Error 0x80070091: The directory is not empty

lorripop

Member
ok, i think somehow, a winrar. file of mine got corrupted. so the file i extracted is corrupted and unreadable and i can't remove it from my external HD. and now, i can't safely remove the external HD from the computer without turning it off.

when i try to delete it, it says:
"An unexpected error is preventing the operation. Make a note of this error
code, which might be useful if you get additional help to resolve this problem:
Error 0x80070091: The directory is not empty"

and when i try to open it, it says:
"The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable"

how can i remove the file completely without having to reformat the external HD? can i use some free tools to remove it?
 

My Computer

Hi,

The first thing to try. Open a Command Prompt and type:

"chkdsk F:\ /r /f"

without the quotes and press enter. Change "F:\" to your external hard disk drive letter. let the command finish and see if the problem is solved.

Richard
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz
    Motherboard
    Stock Dell 0TP406
    Memory
    4 gb (DDR2 800) 400MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 3870 (512 MBytes)
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 x Dell 2007FP and 1 x (old) Sonic flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 1200 and 1280 x 1204
    Hard Drives
    1 x 640Gb (SATA 300)
    Western Digital: WDC WD6400AAKS-75A7B0

    1 x 1Tb (SATA 600)
    Western Digital: Caviar Black, SATA 6GB/S, 64Mb cache, 8ms
    Western Digital: WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 ATA Device
    PSU
    Stock PSU - 375W
    Case
    Dell XPS 420
    Cooling
    Stock Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell Bluetooth
    Mouse
    Advent Optical ADE-WG01 (colour change light up)
    Internet Speed
    120 kb/s
    Other Info
    ASUS USB 3.0 5Gbps/SATA 6Gbps - PCI-Express Combo Controller Card (U3S6)
Hi,

The first thing to try. Open a Command Prompt and type:

"chkdsk F:\ /r /f"

without the quotes and press enter. Change "F:\" to your external hard disk drive letter. let the command finish and see if the problem is solved.

Richard


ok, used chkdsk, and can delete the file. now, however, i can't safely remove my external HD without having to turn off the computer.

help?
 

My Computer

Hi again,

Why cannot you safely remove the drive? Do you get a specific error?

Richard
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz
    Motherboard
    Stock Dell 0TP406
    Memory
    4 gb (DDR2 800) 400MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 3870 (512 MBytes)
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 x Dell 2007FP and 1 x (old) Sonic flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 1200 and 1280 x 1204
    Hard Drives
    1 x 640Gb (SATA 300)
    Western Digital: WDC WD6400AAKS-75A7B0

    1 x 1Tb (SATA 600)
    Western Digital: Caviar Black, SATA 6GB/S, 64Mb cache, 8ms
    Western Digital: WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 ATA Device
    PSU
    Stock PSU - 375W
    Case
    Dell XPS 420
    Cooling
    Stock Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell Bluetooth
    Mouse
    Advent Optical ADE-WG01 (colour change light up)
    Internet Speed
    120 kb/s
    Other Info
    ASUS USB 3.0 5Gbps/SATA 6Gbps - PCI-Express Combo Controller Card (U3S6)
Hi again,

Why cannot you safely remove the drive? Do you get a specific error?

Richard


when i try to safely remove it, a small window pops up, saying:

"Windoes can't stop your 'Generic volume' device because a program is still using it. Close any programs or windows that might be using the device, and try again later".

...but no programs or windows are open ._.
 

My Computer

looks like something is still open. just shut the comp down then turn off the external drive. boot up then power it back up. should fix it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Home Build
    CPU
    AM2 Black
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte S-Series
    Memory
    4Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    G/F 9600 GT
    Sound Card
    onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22in LCDX2
    Hard Drives
    to many to list
    PSU
    Home Build
    Case
    God knows
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    yes with Buttons
    Mouse
    yes got one and a Cat
    Internet Speed
    1.5mb
Hi,

There are two options. You can either download a fully featured 30-day trial that works amazingly well, or you could use a Command Line freeware tool.

1) Trial: download this small piece of software, install and run it. Try to stop your external hard disk using it, and it will tell you what programs are stopping it. Do not necessarily try to stop them, just tell us. Download USB Safely Remove for free

2) Freeware: Download Handle (link below), drop in onto your Desktop and open Command Prompt. In Command Prompt, type these commands (without the quotes), each followed by enter. Handle

"cd C:\Users\{Your account name}\Desktop"
"handle K:\" << Change "K:\" to the drive letter of your external hard disk.
"handle -a K:\" << Change "K:\" to the drive letter of your external hard disk.

Note down what processes are handles on the external hard disk. There is only need to use one of these methods. Report back, and we will help you.

Richard
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz
    Motherboard
    Stock Dell 0TP406
    Memory
    4 gb (DDR2 800) 400MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 3870 (512 MBytes)
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 x Dell 2007FP and 1 x (old) Sonic flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 1200 and 1280 x 1204
    Hard Drives
    1 x 640Gb (SATA 300)
    Western Digital: WDC WD6400AAKS-75A7B0

    1 x 1Tb (SATA 600)
    Western Digital: Caviar Black, SATA 6GB/S, 64Mb cache, 8ms
    Western Digital: WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 ATA Device
    PSU
    Stock PSU - 375W
    Case
    Dell XPS 420
    Cooling
    Stock Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell Bluetooth
    Mouse
    Advent Optical ADE-WG01 (colour change light up)
    Internet Speed
    120 kb/s
    Other Info
    ASUS USB 3.0 5Gbps/SATA 6Gbps - PCI-Express Combo Controller Card (U3S6)
To caretaker:

..are you saying i should just turn off the computer whenever i want to remove the external HD?


To niemiro:

wait do these tools just take note what's running and preventing safe ejection?

and do i have to type in all 3 quotes? ._.
 

My Computer

ok i downloaded handle onto my desktop...

1) must i extract the files?

2) i typed in all the stuff that you quoted...maybe i typed it in the wrong format?
is there a certain format i must follow?

anyway, maybe you can provide me with the whole thing i need to type out, then i just copy and paste it? (my user is "Zer0" and my drive letter is "H:")
 

My Computer

...i realised ever since i ran chkdsk on it, my external HD's been acting rather slow ._."

like it takes longer to load things, it hangs, winrar. can hang and take quite long when i'm extracting stuff from it and great, now sometimes files (eg. picture/photo files) get corrupted and unviewable once i extract them.

why is my external HD acting like this??

(FYI: i just reinstalled winrar., so i don't think winrar.'s giving the problem...I THINK . A .)
 
Last edited:

My Computer

Hi,

Yes, this tool will try to stop the HD, just like Windows, but unlike Windows, when it fails, it will tell you what has made it fail. Under a normal situation, it will safely stop the HD.

Yes, you must extract the files to your Desktop. Please do this now. To make things much simpler for you, I have included something called a batch file. This is attached to the bottom of my post. It will automate the process of running the commands, so that you have nothing to type in. Download the file attached, let it run, wait for the black command prompt window to close. After closing, there will be a new .txt file on your Desktop called "handle_results.txt" Please upload this log file to your next post and I will analyse it for you. You may upload the .txt as an attachment, or just open it, and copy and paste the contents into your next post. You must extract handle.exe to your Desktop BEFORE running my batch file. If the tool does not exit, and looks like it is erroring, just close it and tell me. Do not try to upload the .txt if this has happened. It may take several minutes, let it finish. Only exit it if it looks like it is erroring. The Console should NOT be filled with text, this is erroring.

This is starting to look very much like a dying hard disk. Hard Disks do regularly die, losing all data on the disk. If there is any important data on this disk, make sure it is backed up in other locations as well. How old is this external hard disk, and is it making any funny noises, clicks, scrapes, bangs, etc.? There are many tools to check a disk, see if you can make sense of this website: 4 Tools To Predict and Prevent Hard Drive Failure CrystalDiskInfo and HDDScan are both completely free. There is no need to run the two trialware tools.

Richard
 

Attachments

  • handle.bat
    117 bytes · Views: 69

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz
    Motherboard
    Stock Dell 0TP406
    Memory
    4 gb (DDR2 800) 400MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 3870 (512 MBytes)
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 x Dell 2007FP and 1 x (old) Sonic flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 1200 and 1280 x 1204
    Hard Drives
    1 x 640Gb (SATA 300)
    Western Digital: WDC WD6400AAKS-75A7B0

    1 x 1Tb (SATA 600)
    Western Digital: Caviar Black, SATA 6GB/S, 64Mb cache, 8ms
    Western Digital: WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 ATA Device
    PSU
    Stock PSU - 375W
    Case
    Dell XPS 420
    Cooling
    Stock Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell Bluetooth
    Mouse
    Advent Optical ADE-WG01 (colour change light up)
    Internet Speed
    120 kb/s
    Other Info
    ASUS USB 3.0 5Gbps/SATA 6Gbps - PCI-Express Combo Controller Card (U3S6)
...uhm, this is my results:

Handle v3.42
Copyright (C) 1997-2008 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com
Initialization error:
Make sure that you are an administrator.

...how do i make sure i'm admin? ._.

uhm...i think my external HD is about...3-4 years old? ._. well, it is making sounds, but i think it's the normal sounds ._. it's sort of like...a rhythmic clicking?

so uhhh should i download HDD Scan?
 

My Computer

Hi,

3-4 years: In the range where it could start to die.

Clicking noises: All hard disks will make noises. It is whether it is more than when it was new (this is usually very difficult to remember)

Download the CrystalDiskInfo Tool from here. Ignore the fact it is coming from a Japanese website, the program is in English, and this part of the site is in English: CrystalDiskInfo3_5_5a.zipをダウンãƒ*ード - CrystalDiskInfo - SourceForge.JP

Extract all the files onto a new folder on your Desktop. Open this folder and run DiskInfo.exe. When it loads, select your external hard disk from the Disk Drop Down at the top. Report the Health Results.

First thing to do is to see the health results of your external hard disk. If you want, you can try to save the batch file to your Desktop, or find where it has been saved. Once you have located it, right click on it, and select "Run as Administrator" You may have to go past a UAC prompt. One good thing, my script didn't error, even if the tool did! Do not worry if you cannot do this.

Richard
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz
    Motherboard
    Stock Dell 0TP406
    Memory
    4 gb (DDR2 800) 400MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 3870 (512 MBytes)
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 x Dell 2007FP and 1 x (old) Sonic flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 1200 and 1280 x 1204
    Hard Drives
    1 x 640Gb (SATA 300)
    Western Digital: WDC WD6400AAKS-75A7B0

    1 x 1Tb (SATA 600)
    Western Digital: Caviar Black, SATA 6GB/S, 64Mb cache, 8ms
    Western Digital: WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 ATA Device
    PSU
    Stock PSU - 375W
    Case
    Dell XPS 420
    Cooling
    Stock Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell Bluetooth
    Mouse
    Advent Optical ADE-WG01 (colour change light up)
    Internet Speed
    120 kb/s
    Other Info
    ASUS USB 3.0 5Gbps/SATA 6Gbps - PCI-Express Combo Controller Card (U3S6)
i did all you instructed, but now i'm facing a really weird issue . A .

when i ran the CrystalDiskInfo thing and went under the "Disk" tab, only my computer hard drive is listed! . A . now what?
 

My Computer

hi.
i have this error -ntoskrn1.exe
can you help me guys

Hi,

Can you please create a new thread including as many details as possible.

Thanks!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz
    Motherboard
    Stock Dell 0TP406
    Memory
    4 gb (DDR2 800) 400MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 3870 (512 MBytes)
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 x Dell 2007FP and 1 x (old) Sonic flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 1200 and 1280 x 1204
    Hard Drives
    1 x 640Gb (SATA 300)
    Western Digital: WDC WD6400AAKS-75A7B0

    1 x 1Tb (SATA 600)
    Western Digital: Caviar Black, SATA 6GB/S, 64Mb cache, 8ms
    Western Digital: WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 ATA Device
    PSU
    Stock PSU - 375W
    Case
    Dell XPS 420
    Cooling
    Stock Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell Bluetooth
    Mouse
    Advent Optical ADE-WG01 (colour change light up)
    Internet Speed
    120 kb/s
    Other Info
    ASUS USB 3.0 5Gbps/SATA 6Gbps - PCI-Express Combo Controller Card (U3S6)
Hi,

Yes, this tool will try to stop the HD, just like Windows, but unlike Windows, when it fails, it will tell you what has made it fail. Under a normal situation, it will safely stop the HD.

Yes, you must extract the files to your Desktop. Please do this now. To make things much simpler for you, I have included something called a batch file. This is attached to the bottom of my post. It will automate the process of running the commands, so that you have nothing to type in. Download the file attached, let it run, wait for the black command prompt window to close. After closing, there will be a new .txt file on your Desktop called "handle_results.txt" Please upload this log file to your next post and I will analyse it for you. You may upload the .txt as an attachment, or just open it, and copy and paste the contents into your next post. You must extract handle.exe to your Desktop BEFORE running my batch file. If the tool does not exit, and looks like it is erroring, just close it and tell me. Do not try to upload the .txt if this has happened. It may take several minutes, let it finish. Only exit it if it looks like it is erroring. The Console should NOT be filled with text, this is erroring.

This is starting to look very much like a dying hard disk. Hard Disks do regularly die, losing all data on the disk. If there is any important data on this disk, make sure it is backed up in other locations as well. How old is this external hard disk, and is it making any funny noises, clicks, scrapes, bangs, etc.? There are many tools to check a disk, see if you can make sense of this website: 4 Tools To Predict and Prevent Hard Drive Failure CrystalDiskInfo and HDDScan are both completely free. There is no need to run the two trialware tools.

Richard


i did all you instructed, but now i'm facing a really weird issue . A .

when i ran the CrystalDiskInfo thing and went under the "Disk" tab, only my computer hard drive is listed! . A . now what?
 

My Computer

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz
    Motherboard
    Stock Dell 0TP406
    Memory
    4 gb (DDR2 800) 400MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 3870 (512 MBytes)
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 x Dell 2007FP and 1 x (old) Sonic flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 1200 and 1280 x 1204
    Hard Drives
    1 x 640Gb (SATA 300)
    Western Digital: WDC WD6400AAKS-75A7B0

    1 x 1Tb (SATA 600)
    Western Digital: Caviar Black, SATA 6GB/S, 64Mb cache, 8ms
    Western Digital: WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 ATA Device
    PSU
    Stock PSU - 375W
    Case
    Dell XPS 420
    Cooling
    Stock Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell Bluetooth
    Mouse
    Advent Optical ADE-WG01 (colour change light up)
    Internet Speed
    120 kb/s
    Other Info
    ASUS USB 3.0 5Gbps/SATA 6Gbps - PCI-Express Combo Controller Card (U3S6)

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz
    Motherboard
    Stock Dell 0TP406
    Memory
    4 gb (DDR2 800) 400MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 3870 (512 MBytes)
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 x Dell 2007FP and 1 x (old) Sonic flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 1200 and 1280 x 1204
    Hard Drives
    1 x 640Gb (SATA 300)
    Western Digital: WDC WD6400AAKS-75A7B0

    1 x 1Tb (SATA 600)
    Western Digital: Caviar Black, SATA 6GB/S, 64Mb cache, 8ms
    Western Digital: WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 ATA Device
    PSU
    Stock PSU - 375W
    Case
    Dell XPS 420
    Cooling
    Stock Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell Bluetooth
    Mouse
    Advent Optical ADE-WG01 (colour change light up)
    Internet Speed
    120 kb/s
    Other Info
    ASUS USB 3.0 5Gbps/SATA 6Gbps - PCI-Express Combo Controller Card (U3S6)
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