Deleting corrupt folder

[Ray]

I have a problem with a folder and it's sub folders on one of my usb drives when I hover the mouse over the folder Windows tells me it's empty, on trying to access it I get a message that it is "not accessible and is corrupted and unreadable".

On trying to delete it I get the "cannot delete Directory is not empty message", I have tried Unlocker on it without success, any ideas on getting rid of this folder would be gratefully received.

[Rik]

If unlocker won't shift it, Ray, I'd be inclined to copy everything off, then re-format the drive.

[Malc]

Can you rename it, will that help?

[Simon]

If you right click it, in Properties, is there a Security tab, Ray?  If so, you may be able to edit the properties to enable you to delete it. 

[colirv]

Via cmd prompt?

[Ray]

Thanks for all the suggestions I have now solved my problem by doing a chkdsk scan on the drive in question and the folder is now accessible again and it did indeed contain files. 

I now have to try and determine what corrupted the file system, is it a software conflict or is the HD going faulty though this is only a couple of weeks old, I have done an extended scan on the HD using Western Digital's Diagnostic programme and that could find nothing wrong with the disk. 

[Rik]

Probably a fluke, Ray, power glitch etc. Just keep an eye on it for a while and don't trust it as a sole source.

[Ray]

Probably a fluke, Ray, power glitch etc. Just keep an eye on it for a while and don't trust it as a sole source.

Looks like it probably was, Rik, all is still OK with the drive this morning. 

Though on checking the properties of the drive this morning it set itself up to be "optimised for performance" meaning that you had to use the safe removal of hardware icon, which I hadn't realised so I had disconnected it 3 or 4 times by removing the usb cable or the power cable so I may have caused the problem myself  . Needless to say it is now "optimised for quick removal".

Fortunately I didn't lose anything as I keep a backup on another drive (I like belt and braces when I'm dealing with computers) 

[Rik]

I'm a belt, braces and bit of baling twine man myself, Ray.