How To Find C:\FOUND.000

[bbartkow]

My daughter's harddrive was full so I installed a new harddrive and noticed many found.000 directories as it copied. Now I want to find the files and delete them I've set it so I can view all files, system files, and hidden files. But, I can not find them. I've even ran a search for them. How can I find these so I can delete them? It is Windows XP Home Edition.

Thanks,

Barb

 

[dopefisher]

have you ever done this before?? maybe its just part of the copying process and the files dont actually exist anymore.

 

[Nodsu]

Did you set the search to look in system folders and hidden files?

The found.xxx files are generated by Scandisk and Chkdsk when there has been a filesystem corruption. Usually they can be safely deleted.

 

[bbartkow]

Thanks for the reply. But, I know what they are but I need to find them so I can delete them.

 

[gbhall]

You go to control panel, folder options, where you set (as a provious contributor said) to see all hidden system files. The files will be in the root of the C:\ drive, probably dimmed out. Also (again a previous contributor said) they may likely not have been copied from the old HD to the new, being as they are virtuallu useless anyway.

If they are there, delete them, otherwise ignore them, they are NOT there any more. You dod not specify HOW you copied the HD. The only way I know where you will get a properly-bootable image is a partition copy done with (say) partition magic. In which case, they WILL have been copied, as you get a bit-wise exact image.

 

[WitchyOne]

Sorry to revive a dead thread, but I couldn't let this one go without a possible correct solution. Here it is.

Unfortunately, no matter how many ways you check "Show Hidden Files", you're probably not going to be able to see them in Windows Explorer. I kinda stumbled on this on my own, after a virus scan revealed infected files in the FOUND.000 directory, and I couldn't find it to save my soul. There is one way that I have found to get rid of them quite effectively, no extra programs or anything required. Hope you like DOS and the Command prompt

Start -> Run -> Type in 'cmd' , sans quotes, of course.

Now, in the event you're not familiar with DOS at all, I'll walk through all the steps. You should now have a DOS window open with a prompt, somewhere into the directory of C:\

Type in 'cd ..'

Repeat that command until the prompt says only C:\

Here you can use the 'dir' command to display a directory of all the files and other directories directly on your hard drive. However, chances are you won't see FOUND.000 anywhere.

At the C:\ , type in 'cd found.000'

Funny thing, it's there. You can do a 'dir' here to see a list of all the files in the folder, or you can just get back to your plain C:\ by doing a 'cd ..' and type in 'del found.000'

This will prompt you to delete the entire directory, which I assume is what you want to do.

Now, I take no responsibility for what you can do with the following steps. They're completely unnecessary to the deletion of the FOUND.000 directory, but if you're a curious one like I am, and you just HAVE TO KNOW what else your computer is hiding from you, you can do this:

At the C:\ again, type in 'dir /a:h'

This shows you the hidden files and directories directly on your hard drive, even the ones that XP apparently doesn't want you to see. Some things here you don't want to mess with, because they can really screw up your HD. I'm willing to bet you'll see the FOUND.000 directory though.

Hope some/most/all of this helps! :grinthumb

 

[Smurf]

Hi

Type in 'cd ..'

Repeat that command until the prompt says only C:\

There's no need to keep typing cd.. just type cd\ and you will go straight to the root directory.

 

[WitchyOne]

There's no need to keep typing cd.. just type cd\ and you will go straight to the root directory.

That works too, thanks! :wave:

 

[brandon dub]

I can clearly see the directory C:\found.000\dir0000.chk with the contents System.Design.dll and __AssemblyInfo__.ini ([AssemblyInfo]
MVID=af26f8e7be37b5419cd3a86f7f9bd55f
CustomString=ZAP-N5.1-8FD-000320D7
) which revealed

I want to delete it but I'm not sure if I need it (I have visual studio standard and web design studio express which I belive where these contents are from).

What have you folks got to say about the Found.000 directory? If its from fdisk/scandisc/chkdisc then why doesn't it dissapear after a "safe" reboot (as in no errors found)?

 

[Liquidlen]

Scandisk and Chkdsk are old Dos type programs. These usually are designed to do simple but important functions.It is up to you to continue with other tasks, for example, from the files left after Chkdsk, you could recover some of the data that was changed and no longer functional from it's original program, or just delete any files you cannot/donot want to use.

 

[brandon dub]

The directory for those files seem varied so I should keep them just in case.
I just needed to know that the directory (found.000) is not vital to the Windows startup or anything else. So thanks for the information Liquidlen.

I haven't used DOS since the Qbasic days (I remember making slide show apps and simple calculators, lol) but most of that knowledge is gone.

Thanks again liquid.

 

[Nodsu]

The directory and the files inside are not used by anything. So if your programs work OK, then you can delete all the found.xxx stuff. If something is wrong or missing, then you can examine the found dirs and copy any relevant files to their correct locations.

 

[ViperSniper2]

Simply Done! Two Ways Follow scan repair found files!

Thanks for the reply. But, I know what they are but I need to find them so I can delete them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay Buddy, the answer is simple if all you want to do is get rid of them! "Open" up "My Computer"! Next right click on your hard drive! In menu click "Properties"! In popup window panel click "Disk Cleanup"! In next panel make sure all -boxes- are check marked! Old scan files included!
Click "OK" and YOU'RE DONE!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another one is to >click> "Start", >click>"All Programs", >click> "Accessories", >click> "System Tools", <click> "Disk Cleanup"! In the panel popup choose the disk for cleaning and follow the steps outlined above. This way may seem an easier route, but if you have more than one drive it can get tricky! Best by way of "My Computer" above!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

But NOW is the time to take back the power over YOUR computer from MicroSelfish Windows! So here are the steps to seeing everything and to posibly restore some of those files (although MicroSelfish never tells you it can be done)!

Open "Control Panel", >click> "Folder Options", >click> "View" tab! Now simply put a check in boxes listed below and not in the ones that are empty. *Remember Ignore the -=Scare Tactic=- Are YOU Sure? Are YOU REALLY Really SURE for Sure!?!???* >click> "Yes" I'm freakin sure!!!!

Unchecked = * Checked = X
X = Automatically search for network folders and printers
X = Display file size information in folder tips
X = Display simple folder view in Explorer's Folder list
X = Display the contents of system folders
X = Display the full path in the address bar
X = Display the full path in the title bar
X = Do not cache thumbnails (this takes alot less space and time)
Hidden files and folders
* = Do not show hidden files and folders
X = Show hidden files and folders!!!
*= Hide extensions for known file types (known only to Microcrap)
*= Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) *NOT*
X = Launch folder windows in a separate process
X = Remember each folder's view settings
*= Restore previous folder windows at logon
X = Show Control Panel in My Computer
X = Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color
X = Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items
X = Use simple file sharing (Recommended)

Be sure and >click> "Apply" before closing the panel!

PC Inspector File Recovery is a free tool to recover broken files!
But I always use a renaming routine if I have an idea about what the .chk files in C:\Found.000 Folder are (.xxx or .215 whatever)!
Simply >click> "View" in the "Folders" Tool Menu Bar and choose "Details"! You can go by the size if, lets say your missing your kids baby video at 17mgs. Now pick one large similiar file out and rename the extension to .avi or .mov or .mpg ! This will get you started and you have to change the extension to find what it was, in order for it to open. Maybe .txt or .jpg etc! :approve:

***Incidently, my whole family videos folder got corrupted and error scanned in a hard crash. Over 8 gigs! Most are recover via this method! This is hit or miss, but mostly a "Hit"! Tried many file recovery programs before spending about two hours renaming!***

 

[Speedwagon05]

How to DELETE Found.xxx files

Short of placing a stick of dynamite in my mainframe, I can't seem to be able to delete two Found.xxx folders on my HDD.

I have booted into safe mode - no luck!
I have installed two programs designed to remove undeletable files - no luck!
Unlocker and Eraser
I have gone into TaskManager and shut down files that may be linked to or in use by the files in the folders - no luck!
I even tried to format the drive but XP would not let me (it's a slave drive)

I can't boot directly into DOS so I am always stuck using some portion of Windows XPSP2

Any other suggestions?

 

[gbhall]

create a bootable CD of any desired Linux OS which provides read-write access to NTFS data (Ubuntu is a good choice). Boot with it and go ahead.

A boot from old-fashioned Dos will not work because Dos could not read NTFS anyway, but there are small downloadables able to do this, such as NTFSfloppySetup.exe (if you have a floppy), it's not hard to find one to produce a bootable CD. As you have discovered, you need any non-MS operating system able to read/write NTFS to do this.

 

[Speedwagon05]

All I have are seperate CD and DVD drives. I can change the boot sequence in my setup files to boot from the CD dive before booting to a HDD if that will get me to where I need to go to boot from a CD.

 

[gbhall]

here is a link to just one of the several packages able to read/write to NFTS

http://www.bootdisk.com/ntfs.htm

burn to a cd, set the cd as 1st bootable (as you realise) and away you go.

 

[homerungus]

Success with deleting "found.000" folder

I've been trying to delete a "found.000" folder and a "found.001" folder off of my slave drive all day today. The folder was invisible but I could see my defragmenting program trying to defragment it.
Trawled the net for answers, tried all the methods above with no success. The only thing that worked was a free program called:
Zero Assumption Disk Space Visualizer. Google it or just download it from Snapfiles.

So for anyone still having problems, check this little prog out. It worked for me.
Also, it couldn't be simpler to use. None of this archaic DOS nonsense.

Cheers.