Directory refuses to be deleted

[fdrake]

OK I have still not been able to solve this problem. I have not checked it using windows yet but I don't want to take any steps that may result in loss of data. A similar thing has actually happened to another folder as well and my hard drive has been acting up more than unusual. My computer just shuts down automatically for no reason during the middle of file transfers to the drive sometimes.
Please, I need to find a way to fix this problem WITHOUT losing any data. Help.

try not to use any further the drive. Make room. find another disk and start backing up. How big is the drive?

[davy jones]

It is a 2 TB drive and there is around a 1000 GB free. The problem was happening even when there was 1.3 to 1.4 TB free space on it. Plus it's a drive which I need to use regularly as my laptop only has a 250 GB internal drive and I do a lot of downloads.

[CharlesA]

OK I have still not been able to solve this problem. I have not checked it using windows yet but I don't want to take any steps that may result in loss of data. A similar thing has actually happened to another folder as well and my hard drive has been acting up more than unusual. My computer just shuts down automatically for no reason during the middle of file transfers to the drive sometimes.
Please, I need to find a way to fix this problem WITHOUT losing any data. Help.

That points to a drive going bad. Either clone it to another drive, or try to copying it and hope it doesn't fail in the middle of a copy.

[davy jones]

So I take it that buying a new hard drive is the only solution? I just want to check something to be sure - my laptop has shut down/restarted sometimes during file transfers to the drive. Is this solely because of the drive or my laptop could have something to do with it as well? And if it is only because of the drive, is that also harming my laptop? If I'm transferring data from this external drive to another one, and the computer shuts down in the middle again, will that harm the new drive as well?
Also, please recommend which external drive would be best suited with Ubuntu. Both in the portable and non-portable category. And yet another thing that I want to double check is - most of these drives (like Seagate, WD) say that they're compatible with only Windows and Mac and don't mention Linux at all. Is that just because they don't mention Linux or are some of them actually incompatible with Linux?

[t0p]

I would suggest you start backing up your data now. If you can't get a big disk right away, start with USB sticks, cards, DVDs. Get stuff backed up so when your external drive dies you will still have as much data as possible.

I have a 1TB external drive, and it works fine. But that won't always be the case, so I try to periodically copy stuff to DVDs. Most of my photos, music and video files are on DVD so if the drive suddenly dies I'll still have most of my stuff. Your drive seems to be on its way out, so get backing up.

[t0p]

Also, please recommend which external drive would be best suited with Ubuntu. Both in the portable and non-portable category. And yet another thing that I want to double check is - most of these drives (like Seagate, WD) say that they're compatible with only Windows and Mac and don't mention Linux at all. Is that just because they don't mention Linux or are some of them actually incompatible with Linux?

My 1TB drive is a Seagate. Manufacturers and retailers rarely say if their kit is Linux-compatible because most customers don't care, plus the manufacturers probably don't know. But I have yet to buy a drive that doesn't work with Ubuntu.

Sometimes external drives come with special protection/encryption software already installed. That software won't work with Linux, and I guess you might have to format the drive before you can use it. Maybe someone else knows more about that?

[CharlesA]

So I take it that buying a new hard drive is the only solution? I just want to check something to be sure - my laptop has shut down/restarted sometimes during file transfers to the drive. Is this solely because of the drive or my laptop could have something to do with it as well? And if it is only because of the drive, is that also harming my laptop? If I'm transferring data from this external drive to another one, and the computer shuts down in the middle again, will that harm the new drive as well?
Also, please recommend which external drive would be best suited with Ubuntu. Both in the portable and non-portable category. And yet another thing that I want to double check is - most of these drives (like Seagate, WD) say that they're compatible with only Windows and Mac and don't mention Linux at all. Is that just because they don't mention Linux or are some of them actually incompatible with Linux?

The only thing a hard shutdown could do is corrupt data in transit, or cause the file system to have errors - fsck fixes the file system, but you'd have to check each file to make sure they aren't corrupted.

I would really check dmesg when you are transferring files and see if it throws any errors before the reboot. It's likely it freaks out if the machine is unable to read from the drive.

I would suggest you start backing up your data now. If you can't get a big disk right away, start with USB sticks, cards, DVDs. Get stuff backed up so when your external drive dies you will still have as much data as possible.

I have a 1TB external drive, and it works fine. But that won't always be the case, so I try to periodically copy stuff to DVDs. Most of my photos, music and video files are on DVD so if the drive suddenly dies I'll still have most of my stuff. Your drive seems to be on its way out, so get backing up.

This. I've been using Seagate drives for a long while and haven't run into any problems (yet), I get them because they are cheap and have a smaller (sorta) form factor than some of the Western Digitals I have seen.

My 1TB drive is a Seagate. Manufacturers and retailers rarely say if their kit is Linux-compatible because most customers don't care, plus the manufacturers probably don't know. But I have yet to buy a drive that doesn't work with Ubuntu.

Sometimes external drives come with special protection/encryption software already installed. That software won't work with Linux, and I guess you might have to format the drive before you can use it. Maybe someone else knows more about that?

Indeed. All the drives I have tried - internal, external, thumb drives, etc have works fine with *nix.

Some of the externals came with "drive software" for the "capacity indicator" on the base of the drive, but it was Windows/Mac only and I just formatted the drive to EXT4 and left it at that. The indicator doesn't work, but a quick check of the drive after mounting it can show you the free space.

[vanadium]

This is an ntfs file system. I do not know why you refrained from the advise already given, i.e., have the drive connected to a Windows system and check/repair the file system. Any file system needs to be checked and made consistent from time to time. For an ntfs file system, only Windows has the tools for that.

I have had the issue myself, and I have looked for a linux way of solving the problem, but there is no solution. The linux ntfsfix tool was not able to resolve the issue. A check on Windows did.

[Rebelli0us]

Linux cannot repair NTFS partitions. Use Windows check-disk before concluding that the hardware is faulty.

[davy jones]

I haven't checked the disk in Windows yet because checking it could lead to loss of data and as I said, I can't afford that. I'm still looking to buy a new drive but I haven't been able to decide as almost all 2 TB drives, whether Seagate or WD or otherwise, have got mixed reviews.
I'm obviously not going to buy another WD disk so I guess Seagate is the only option right now. I'm looking at Seagate Expansion and Seagate Backup Plus. Any suggestions?