Recycle Bin Problem !!!

[RustyZip]

Hi...

For the last two weeks, i've been having a strange problem with the recycle bin...

Whenever i try to empty the bin, or delete just a few items, half the time it comes up with:-

Error deleting file or folder
Cannot delete De37: It is being used by another person or program. Close any programs that might be using the program then try again.

it seems to happen completely randomly. To my knowledge theres nothing else running that is using any of these files, half the time they are only .avi or .mpeg files...
Another thing ive noticed, is that it never uses the right filename, it always begins with "De" then a number like "De37" or "De665". Im completely baffled...

Any help would be great....Ta...

 

[acidosmosis]

Hmm... try a little experiemnt. Not sure if this will fix your problem or not but its an idea.

Go to MS Dos Prompt, (start, run, and type "dosprmpt" or "cmd").
In the Dos prompt type:

chkdsk C: /f

(if you have more than a C: drive, after typing this type it again
but next time with the other drive letter that you have)

It may ask you if you want to dismount the drive. Usually this is safe to do. (I did this last night and it was fine). So either press Yes and let it do its thing, or press no and then restart and let it do it run chkdsk. (Dont press a key, just let it do what it needs to do).

Hope that works.

 

[Nodsu]

Does it happen when you right click on the recycle bin icon and choose empty?

This thread may be helpful.

Also, you can open command prompt and run "openfiles". This tells you what files are in use by which prgrams.

 

[Phantasm66]

you have a corrupted recycle bin.

try to boot from a DOS disk (if FAT32) or recovery console (either FAT32 or NTFS) and delete the folder that is the recycle bin, which is called "Recycled". If you have multiple partitions, I would think about deleting the recycle bin from those as well.

When you boot back up, and delete a file from a partition, a new recycled folder will be created for that partition.

I think this is the fix, I am pretty sure that this will sort it.

But I would also check for the presense of viruses on your system as well.

 

[Rick]

Ditto, Phantasm66.

 

[RustyZip]

Thanks for the replies guys...

Nodsu - This happens when i open up the recycle bin and either click on "empty the recycle bin" or click on individual or several files and right click and press delete...

Phantasm66 & Rick - Could you steer me to where this Recycled folder is (WinXP Home) , i can't find it anywhere (also looked in hidden and system files)....

 

[Phantasm66]

How are you trying to look, and what file systems are being used on your hard drives....??

 

[RustyZip]

Cheers Phantasm66 on getting back to me.
Ive tried manually looking for it in the windows directory and also used the search option with hidden and system files ticked.. Ive also got Norton Utilities installed with that Norton recycle bin thing - but i did disable it, if that makes any difference....

 

[RustyZip]

Oh ye sorry, im using NTFS on this hard drive, but im also using FAT 32 on my other drive...

 

[StormBringer]

try also unhiding Protected System Files

Do you have Norton's Wipe Info installed(it is part of Norton Utilities) Try using it to delete the file. I have had a couple of files that refused to delete and gave an error like the one you got, and I was able to delete them with Wipe Info.

 

[RustyZip]

Ahhhh - Ive found the Recycled Folders, but only on D: I: and J:

C: , E: , F: , G: and H: don't seem to have one !!!!??

 

[RustyZip]

Stormbringer - ta, but i was unhiding system files...

I really dont need to use wipe info, as the next time i boot up after a couple of tries, it does delete the files, only to have some other files later on giving the same error messge... Wierd... Seems completely random...

 

[Phantasm66]

And there any of your partitions that Windows can't read?

 

[poertner_1274]

The reason you don't see a recycle bin on those other drives is because you haven't deleted anything on them. I rarely use the recycle bin, and always just do shift-delete to skip it, and I know that my other drives dont' have recycle bins. Just to let you know why those other ones don't have it.

 

[RustyZip]

Windows can read & write to all partitions on both drives...

I put a file onto every partition and then deleted it (into Recycle Bin).
Then i searched for the recycled folders and now i cant find any !!!
I had 3 earlier !!!

What gives???