2

Linux Mint 18.3 (based on Ubuntu Xenial)

This is a dual-boot machine with W10, which may be significant

I'm trying to delete some backintime jobs. Using rm -rf top-level-dir doesn't work: I get an unexpected message saying "directory not empty".

Drilling down into the offending directory, I get to:

mike@M17A /media/Shared/backintime/backintime/M17A/root/1/20180731-120001-297/backup/home/mike/.local/share/gvfs-metadata $  ls -lsa
total 13 
// TOTAL THIRTEEN??? WHY IS ONLY ONE FILE LISTED?
8 drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8192 Oct 11 23:35 .
4 drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4096 Oct 11 23:35 ..
1 -rwxrwxrwx 0 root root  200 May 27  2018 computer:
// OH DEAR, THE FILENAME ENDS WITH A COLON: LOOKS OMINOUS
// HERE I'M TRYING TO REMOVE THIS ONE FILE
mike@M17A /media/Shared/backintime/backintime/M17A/root/1/20180731-120001-297/backup/home/mike/.local/share/gvfs-metadata $  rm computer:
rm: cannot remove 'computer:': No such file or directory
mike@M17A /media/Shared/backintime/backintime/M17A/root/1/20180731-120001-297/backup/home/mike/.local/share/gvfs-metadata $  cat computer\: 
�meta&op�� [
�&0Khnemo-list-view-sort-columnnemo-list-view-sort-reversednemo-list-view-zoom-level���[
�'/���1falsenamemike@M17A /media/Shared/backintime/backintime/M17A/root/1/20180731-120001-297/backup/home/gvfs-metadata $  e
// HERE I'M TRYING TO MV IT TO A MORE SENSIBLE NAME (NOT ENDING IN COLON)
mike@M17A /media/Shared/backintime/backintime/M17A/root/1/20180731-120001-297/backup/home/mike/.local/share/gvfs-metadata $  mv computer: spot
mv: cannot stat 'computer:': Input/output error

I switch to root:

mike@M17A /media/Shared/backintime/backintime/M17A/root/1/20180731-120001-297/backup/home/mike/.local/share/gvfs-metadata $  su
Password: 
M17A gvfs-metadata # ls -lsa
ls: cannot access 'computer:': Input/output error
total 12
8 drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8192 Oct 11 23:44 .
4 drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4096 Oct 11 23:35 ..
? -????????? ? ?    ?       ?            ? computer:
// WELL I APPEAR TO HAVE DONE SOMETHING TO THIS "FILE" ... BUT WHAT?
M17A gvfs-metadata # rm computer
rm: cannot remove 'computer': No such file or directory
M17A gvfs-metadata # rm computer:
rm: cannot remove 'computer:': Input/output error
M17A gvfs-metadata # mv computer: spot
mv: cannot stat 'computer:': Input/output error
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4
  • 2
    Sounds like an NTFS problem. There might be a mount flag to let you bypass certain protections...? Commented Oct 11, 2019 at 23:31
  • 1
    I guess, it's time to fsck that partition ... Commented Oct 12, 2019 at 7:16
  • 'Why 13?' see info ls then 'what information is listed' then the item for -l/--format=long/--format=verbose in the third paragraph. Note colon is prohibited in filenames in Windows but perfectly fine in Unix including Linux. Commented Oct 12, 2019 at 7:34
  • Thanks to all. Intend to reformat the drive. Commented Oct 12, 2019 at 12:54

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
6

This is an old solution, which means only old guys like me remember it.

Find the inode of the file with ls -i. Let's say it is 1611645009. Then in the directory you mention execute the command find $NAME_OF_DIRECTORY -inum 1611645009 -exec /bin/rm {} \;

If that doesn't do it, then I'm baffled too.

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  • Thanks... ls -i in that dir gives: ls: "cannot access 'computer:': Input/output error / total 12" ... and "?"s as shown above..· Commented Oct 12, 2019 at 12:52

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