Trouble Deleting Corrupt Files

Greetings,
I am a recent convert from Windows back to MAC after many years. Yesterday I had an issue where I would try to open certain foldrs and it would take upwards of 10 minutes on my Mac Pro before displaying contents (color spinning wheel, etc.). I then noticed that when this delay occurred, once something would display I could see that some of the files and/or folders were corrupted (i.e. icons were invisible and the files unviewable). I have managed to move these to a folder on my desktop (most were either JPGs, but a few cache and preference files that I was abler to replace). I have also been able to delete most, but there are about five that just won't delete. Moving them to the trash and then emptying the trash just results in a 10 minute delay before I am told that they cannot be deleted because thay are in use or unreadable. I have also tried using a program called "ShredIt", which normally will shred anything, but in this case it jsut moves these to the Trash, which still won't empty.

As a side, I am pretty sure these got corrupt when a Thunderstorm blew through the other night. I came home and shut down the computer during the storm, just as my lights flickered a little. When I powered up the next time is when the problem started. However, I also downloaded "VirusBarrier" to tried to scan my system (still have Windows Paranoia). It gets 98% done and then the computer crashes and needs to restart. I don't know if that is because of a virus or if it is because of these five corrupted files it finds.

Bottom line is everything is running fine and back to lickity split, but I really would like to delete those files off my desktop.

2-2.66 GHz Intel Mac Pro, 2GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.4.10), 23 inch Apple Cinima Display

Posted on Aug 27, 2007 11:55 AM

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7 replies

Aug 27, 2007 12:22 PM in response to Fred Flinstone

I would restart from the Mac OS X Installation Disk. Then, on the first screen, run Disk Utility from the menu. Run the Repair routine on the hard drive from the First Aid tab.

If error come up (I think they will based on your description), hopefully DU can repair them. If errors come up and DU cannot repair, you may need a third-party utility such as DiskWarrior or TechTool Pro.

Aug 28, 2007 5:36 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Well, the Disk Utility on the Mac OS Installation disk found errors but could not repair the files. I ran from the Installation disk and as soon as if found errors it said it could not continue and stopped.

Not sure if I am going to invest in a 3rd party solution just yet. As I have said everything is running fine now so long as I don't try to access the folder where I have moved these corrupt files. I may just wait and do a clean (erase drive) install when I get Leopard in October.

Aug 28, 2007 6:19 AM in response to Fred Flinstone

It's actually the disk directory data that caused errors in Disk Utility. So it can get worse, beyond those files. DiskWarrior is a good tool to have around. It is most valuable to fix these problems, but I run it periodically to optimize the directory. Check it out...

http://www.alsoft.com/index.html

The other way to fix (Apple's solution), is to make a disk image of the start up disk (using Disk Utility) onto an external drive or second drive. You have to start up from the Mac OS X Installation Disk. Reformat the drive (which corrects the directory problem). Then restore from the disk image using Disk Utility. The good thing about this method is that you have a disk image back up.

Aug 29, 2007 5:00 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

OK, I bought DiskWarrior and ran it as my startup disk and tried to rebuld my hard disk. It "rebuilt" my Disk Directory and said it repaired about 15 files in the process (none of them important). However, it said I could not "replace" my directory because the original is too damaged. So in effect none of the repairs went into effect.

So I am still at a point were I have a folder with these items in it and I cannot delete them because it says they are in use. I talked briefely with someone at the apple store and they said I sould be able to delete these files from within the "Terminal" application, which I assume is like a DOS prompt in Windows? The folder is on the desktop. Would you know what I have to enter into terminal to do this?

Sep 2, 2007 10:42 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

OK, I bought DiskWarrior and ran it as my startup disk and tried to rebuld my hard disk. It "rebuilt" my Disk Directory and said it repaired about 15 files in the process (none of them important). However, it said I could not "replace" my directory because the original is too damaged. So in effect none of the repairs went into effect.

So I am still at a point were I have a folder with these items in it and I cannot delete them because it says they are in use. I talked briefely with someone at the apple store and they said I sould be able to delete these files from within the "Terminal" application, which I assume is like a DOS prompt in Windows? The folder is on the desktop. Would you know what I have to enter into terminal to do this?

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Trouble Deleting Corrupt Files

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