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Restore went bad, created garbage files

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I recently restored a partition containing much of my data.

In addition to restoring the files, Acronis also created a bunch of garbage files.

The files are named the same as the regular files, but adds at the end a tilde and random letters and numbers.

Example file name: Living With Less.pdf~FPRNSE0S

I can't perform another restore, because I created a new backup based on this restore. So the backup contains all of these garbage files too.

I want to search for these files and delete them. I tried searching on the tilde (~). But that tends to pull everything.

Does anyone have an idea how to locate and delete all of these garbage files without looking through each folder by hand?

 

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Greg, the only time that the so-called 'garbage' files are left behind is when a restore is not completed fully as these are temporary files used by ATI in the restore process.

To find and delete such files, you would need to try using a wildcard type search.

Eg.  dir *.???~* /s  which should list all files with any name using a .abc~defgh... extension in all folders below and including the current location.

The * maps to a mix of characters of varying length, then the ? maps to a single character to set the search pattern.

Once you can identify the temporary files, then you should be able to use a Windows delete command to remove them, including from sub-folders by using the /s switch.

Eg. del *.???~* /s

E:\Test>dir /?
Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.

DIR [drive:][path][filename] [/A[[:]attributes]] [/B] [/C] [/D] [/L] [/N]
  [/O[[:]sortorder]] [/P] [/Q] [/R] [/S] [/T[[:]timefield]] [/W] [/X] [/4]

  [drive:][path][filename]
              Specifies drive, directory, and/or files to list.

  /A          Displays files with specified attributes.
  attributes   D  Directories                R  Read-only files
               H  Hidden files               A  Files ready for archiving
               S  System files               I  Not content indexed files
               L  Reparse Points             O  Offline files
               -  Prefix meaning not
  /B          Uses bare format (no heading information or summary).
  /C          Display the thousand separator in file sizes.  This is the
              default.  Use /-C to disable display of separator.
  /D          Same as wide but files are list sorted by column.
  /L          Uses lowercase.
  /N          New long list format where filenames are on the far right.
  /O          List by files in sorted order.
  sortorder    N  By name (alphabetic)       S  By size (smallest first)
               E  By extension (alphabetic)  D  By date/time (oldest first)
               G  Group directories first    -  Prefix to reverse order
  /P          Pauses after each screenful of information.
  /Q          Display the owner of the file.
  /R          Display alternate data streams of the file.
  /S          Displays files in specified directory and all subdirectories.
  /T          Controls which time field displayed or used for sorting
  timefield   C  Creation
              A  Last Access
              W  Last Written
  /W          Uses wide list format.
  /X          This displays the short names generated for non-8dot3 file
              names.  The format is that of /N with the short name inserted
              before the long name. If no short name is present, blanks are
              displayed in its place.
  /4          Displays four-digit years

Switches may be preset in the DIRCMD environment variable.  Override
preset switches by prefixing any switch with - (hyphen)--for example, /-W.

E:\Test>del /?
Deletes one or more files.

DEL [/P] [/F] [/S] [/Q] [/A[[:]attributes]] names
ERASE [/P] [/F] [/S] [/Q] [/A[[:]attributes]] names

  names         Specifies a list of one or more files or directories.
                Wildcards may be used to delete multiple files. If a
                directory is specified, all files within the directory
                will be deleted.

  /P            Prompts for confirmation before deleting each file.
  /F            Force deleting of read-only files.
  /S            Delete specified files from all subdirectories.
  /Q            Quiet mode, do not ask if ok to delete on global wildcard
  /A            Selects files to delete based on attributes
  attributes    R  Read-only files            S  System files
                H  Hidden files               A  Files ready for archiving
                I  Not content indexed Files  L  Reparse Points
                O  Offline files              -  Prefix meaning not

If Command Extensions are enabled DEL and ERASE change as follows:

The display semantics of the /S switch are reversed in that it shows
you only the files that are deleted, not the ones it could not find.

I appreciate the suggestion, it's been over 20 years since I last used DOS commands.

Any Windows way to do this?

 

(You are right, I had either a failed or interrupted restore.)

Okay, I'm reluctant to use the del command (because over 20 years, etc.).

But the search command gives me the folder where these things are located, so I can find them in Windows and then delete.

Thanks for the help!