Directory refuses to be deleted

**CharlesA** · February 10th, 2013

Originally Posted by 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.

Everything is like that because some people have great experiences with a product and some people have a rotten experience with the same product.

Unless you don't want to use that drive until you run chkdisk on it, it would be a good idea to run chkdisk to rule out a file system error, or to see if it is indeed a hardware error. My bet is a hardware error, which means it would be a good idea to copy any data on that external drive to different media ASAP.

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?

The only difference I can see between the two is the Expansion is a desktop drive (which requires a power pack) and the Backup Plus is a "portable" drive and only requires power via USB. There is also a "portable" version of the Expansion too.

If you are intending to use either of these drives in Linux, the included software will likely not work.

**davy jones** · February 10th, 2013

Can chkdisk cause data loss? If so, I would prefer to not do it until I've backed up my data.
I was looking at the 2 TB version of these drives and they both need external power. Anyway, if it's all the same then I guess I would prefer to go with Expansion since I don't need any of the software that's installed on Backup Plus.

**Bufeu** · February 10th, 2013

Originally Posted by davy jones

Can chkdisk cause data loss? If so, I would prefer to not do it until I've backed up my data.
I was looking at the 2 TB version of these drives and they both need external power. Anyway, if it's all the same then I guess I would prefer to go with Expansion since I don't need any of the software that's installed on Backup Plus.

No, as far as I know. chkdsk only checks the disk for errors. Maybe, if chkdsk tries to repair damaged, you can loose data.

**davy jones** · February 11th, 2013

So this is the message that I got when I ran chkdsk on Windows -

chkdsk f:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is Elements.

WARNING! F parameter not specified.
Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
Deleting corrupt attribute record (128, "")
from file record segment 1622.
Deleting corrupt attribute record (128, "")
from file record segment 1627.
Deleting corrupt attribute record (128, "")
from file record segment 1628.
Deleting corrupt attribute record (128, "")
from file record segment 1629.
Deleting corrupt attribute record (128, "")
from file record segment 1630.
Deleting corrupt attribute record (128, "")
from file record segment 1631.
Deleting corrupt attribute record (128, "")
from file record segment 1642.
Deleting corrupt attribute record (128, "")
from file record segment 2458.
File verification completed.

Errors found. CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode.

Please tell me how to proceed from here

**CharlesA** · February 11th, 2013

You would have to run it like this:

Code:

chkdsk /f f:

That will fix any file system errors it finds.

**davy jones** · February 12th, 2013

But since this will try to repair damage, like you said, it could lead to data loss? There are only 2 folders on this drive that seem to be corrupt as far as I know because only these 2 refuse to be deleted. So what are the odds that any data outside these folders will get lost?
P.S I'm sorry for being such a stickler about this but I'm not very good at tech related stuff and I just have to know this before I can risk running that command.

**bantuvez** · February 12th, 2013

CHKDSK will try to repair corrupted data. If it can't, it will remove the corrupted data. So you will only loose corrupted data, which is most likely already lost.

The only reason not to run CHKDSK is if you have very-very important data on your drive AND you are willing to pay a lot of money to a professional data rescue company to save your data. Professional data rescue companies possibly can recover more corrupted data than CHKDSK.

**davy jones** · February 12th, 2013

So good news. I ran chkdsk /f and it has apparently fixed all errors with no data loss. I thank you all for your advice and want to ask for some more. Should I still buy another drive or will this one stay good for a while?

**CharlesA** · February 12th, 2013

Originally Posted by davy jones

So good news. I ran chkdsk /f and it has apparently fixed all errors with no data loss. I thank you all for your advice and want to ask for some more. Should I still buy another drive or will this one stay good for a while?

If you want to be safe, get another drive and backup all your important data to it. That way if the original drive goes out, you still have the backup.

The only data you do not have a backup of is data you do not care about.