XP Attributes?

[macaroo]

I have a XP Pro system that I can't totally defrag because My Documents have the "Read Only" box checked and the degrager can't get to them to rearrange the files. I have tried everything short of going to the DOS prompt to change them back to R/W. Is there a hidden procedure or utility I can run to force them back to R/W? This is running on a FAT 32 based hard drive. I know I did not install the intial system..............Thanks!!!!!!!!

 

[m33sta]

First off convert FAT 32 to NTFS( you will not loose any data but you will not be able to convert back to FAT 32) makes life and disater recovery a lot easier then try defraging again, if you can get hold of a copy use Diskeeper

 

[gpalmer711]

The readonly attribute on folders is pretty much ignored in XP and you are unable to remove it. Take a look at

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;326549

What is your specific problem/error that you get?

Greg Palmer
Free Software for Adminstrators

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[macaroo]

Thanks for the link, it describes the situation exactly. Next time I work on the system I'll use the attrib command to make them R/W! And I will convert the FAT32 to NTFS.

 

[linney]

It really would be interesting to know the exact error message you are getting from the Defragging program that refers to the My Documents folder.

 

[macaroo]

The defrager doesn't give me an error message. It completes normally but the final detail map shows and the report shows that the back end of the disk and the folders in the My Documents can not and were not touched. I have done repeated defrags and it completes quickly, but with the same results as above. The link you supplied describes the situation exactly.

 

[linney]

I think you may be wrong in your interpretation of the MSKB article. This should not be a problem in XP and the way Defragging works.

How you can relate the visual graph to the My Documents folder has got me scratching my head too. The text report does, in the Analyze phase, list fragmentations for individual folders. I take it you are still seeing these folders listed after the Defrag?

What size of file are we talking about here? Are they multi GB size? What type of file too?

Did you read this recent thread?

Xp Defrag - Not All I Hoped For!
thread779-872725