Pez D Spencer
Banned
I had a bunch of folders and files that I needed to get organized so I used a batch renaming utility to make the work easier. I tried at least 20 different utilities to try and get the job done so I don't remember exactly which program messed the folder names up, but it's not like that really matters anyway.
What happened was this. Like I said, I had a few hundred folders that I needed to rename so I used a batch utility to do it. The program renamed the folders like it should have, but for some strange reason the program put a dot at the end of the folder name which from what I know, Windows can't/won't/shouldn't allow you to do.
As a result, the folders became inacessible. When I'd try to open them, Vista would give me an "Item Not Found" message and go on to say that the file/folder may have been moved etc. I was finally able to extract all the files inside the inaccesible folders using GetDataBack a data recovery program. What I ended up having to do was run GetDataBack on the partition where the files and folders resided, rename the folders from within GetDataBack and then recover the renamed folders and the files they contained using the data recovery software.
The thing is that even though I was able to get all my files back to an accesible state, the folders with the screwed up file names are still there and I can't delete them. Besides just sitting there doing nothing, they still contain all the data (GetDataBack simply copied the data from them and left the original data in the folders intact), and all those files and folders are eating up about 40GB of space on my drive. I don't know how or why the folders ended up with a dot at the end of the name but they did. I'm assuming that the reason they won't delete is because of this anomalous dot. So far I've tried unsucessfully renaming the folders from within Explorer as well as the command prompt , deleting them from within Explorer as well as the command prompt, and tried using a program called Unlocker which if you don't know, will usually sucessfully delete, rename, or move a problem file that is in use or otherwise being uncooperative.
Any ideas on how I can get rid of these damn folders? Until now I've had virtually no problems with Vista in the 6 months or so I've been running it. However, my gut feeling is that the renaming utility(s) I used were the reason for all this and I hesitate to blame Vista.
Thanks.
What happened was this. Like I said, I had a few hundred folders that I needed to rename so I used a batch utility to do it. The program renamed the folders like it should have, but for some strange reason the program put a dot at the end of the folder name which from what I know, Windows can't/won't/shouldn't allow you to do.
As a result, the folders became inacessible. When I'd try to open them, Vista would give me an "Item Not Found" message and go on to say that the file/folder may have been moved etc. I was finally able to extract all the files inside the inaccesible folders using GetDataBack a data recovery program. What I ended up having to do was run GetDataBack on the partition where the files and folders resided, rename the folders from within GetDataBack and then recover the renamed folders and the files they contained using the data recovery software.
The thing is that even though I was able to get all my files back to an accesible state, the folders with the screwed up file names are still there and I can't delete them. Besides just sitting there doing nothing, they still contain all the data (GetDataBack simply copied the data from them and left the original data in the folders intact), and all those files and folders are eating up about 40GB of space on my drive. I don't know how or why the folders ended up with a dot at the end of the name but they did. I'm assuming that the reason they won't delete is because of this anomalous dot. So far I've tried unsucessfully renaming the folders from within Explorer as well as the command prompt , deleting them from within Explorer as well as the command prompt, and tried using a program called Unlocker which if you don't know, will usually sucessfully delete, rename, or move a problem file that is in use or otherwise being uncooperative.
Any ideas on how I can get rid of these damn folders? Until now I've had virtually no problems with Vista in the 6 months or so I've been running it. However, my gut feeling is that the renaming utility(s) I used were the reason for all this and I hesitate to blame Vista.
Thanks.
