Deleting IMPOSSIBLE-TO-DELETE-FILES

Discussion of bugs and problems found in Altap Salamander. In your reports, please be as descriptive as possible, and report one incident per report. Do not post crash reports here, send us the generated bug report by email instead, please.
gregzeng
Posts: 17
Joined: 02 Jun 2009, 08:35
Location: Australian Capital Territory
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Deleting IMPOSSIBLE-TO-DELETE-FILES

Post by gregzeng »

Interested in comments to my "researches" ... into Windows & Salamander.

STANDARD HARDWARE & OPERATING SYSTEM, almost.
My Dell XPS-15 notebook (2013) setup: Running Windows-10, version 10586, downloaded fresh from the official Microsoft site. Standard Dell configuration was one-TB HDD, one mSATA SSD, i7 CPU, with Nvidia GPU, 16 GB DDR3, USB3x2, and up to two additional external monitors, etc. Upgraded the notebook's SSD to a Samsung 850 one-TB unit. Backup is done in real-time to one connected USB3 HDD (2TB) and also to another 2TB USB3 drive, daily, which is then rotated weekly with an off-site similar drive. Critical & archival data files are stored as well on other off-site USB drives.

VERY UNUSUAL OPERATING SYSTEMS:
My SSD drive runs two (2) complete versions of Win-10, and ten EXT4 partitions with up to ten (10) versions of Linux operating systems.
The TB HDD also has one Win-10 system, and room for two Linux partitions, if needed.
Other than the Linux partitions, all others are WIN-10 NTFS-compressed.
All Windows partitions are read-write access by all thirteen (13 operating systems. Each Windows partition is 40 GB. Each Linux partition is 10 to 20 GB, but includes all applications within that partition EXT4 partiton.
All 13 operating systems also can operate the one version of Altap SERVANT SALAMANDER.
There is no repetition needed for the third-party Windows applications. Pagefile, temporary folders and files, caches, etc are all sharded by all operating systems on the SSD.

ABSOLUTE DELETION OF WINDOWS FILES, with Linux.
Any Linux operating system can do this easily and quickly. Transfer the offending folder or file into the Linux trash bin This is a temporary, reversible deletion. Then empty the Linux trash bin. Generally this is "permanent".

Linux can be mounted temporarily or permanently to any Windows or Mac computer. The temporary method is to boot the operating system from a fast flash drive (preferred), or from a CD or DVD. "Gparted-live" one such specialized operating system (about 280 MB). Otherwise, Ubuntu-Mate or Mint-MATE might be suggested.

REASONS FOR DIFFICULT-TO-DELETE-FILES in Windows.

1) Very long names of folders-files.
Drilling down into the folder structure MIGHT help you discover the offending area.

2) Attributes: H-idden, R-eadOnly, System, ...
Salamander can be forced to show you these, in the Detailed mode, and on the Information-line at the bottom of the Salamander window. Salamander can change these attributes, but sometimes this might not allow the file to be deleted.

3) Foreign-language fonts.
Windows cannot process many "foreign" fonts. You may or may not "see" these fonts, since some "characters" are invisible to the ASCII-eye. Linux often has files with "foreign" fonts. Internet files are made Linux friendly, not Windows friendly, because most (all?) internet computers use only Linux.

4) Soft partition errors on your storage medium.
Computer software expects the storage medium to be orderly, in straight lines, with all its check-bits correct. Sometimes Windows can try to repair these, with Microsoft inbuilt repairs: slow and cumbersome; sometimes automatically with many re-boots. Some times non-Microsoft applications work faster. My favorite is "Disk Doctor", a part of Advanced Systemcare (freeware, & regularly updated every few weeks).

5) Hard partition errors.
Re-sizing any partition can easily create these errors. The only remedy afaik is to delete the bad partition, ans then rebuild a new one. Insert your backup files & folders into the new partition.

6) Operating system errors
If you run multi-boot operating systems like I do, this will easily happen. Malware of several kinds will ruin this part of the operating system, especially if you run Windows on the Internet. Internet Windows & Internet Macs will always be historical to the newest malware. They all behave in the same predictable ways at systems level. No ever-changing core kernels, like Linux.

7) Secret Microsoft Files.
These are unknown to all third party, non-Microsoft applications. Sometimes Microsoft's own outdated applications cannot recognize these new files. New partitions such as the newest NTFS is closed-source, and has "features" unknown to many people, including Microsoft's own coding staff.

SERVANT SALAMANDER errors ??

I doubt it very much, ever since I registered my use with it when it was first release to the public, many decades ago, in 1997.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altap_Salamander

Generally I might run several copies of Salamander simultaneously. Some file operations can seem slow: bulky copying, renaming, etc. Generally all 13 operating systems have at least four independent desktops. So it is very easy to have four Salamanders running simultaneously and independently, using Windows freeware: Goscreen (updated every few months).

If you think it might be, remove it from your system, then re-boot and install again. As I explained above, all my thirteen (13) operating systems have never had trouble using Salamander, except for Font-Size distortion in WINE-Linux.

One message in this forum claimed that Windows Explorer was able to delete a file that Salamander could not. Windows-10 etc has many strange files unknown to third-party Windows applications. Not even the specialized Windows 3rd party applications can delete these. I've tried them all e.g. Alternate File Shredder, Hardwipe, Kcleaner, Ow Shredder, Soft4boost Secure Eraser, Wdcfree, Wipe 2016.06, Wise Disk Cleaner 9.23.642 and Wise Force Deleter 1.23.26.
Retired (1985) Chief Information Officer, Australian Capital Territory.
therube
Posts: 674
Joined: 14 Dec 2006, 06:22

Re: Deleting IMPOSSIBLE-TO-DELETE-FILES

Post by therube »

1) Very long names of folders-files.
Drilling down into the folder structure MIGHT help you discover the offending area.
Everything (1.4.0.713b Beta):
> path:len:>250
2) Attributes: H-idden, R-eadOnly, System, ...
Not sure how H or R would stop anything? Maybe System? Certainly T.
Windows-10 etc has many strange files unknown to third-party Windows applications.
Such as?
WinXP Pro SP3 or Win7 x86 | SS 2.54
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