Re: Scandisk and Defrag won't run
Peter, your top-level folder is your root folder, c: on your C drive, d: on your D drive if you have one, etcetera. Like Gordon I don't remember the number limit on files in c:, 256 or 512, but it's the number of files that prompts that "drive is full" message and not the amount of free and used space on the drive. Getting this message is particularly frustrating because so much gets dumped into the c: or top level folder or root drive by default. Must be a conspiracy.
Go to your c: folder in explorer and make a directory like c:fulldrive: click on the lower left START button, then Programs, then Windows Explorer. I'm talking about win98se here, but it should work for win95. I don't know about XP, but I imagine the routine is fairly similar. After you've opened Windows Explorer, create your new folder c:fulldrive by clicking in the upper left File, New, Folder, then type in your folder name and hit ENTER.
Now move as many files as you can. Start by selecting any files with an extension of EXE (the extension is the 1, 2, or usually 3 letters after the dot in the filename). You may have to click on View (upper bar again, a couple to the right of File), Folder Options, View (tab), then click Show all files and unclick Hide file extensions for known file types. Click OK and your file extensions should then show up. Move any EXE files to the folder you just created, and see if that lowers the number of files enough. Avoid moving SYS and BIN files. In particular, leave COMMAND.COM, MSDOS.SYS or any MSDOS file, and IO.SYS where they are. If you have a CONFIG.SYS or an AUTOEXEC.BAT file, leave them where they are.
After you've moved your files try SCANDISK again. It should work this time. If you have any trouble when you reboot, try re-booting once more then hold down the CTRL button until you get a selection of what to do, choose SAFE MODE, then try moving any SYS, BIN, BAT files back to your C: or root folder and reboot.
Hopefully the basics of these steps will apply enough to XP to steer you in the right direction if you're running XP.
Hope this helps,
Eden
