Make the bad file go away!!!
Arthur Bernard Byrne
I'm having a little problem with an older iMac. It's
plugging along cheerily enough with OS 8.5.1, but has developed
a corrupt file. Depending on what utility I wave at it, it shows
as being 2 GB (finder info under OS8.5.1), 7900ish GB (finder
info under OS9.1 from the Norton Utilities disk), or -2GB (Norton
Utils Fast Find).
I can, by abusing the resource fork, open it into
MicrosquishOrificeWord, and try to save over it; but the
original pops back up as some sort of work file. I can put it in
the trash, but emptying the trash gives an Error Type -127.
Disk First Aid does not help. Nor Norton Utilities 6.0.
Nor TechToolPro 2.5.3. All of them say they can't fix it. But
really, I do not want to FIX this file. The contents of it,
or any that it ever had, can be lost forever as far as I
am concerned. I just want the damned thing gone!!!
Short version: anyone know a good way to delete a file
that doesn't want to delete, short of formatting the hard drive?
abb3w
Arthur Bernard Byrne
Tacit
>the trash, but emptying the trash gives an Error Type -127.
Error -127 indicates a serious directory problem.
The file is not there. What you are seeing is the consequence of severe disk
directory damage. You need to run a commercial disk utility (eg, DiskWarrior)
SOON, else you risk losing all your data.
--
"Quand la morale triomphe, il se passe des choses tres vilaines."
Literature. Art. Photography. Forums. Shareware. Kink. Sex.
All at: http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html
reply to NG only
> Short version: anyone know a good way to delete a file
> that doesn't want to delete, short of formatting the hard drive?
PGP (at www.pgp.com) ... might be able to overwrite it into
oblivion.
Brett
Tacit
>oblivion.
Not given the original poster's other information, I fear. The Error -127 is
particularly telling; this is a serious file manager error. This error
indicates severe directory corruption; hence; attempting to overwrite the
"file" is unlikely to succeed. The file can't be deleted until the filesystem
is repaired.
Howard S Shubs
ab...@node10.unix.Virginia.EDU (Arthur Bernard Byrne) wrote:
> Short version: anyone know a good way to delete a file
> that doesn't want to delete, short of formatting the hard drive?
Whatever you do, make a REALLY GOOD backup of anything you can't do
without before you go any further.
--
Howard S Shubs
"Run in circles, scream and shout!" "I hope you have good backups!"
Aren't there any networked SJFs around?
Arthur Bernard Byrne
So what tool out there exists to simply wipe out a bad node
in a B tree Catalog? Is there, perhaps, a hex editor that I can point
at the right place, and directions on how to mangle what I want mangled
without toasting the rest of the file system?
abb3w
Arthur Bernard Byrne
Howard S Shubs <how...@shubs.net> wrote:
>In article <a2skre$m81$1...@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>,
> ab...@node10.unix.Virginia.EDU (Arthur Bernard Byrne) wrote:
>> Short version: anyone know a good way to delete a file
>> that doesn't want to delete, short of formatting the hard drive?
>
>Whatever you do, make a REALLY GOOD backup of anything you can't do
>without before you go any further.
Heh. Paranoia is my watchword. I did *that* before I even
waved Norton Utilities at it.
Question is, What Next? Preferably, short of "wipe the
hard drive and re-install"?
abb3w
Arthur Bernard Byrne
Tacit <tac...@aol.com> wrote:
>>I can put it in
>>the trash, but emptying the trash gives an Error Type -127.
>
>Error -127 indicates a serious directory problem.
Corrupted B Tree node in the catalog or some such, according
to the helpful error message from Norton Utils.
>The file is not there. What you are seeing is the consequence of severe disk
>directory damage. You need to run a commercial disk utility (eg, DiskWarrior)
>SOON, else you risk losing all your data.
Tried both Norton and TechToolPro on it, and they can't fix the
problem. Loosing data is not a problem; full system backup exists. I'm
just trying to get rid of this bad node without reformatting the hard
drive, and re-installing the OS. That seems like killing a cockroach with
a nuclear weapon.
I just want the bad node to GO AWAY.
abb3w
ann bishop
I haven't used it myself but Disk Warrior has a few fans,this URL will
give you the run down.
< http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/index.html>
annieb
Howard S Shubs
ab...@node14.unix.Virginia.EDU (Arthur Bernard Byrne) wrote:
> Heh. Paranoia is my watchword. I did *that* before I even
> waved Norton Utilities at it.
Cool.
> Question is, What Next? Preferably, short of "wipe the
> hard drive and re-install"?
Why not? If you've got a good backup, just use it. Or is it only of a
subset of the disk's files?
Arthur Bernard Byrne
> ab...@node14.unix.Virginia.EDU (Arthur Bernard Byrne) wrote:
>> Question is, What Next? Preferably, short of "wipe the
>> hard drive and re-install"?
>
>Why not? If you've got a good backup, just use it. Or is it only of a
>subset of the disk's files?
Mainly, it seems There Ought To Be A Better Way. Also,
(1) it does take a fair bit of time; (2) there are a few packages
(IE, MicroSquishOffice) that don't like being restored, and
insist on being fed new key numbers (which I have to dredge up);
and (3) the last time I had to do this, every alias ended up broken
(which is possibly my fault, but may be a byproduct of the MacOS
alias nature interacting with wiping the hard drive catalog tree.)
But TOTBABW heads the list... for the moment.
abb3w
Tacit
>in a B tree Catalog? Is there, perhaps, a hex editor that I can point
>at the right place, and directions on how to mangle what I want mangled
>without toasting the rest of the file system?
Not likely. The bad node probably has bad parent, child,a nd sibling links as
well. If you were just to remove it fromt he catalog, you might find everything
above or below it to be suddenly inaccessible.
If nothing else works, try DiskWarrior, from Alsoft. Many's the time
DiskWarrior has repaired disks for me that Norton said were hopeless.
If DiskWarrior can't fix it, it probably can't be fixed, because the damage is
so severe that the correct information cannot be rebuilt from what is left. In
such a case, reformatting is likely your only option.