be even less)
If you got 128MB or more, you'll get a Windows like GUI that you won't have any problems finding an explorer like interface to find and delete your files.
If you still can't delete it that way I'm sure Knoppix also has some checkdisk like software.

Good luck!
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ASKER

NicoLaan: Thanks again.  This will have to sit until July, then I'll let you know what happened with the Knoppix. - easyb
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ASKER

NicoLaan:  Get this!!!  The Knoppix CD came in the mail about an hour after
my last comment.  After another hour of fiddling with it, the files came up, they got deleted, and its FIXED.  You should be very proud of yourself.
Thanks also to Jay_Jay70.

- easyb
Wow, good to hear you got it fixed and great to hear my Knoppix idea worked!

Thanks for the points!

Cheers, Nico