[PLUG] strange problem in removing 2 files named "." and ".."

Ron Braithwaite ron at braithwaites.net
Sat Sep 11 17:51:24 UTC 2010


On Sep 11, 2010, at 12:21 AM, website reader wrote:

> For those who would like to know, apparently a multibyte or wide
> character in the file name caused major problems.  The rm command
> clobbered the name, and removed the directory listing, but was unable
> to actually remove the file, and subsequently any further rm or rmdir
> commands failed, with an error report that the directory was non-empty
> (which is true)
> 
> Here's the error listing
> knoppix at Microknoppix:/media/hdc1/windows/SendTo$ stat 3*
>  File: `3\275 Floppy (A).lnk'
>  Size: 129       	Blocks: 64         IO Block: 32768  regular file
> Device: 1601h/5633d	Inode: 43011       Links: 1
> Access: (0777/-rwxrwxrwx)  Uid: ( 1000/ knoppix)   Gid: ( 1000/ knoppix)
> Access: 2007-12-26 00:00:00.000000000 +0000
> Modify: 2005-04-23 14:46:24.000000000 +0000
> Change: 2005-04-23 15:48:36.000000000 +0000
> 
> The stat command fails:
> 
> cp: cannot stat `./windows/SendTo/3\275 Floppy (A).lnk': Invalid or
> incomplete multibyte or wide character
> 
> The \275 is some type of multibyte character?

Yup, since anything over 255 is more than a byte.

This is a much more interesting issue than what I first read last night. I agree that this /may/ be an .ntfs problem, but I'm not convinced. I certainly have had similar issues over the years and was able to resolve them with "sudo rm -Rf <path-to-parent directory>. I don't have an NTFS partition mounted that I can experiment with, but I would be interested in hearing about anyone else's success.

Congrats on fixing the problem, but /man/ that sounds like a BPITA.

-Ron

> On 9/10/10, website reader <website.reader3 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Okay, I took the hammer to the folder and removed it.
>> 
>> 1. I tried to stop the ntfs mount under Knoppix, not successful, so I
>> did an init 6 command to stop Knoppix
>> 
>> 2. I then yanked the hard-drive off the computer and mounted it on my
>> Windows XP system.
>> 
>> 3. I then successfully remove the 2 folders.
>> 
>> 4. I then could NOT remove the USB mounted drive, so I had to kill Windows
>> XP
>> 
>> 5. After Windows XP came down, I yanked the hard drive off the system
>> 
>> 6. I remounted the hard drive under Knoppix again.
>> 
>> 7. I am currently doing a vfat partition to ntfs partition backup under
>> Knoppix
>> 
>> I honestly think that I had a file that should be used to troubleshoot
>> a bug in the mount.ntfs thread under linux.  Apparently I had a file
>> or directory that the linux OS cannot handle
>> 
>> Sigh.. this has consumed some time, and forced me to reboot 2 systems
>> to successfully remove that pesky file.
>> 
>> Anyways, problem solved.
>> 
>> 
>> On 9/10/10, website reader <website.reader3 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Here's the result of the "stat filename" command -
>>> 
>>> root at Microknoppix:/media/sdc2/Windows-98/windows# stat SendTo
>>>  File: `SendTo'
>>>  Size: 4096      	Blocks: 8          IO Block: 4096   directory
>>> Device: 822h/2082d	Inode: 155231      Links: 1
>>> Access: (0777/drwxrwxrwx)  Uid: (    0/    root)   Gid: (    0/    root)
>>> Access: 2010-09-11 05:34:46.000000000 +0000
>>> Modify: 2010-09-11 05:34:33.000000000 +0000
>>> Change: 2010-09-11 05:34:33.000000000 +0000
>>> root at Microknoppix:/media/sdc2/Windows-98/windows#
>>> 
>>> I still cannot remove this folder from the NTFS partition.
>>> 
>>> I am trying to carefully archive data from a corrupted system and
>>> running under Knoppix 6.01 CD so I can safely do this.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 9/10/10, website reader <website.reader3 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Sorry for misleading the general reader, I DO understand that "." and
>>>> ".." are in the file structure.
>>>> 
>>>> There IS some type of hidden file in the folder.
>>>> 
>>>> I tried using the "stat filename" command to locate the inode and then
>>>> use the "find . -inum inode# -exec rm -i -d -r * \;" command but it
>>>> still won't delete the folder.
>>>> 
>>>> Is there any lower level command that can actually go in and remove that
>>>> inode?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On 9/10/10, Ron Braithwaite <ron at braithwaites.net> wrote:
>>>>> On Sep 10, 2010, at 10:54 PM, website reader wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> I am unable to delete two files on a hard-drive that originally was in
>>>>>> a ntfs partition.
>>>>>> The files are named "." and ".."
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Trying to use the rm -r -f command fails as does the rmdir command.  I
>>>>>> tried renaming them but that fails too.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I really need to remove these two files, how can I tell the linux OS
>>>>>> that they are not being used as a folder relocation command and
>>>>>> actually remove them?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Well, the reason you can't remove them is that "." is your current
>>>>> directory
>>>>> and ".." is the parent directory.
>>>>> 
>>>>> May I suggest reading:
>>>>> 
>>>>> http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/understanding-unixlinux-file-system-part-i.html



-- 
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting a bad thing?




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