Solved Corrupt File or Directory on C: drive

C: drive has two folders Found.002 and Found.003. It had .000 and .001 also but I have been able to delete those. I can not delete .002 or .003.
I've tried to delete them from Window PE. The response is always "Directory or files are corrupt and are unreadable".
I would like to know how reformat C: drive and put back my working Windows11 system without the corrupt folders. Making an .img backup file (Aomei Backup) only puts the corrupt Found.00 folders back again.
I appreciate your help. Thanks, LesCarlson

LesCarlson said:

I would like to know how reformat C: drive

Click to expand...

WARNING Any reformat will WIPE the drive of all files. I doubt whether this is what you want at this early stage ... or is it?

Hi, Les, welcome.

Did you run chkdsk to create those folders?

Try deleting them in safe mode:

• Boot into Safe Mode:
  • Hold Shift while clicking Restart
  • Go to Troubleshoot > Advanced > Startup Settings > Restart
  • Choose Safe Mode from the boot options
• Try deleting the folders again via File Explorer or Command Prompt

OR


Delete via command prompt as Admin:

• Open Command Prompt as Administrator
• Run:
  
  Code:

  attrib -s -h -r C:\Found.002
  attrib -s -h -r C:\Found.003

• Then run:
  
  Code:

  rmdir /s /q C:\Found.002
  rmdir /s /q C:\Found.003

OR

Take ownership then manually delete them:

LesCarlson said:

C: drive has two folders Found.002 and Found.003. It had .000 and .001 also but I have been able to delete those. I can not delete .002 or .003.
I've tried to delete them from Window PE. The response is always "Directory or files are corrupt and are unreadable".
I would like to know how reformat C: drive and put back my working Windows11 system without the corrupt folders. Making an .img backup file (Aomei Backup) only puts the corrupt Found.00 folders back again.
I appreciate your help. Thanks, LesCarlson

Click to expand...

A drive should not have a Found.001

This drive already has Found.003.

If there are no important files on the drive then it can be used until its terminal event.


If there are important files on the drive then backup files and replace the drive.


An alternative but an unattractive one is to put important files at risk and run chkdsk /b /v.

If there are any new found (Found.004) with this command or at any time in the future then replace the drive.

I’m guessing that running chkdsk in the beginning, created these folders.

Also run other drive tests to see if has already failed one of these drive tests:


Long DST
Long generic test
Full surface/error scan
SMART
etc.

Running chkdsk C: /f might fix any logical error and then let you delete these folders but there is a huge risk losing some other partially corrupt folder containing files you want. So I would first take a full backup of my data and then attempt to fix the disk. I have lost files in the past when I ran chkdsk and I could not recover them! That's why when I insert a USB disk or USB flash drive and see the warning to repair errors I ALWAYS click NO! I have even seen a folder changing attributes into a file! This means the affected folder can no longer be opened and any files inside are lost! Be VERY careful when running chkdsk on a corrupted drive. It's not Panacea.

Gentlemen,
From safe mode using the 'attrib' and 'rmdir' commands did the the trick. Hearty thanks to Sinto and all who volunteered their expertise.
Thanks again, Les Carlson

These are various types of drive tests:

A drive can pass multiple tests and fail on another.



1) Run Sea Tools Long generic test (all drives) > post images or share links




2) Run HD Tune (all drives) (old version) > post images or share links



a) Health

b) Full error scan




3) Open administrative command prompt and copy and paste:

chkdsk /b /v

Run these chkdsk switches on all drives using the syntax: chkdsk /b /v C: or chkdsk /b /v D: or chkdsk /b /v E: etc.

Make sure that the windows drive runs overnight while sleeping.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>chkdsk /b /v
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Cannot lock current drive.
Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be
checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)

Type: Y

Reboot as needed.




4) After completing all chkdsk /b /v run:

https://www.tenforums.com/attachmen...-files-use-bsod-debugging-chkdskfromevent.bat

Batch files for use in BSOD debugging - Windows 10 Help Forums

Batch files for use in BSOD debugging - Windows 10 Help Forums





Make sure that this runs only after the prior three steps for each drive.


5) Run HD Sentinel (all drives) > post images or share links (do not run until posting results for each steps 5, 6, 7 and 8)

Hard Disk Sentinel - HDD health and temperature monitoring
a) Overview
b) Temperature
c) SMART

Needless to say if the drive even fails the quick test, there is no reason wasting time doing the rest of the tests. Backup your data ASAP and replace it.