[gentoo-user] Cannot remove empty directory: "cannot remove `APR-13-2011': Directory not empty"

[gentoo-user] Cannot remove empty directory: "cannot remove `APR-13-2011': Directory not empty"

[Hilco Wijbenga]

Hi all,

I use a USB key to transfer files between my printer/scanner and my
computer. This all works fine except that I am unable to delete empty
directories on the USB key.

The following applies to both user 'hilco' and 'root'!

centaur usb # mount
<snip/>
/dev/sdc1 on /mnt/usb type vfat (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,user=hilco)
centaur usb # find .
.
./APR-13-2011
<snip/>
./AUG-05-2011
centaur usb # rm -rf *
rm: cannot remove `APR-13-2011': Directory not empty
<snip/>
rm: cannot remove `AUG-05-2011': Directory not empty
centaur usb # mkdir xyz
centaur usb # rmdir xyz

(I should note that any files in the MMM-DD-YYYY directories *are* removed.)

I could reformat the USB key of course but I would prefer to be able
to simply delete old directories.

Any ideas what might be causing this?

Cheers,
Hilco

Re: [gentoo-user] Cannot remove empty directory: "cannot remove `APR-13-2011': Directory not empty"

[Hilco Wijbenga]

On 5 August 2011 13:38, Thanasis <thanasis@asyr.hopto.org> wrote:
> umount /dev/sdc1 && fsck /dev/sdc1

Wow. Just wow. The printer/scanner somehow renamed '.' and '..' to '.
   ~1' and '..     ~1' respectively.

Sigh, I guess I'll just reformat.

Re: [gentoo-user] Cannot remove empty directory: "cannot remove `APR-13-2011': Directory not empty"

[Michael Mol]

On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 5:13 PM, Hilco Wijbenga <hilco.wijbenga@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 5 August 2011 13:38, Thanasis <thanasis@asyr.hopto.org> wrote:
>> umount /dev/sdc1 && fsck /dev/sdc1
>
> Wow. Just wow. The printer/scanner somehow renamed '.' and '..' to '.
>   ~1' and '..     ~1' respectively.
>
> Sigh, I guess I'll just reformat.

Ok, that's impressive.


-- 
:wq

Re: [gentoo-user] Cannot remove empty directory: "cannot remove `APR-13-2011': Directory not empty"

[Paul Hartman]

On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 4:13 PM, Hilco Wijbenga <hilco.wijbenga@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 5 August 2011 13:38, Thanasis <thanasis@asyr.hopto.org> wrote:
>> umount /dev/sdc1 && fsck /dev/sdc1
>
> Wow. Just wow. The printer/scanner somehow renamed '.' and '..' to '.
>   ~1' and '..     ~1' respectively.
>
> Sigh, I guess I'll just reformat.

Wow, indeed. Win95 called, they want their LFN back. :)

But seriously I would check if there's a firmware update available for
the printer that maybe fixes it. Or find a USB stick that has a
hardware read-only switch to prevent the printer from ruining the
filesystem.