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Thread ID: 115701 2011-01-31 00:15:00 System Volume Information - how can I get rid of it? BBCmicro (15761) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1173885 2011-01-31 00:15:00 I have two identical external HDDs (WD Elements 1023, 500 GB, 2.5", preformatted NTFS) which I connect to a Probox media player.

The HDD I bought today seems to work perfectly - single partition, long folder names with spaces, direct or via a powered hub, etc

The one I bought a couple of months ago worked OK with a couple of test files but not when I put 300 GB on it and Windows added 'System Volume Information'. (It still works OK connected to my desktop and elsewhere. It just crashes the media player.)

I think the HDD crashes the media player because of the media player's 'preview' function. When you hover over a folder, without clicking on it, it previews the first file in the folder. That's OK for all the files and folders that I put on myself, but Win7 might have put files (or file references) that are toxic. I'm thinking of the folder called 'System Volume Information'. Who knows what's inside that? Not media files.

When I look at the two HDDs in Windows, the drive that works doesn't have System Volume Information on it (not yet - it's brand new) but the one that crashes does.

So how can I delete 'System Volume Information' from my external HDD? (and how can I stop Windows7 from creating this folder on my new HDD?)
BBCmicro (15761)
1173886 2011-01-31 00:16:00 Disable system restore on the hdd. Thats how its created. You'll probably have to take ownership of it later to delete that folder Speedy Gonzales (78)
1173887 2011-01-31 00:59:00 Disabling system restore on that drive removes that folder, no deletion required! SolMiester (139)
1173888 2011-01-31 02:06:00 The one I bought a couple of 'System Volume Information' .

Who knows what's inside that?

System Restore backups .
Windows backups (on C:)
Indexing .
And so on .
Apart from System restore - it's mainly an NTFS thing .
pctek (84)
1173889 2011-01-31 02:21:00 Apart from System restore - it's mainly an NTFS thing.

It does appear on some FAT32 partitions as well, but is easily deleted.
pcuser42 (130)
1173890 2011-01-31 03:07:00 Disabling system restore on that drive removes that folder

"System protection" is off (and I believe always has been) for all my drives except C...

By fiddling with Properties - Security - Permissions, after right-clicking System Volume Information, I have managed to see that it has just the one file called tracking.log. It is an unreadable text file with mostly white space. It has my desktop's name near the top

I can right-click and supposedly delete the file and/or the folder but it remains. (I must admit that I'm totally overwhelmed by the permissions/inherited/blahblah stuff and don't know what I'm doing)
BBCmicro (15761)
1173891 2011-01-31 03:35:00 You have system files unhidden!, I doubt the media program is reading the folder, at less it should be, if the folder bothers you, just the folder option to hide system files....
To delete, just take ownership in advance file properties and give yourself full rights after applying, then delete.
SolMiester (139)
1173892 2011-01-31 03:37:00 I can right-click and supposedly delete the file and/or the folder but it remains. (
Open a command prompt.

Now select the hard drive (F: in this case)

C:\>f:

Now do the following
F:\>attrib -s -h "system volume information"
F:\>attrib -r "system volume information"
F:\>rd "System Volume Information"
System Volume Information, Are you sure (Y/N)? y
pctek (84)
1173893 2011-01-31 03:41:00 Don't forget to run the command prompt as admin. Snorkbox (15764)
1173894 2011-01-31 07:16:00 Thanks guys. I now know how to do it - just need some time from domestic duties...

I have definitely proved that the file "tracking.log", the only file in System Volume Information, is what's causing the problem.

I proved this by manually creating the folder System Volume Information on the external HDD - the media player didn't crash. Then I copied tracking.log into this folder and reconnected it to the media player. The HDD immediately started the "click every 2 seconds" routine - which has always indicated a crash in the past (but I wasn't able to check on the TV due to other users). I will double check this tomorrow by removing the offending file (I can't simply delete it, or the folder, even though I put them there!!!)
BBCmicro (15761)
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