BleepingComputer.com: trash won't empty with External hard drive connected

Trying to figure out why I receive this message
"Cannot remove folder DG81: The directory is not empty"
when I try to empty the trash with an Ext HD connected.

It reports that there are 46 items in trash but I only see 1 file

Running Windows XP Home SP3

Its a 250 GB HD

Properties General
Type: LocalDisk
File System: Fat 32
Used space: 209,849,286,656 bytes 195GB
Free space: 40,146,337,792 bytes 37.3 GB
Capacity: 249, 995,624,448 bytes 232 GB

Properties of Ext HD
ST325082 OA USB Device
Device type: Disk Drives
Manufacturer: Standard disk drive
Location: Location 0


Policies
Optimize for quick removal

Volumes
Disk 1
type: Basic
Status: Online
Partition style: Master Boot record
Capacity: 238473
unallocated space: 0
reserved space: 0

Driver provided: Microsoft
Driver Date: 01/07/2001
Driver Version: 5.1.2535.0
Digital Signature: Microsoft Windows Component Publisher

If I check either Error-checking or defragmentation it appears to just hang. No indication of any movement in the green bar or sounds from the external HD after about a half hour of waiting. Am I being impatient?

Is there any way to automatically run dskchk on the external HD at startup?

Any help or guidance in rectifying this would be appreciated.

thks
joe

This post has been edited by publicsectorslave: 03 July 2009 - 07:29 AM

<<Policies: Optimize for quick removal>>

Try changing that to Enable write-caching, see if that changes anything.

Louis

Thank you Louis

I'll give that a shot....

thks
joe

No luck Louis...
Can't mount my ext HD. now.

But the icon to remove USB hardware appears in the taskbar.
when I click on it nothing happens until I get a "run dll as a app" error.
Once I unplug the ext HD my laptop works perfect.

My laptop doesn't reboot with the ext HD plugged into the USB
it just hangs at startup for over an hour.

Any app to clean out whats supposed to be in the trash on the ext HD?
Any app to force the ext HD to remount?

thks
joe

This post has been edited by publicsectorslave: 04 July 2009 - 07:20 AM

try CleanUp! or CCleaner as they both clean out the trash on external devices aswell

as for an app about forcing remounting, hmmmmm i don't really know

Tried both CleanUp! and CC Cleaner to no avail.

Cleanup! begins the process and gets about half way through and hangs...
CC CLeaner doesn't startup.

Its amazing that as soon as I turn-off or unplug the USB to the drive they both automatically start-up.

Really need to access about 40,000 digital photos from 2004 to 2009 off the drive? This was my backup and I don't have a back-up of my backup.

thks
joe

This post has been edited by publicsectorslave: 04 July 2009 - 12:16 PM

If the enclosure can be easily removed...do so and temporarily attach the drive to the motherboard directly.

If the BIOS picks it up properly and Windows picks it up properly...it's the enclosure.

A malfunctioning drive attached to the system...has been known to cause problems when booting.

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?loca...000dd04090aRCRD

Louis

No luck that past few days in mounting my ext hd., since changing to enable write caching.

Any ideas were I can go for info on hooking up my external directly to the motherboard?

Well...if you want to pay someone to do something you can do yourself...take it to a reliable computer shop.

Me? I would not do that.

Back in my Win 95 days...bear with me ...I was afraid of tampering with systems. So I would ask anyone who was not afraid...to install RAM, install Win 95, etc. There are a number of persons who have no problem doing simple tasks like this...and they will do it free. It's not difficult or labor-intensive.

Don't you have any friends with systems? Neighbors? Work place? (Last but not least) Relatives ?

Louis

Louis

I have a xp laptop, xp desktop and a macbook pro all on a wireless network....
I've installed an internal dvd, extra ram and a video card on my desktop.

Really just looking for an online photo step-by-step tutorial for swapping out the drive, if thats the correct term.
More of a software rather than a hardware afficionado myself.

Hopefully I can find a way to revert the ext hd back to "optimize for quick removal" at least to get all the data off.

thks
joe

As I think I've said...an external hard drive is just a hard drive inside a case.

I had sealed and unsealed cases...I found a way to open each one simply by using a screwdriver when things went wrong. Of course, I wasn't concerned with any warranties that might have applied to these drives as "external drives" within the enclosures.

You can do it .

Connecting IDE Hard Drives - http://www.mikeshardware.com/howtos/howto_...ect_ide_hd.html

Installing A Hard Drive - Step by Step » PCMech - http://www.pcmech.com/article/installing-a...e-step-by-step/

Louis

Thanks for the links Louis. Printing them already.

Lets see if I don't burn down my house playing with computers and electricity.

thks
joe