To delete a file

[ericjosepi]

OK... fun XP problem here.

I want to delete some pretty massive (20+ GB) folders on my external HD. I'm just looking to get rid of some old backups before I backup here again and for some unknown reason, Windows doesn't delete these folders properly and it forces me to go into the folders and delete the files individually.

My question is... does anyone know why this happens and how I can solve the problem?

[darknessgp]

Delete the files in smaller groups. Windows can't handle a extremely large number of files being deleted at once. Just delete in small groups (100-150). It'll take some time, the alternative is to just delete and format the partition, if you don't have other things on it or they are backed up somewhere.

[ericjosepi]

yeah it looks like i'm going to have to be restorting to you method. I think part of the problem is some of the files (for example my old iTunes Library) are read only and I have to go into each folder and delete them 15-20 at a time. Shitty deal but you gotta do what you gotta do.

[striker1211]

Right click on whatever directory it is, check read only until its white and checked. Hit ok, itll apply read only to everything, then go in and uncheck it, hit ok, it will make everything normal again.

[jack9579]

ive had this same problem striker1211's method works, also, i find deleting a bunch of files is faster than deleting the foulder itself... dont know what but it just is. The beta for vista had some massive crazy issues when moving and deleting lots of files, it was a total pain. Even here in the release version it still hickups on big music foulders and whatnot.