Problem with external HD

[Timimite]

I aleady posted it by mistake in "General". Could a moderator delete the one in the General section, please ? Thank you very much.
My question

Hello,
Sorry about my english. It's not my native langage.
Running Duplicate Cleaner v 3.1.3, OS W7 64bits Premium. Trying to get rid of duplicates on a 2To NTFS external HD. Initial availaible space 425 Go.

Duplicate Cleaner (DC) detected the duplicates very easily. I marked about 10 Go of duplicates, wanted to delete them (without transfer to dustbin). Seemed to succeed (erased from list of duplcates), but availaible space still 425Go on my external HD.
Repeated the operation with 20 go of duplicates (had several saves on this HD)... Still 425Go free.
Rebooted, Right click on the external HD, tools => check file system...8 hours later, no problem on external HD, but still 425 Go free.

Space on the external HD does not seem to be freed

Created a "Todel" folder, and tried to eliminate a selected duplicate (.txt), with the option "move to selected directory". Failure : Security settings denied access to the source.
Impossible to run Duplicate Cleaner as administrator (will not launch with right clic menu, even though the option is availaible)... and even if I can run nearly any other program I like as administrator (I'm admin on my computer).

Any idea, please ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Have a good day,
Sincerely

[therube]

Does the external drive have a "trashbox" (separate & different from Windows Recycle Bin)?
My Buffalo NAS does.
The drive itself has a setting for this trashbox to be enabled or not.

If enabled, deleted files end up in this trashbox rather then being purged directly.


What types of files were being deleted?
Rather, were they links?
If they were links, you may have deleted the links, but since the (now) non-linked version of the file still exists, you have not freed up any actual disk space.
(Windows itself is a virtual morass of links.)

[Timimite]

Good evening
Thanks a lot for your reply, therube

Yes, my external HD has a trashbox, but it's empty (I checked). I expected so, for I deleted without storage in the dustbin.

There were no links to any of the files. And, for the types of files, they were many, but mainly jpg, mts, wav (copy from one computer versus copy from another one... family events needed synchronisation).

I'll try a chkdsk tonight... will last quite a bit, I guess : 2To and usb2 connection.

Meanwhile, all hints are welcome... I'm completely puzzled.

Thanks again for your help, and have a good evening.

Sincerely

[Timimite]

Hello everybody

No problem detected by chkdsk on my external drive.
However, had a second try with options /F /R /B ... without any effect.

I feel puzzled to have suppressed something like 30 Go and not regained any free space on this disk.

Any idea, please ?

Thank you in advance.
Sincerely

[therube]

Well if you have deleted the files, then they should be gone.
Though if your free disk space has remained unchanged, that would tend to indicate that they are around - somewhere.

Do a search for some "deleted" files & see what turns up.

Two excellent "searchers":

"Everything" Search version 1.3.1.636b

WizTree finds the files and folders using the most disk space on your hard drive

[DigitalVolcano]

Have the files actually been deleted? Can you see if any of the files are still there?

[Timimite]

Hello and good evening,

Thanks for the replies and the precious help.

Unable to tell for the first 2 bunches, as I did not expect the problem so did not take any note of what was to be deleted. DC always had been 100% reliable till now

I tried with a single file : delete without putting in bin... Duplicate Cleaner tells me it's successfully deleted, it is no more in the list, but it is still in the folder ! I even opened it.

I'm running a new duplicates search with DC to see whether the file shows again or is considered "done". This on the basis that on my second try I don't remember seeing the duplicated 10 Go folder any more.

The search will last several hours (I kept the previous settings), so I'll be able to tell tomorrow night (I'm suppose to work during day

Anyway, a huge thanks for all this kind help, and for the searchers. I never heard of them, and good searchers are always welcome.

Gratefully

[Timimite]

Hello everybody,

"Good" news for me : the files are back, in the new duplicates list, the 10 Go folder too. Will save me lots of search.

So, DC
- prompted the items has been deleted from the external HD.
- traced the deletion in the log (I checked).
- suppressed them from duplicates list
- but did not delete anything.

This is repeatable.

If you need futher information for tracking, just tell me, please.

Have a good day, all of you
Sincerely
-------------------------------------------------------
Here the last log, if it may help
-------------------------------------------------------
Analyse terminée
Temps total écoulé: 00:40:08
5745/51735 fichiers analysés (1431 GB)
1723 groupes de doublons
4765 fichiers ont des doublons(80,8 GB)
Hashes calculated: 4773
Quick Hashes calculated: 4764
Useful Quick Hashes: 14

10/04/2013 23:00:12
DELETED: G:\Svg-D-Tornade\0\P\Multimedia\Photos\Famille\Var\Mael\semaines 8 et +\P1020586.JPG


1 fichiers ont été supprimés.

10/04/2013 23:02:39
DELETED: G:\Der-Tornade\D\P\Multimedia\Photos\Famille\Var\Mael\semaines 8 et +\P1020586.JPG


1 fichiers ont été supprimés.

10/04/2013 23:03:44
Comparaison sur contenu: Mode standard
- Même contenu (MD5)
- Même date de modification
- Fichiers de même nom

Inclus: *.*
Exclu:
G:\ - Inclus

11/04/2013 00:57:40
Analyse terminée
Temps total écoulé: 01:53:55
51735/51735 fichiers analysés (1431 GB) <--------------------- same # of files -------------------------------------------
8990 groupes de doublons
21200 fichiers ont des doublons(238 GB)
Hashes calculated: 21214
Quick Hashes calculated: 17008
Useful Quick Hashes: 30

[Timimite]

Hello everybody,

All this seems to show there is a problem with deletion on external disks?

- Digital Cleaner says it's deleted, removes the file from duplicates list, tracks a "delete done" in the log
- But the file is not deleted on the disk

Do you think it is possible to fix it (either the messages and log or the delete... I would prefer the delete

Thanks a lot for your reply

Have a good evening and a good week-end
Sincerely

[DigitalVolcano]

Are any of the files that are not deleting read-only? That could be an explanation. Any issues if you try and delete one in Windows Explorer?