Correctly remove unwanted data from resource

[Simon Doran]

Hi XNAT Team,

  We have the following unusual situation:

1. A resource was created at subject level.

2. A number of PDF reports were correctly uploaded.

3. It appears that a user accidentally uploaded a zip file from a windows machine containing several thousand image files with names like this:

'DICOM\WMbcV13 [WMbcV13]\20240323 165939 [MWBOD - MRI Whole body]\Series 058 [MR - t1 vibe dixon tra bh F COMP]\1.3.6.1.4.1.5962.99.1.3552259744.214645223.1777373785760.20054.0.dcm'.

4. In XNAT's interface, the unexpanded resources folder showed a file count corresponding to the number of PDF files.

5. The expanded resources folder showed all the files, but the .dcm files were not deletable. An error message popped up saying "Unable to delete ..."

6. After downloading the PDF files to safeguard them, I tried deleting the whole resource. This was apparently successful.

7. However, at the backend, I see a directory structure that looks like this:
/data/xnat/archive/<PROJECT_NAME>/subjects/<SUBJECT_NAME>/<DELETED_RESOURCE_NAME>. In this directory the unwanted DICOM files are still present on the server.

  My questions are:

A. Why did this happen?

B. Am I safe simply removing this whole directory via an rm command on the backend . If not how should I proceed to safely remove these records from both the postgres database and the filesystem?

  Many thanks in advance for some guidance.

  Best wishes,

Simon