When I try to delete a file from USB it show 0 byte size of that file

Question

I have a problem with my computer, and USB.

• When I try to delete any file from USB drive, it show 0 byte size.

• The actual is not 0 byte.

• That pen-drive (USB disk) works perfectly in another computer, but when I try to delete then it will show 0 byte size.

Yesterday I plugged in a new Sandisk pen-drive, after this some auto install starts, I cancelled it and formatted that drive, and restarted system, but now when I try to delete any file from any USB than it will show 0 byte size.

I am using Windows 10, and this issue happens with any USB drive.

Answer 1

I had the same problem.  It seems to occur when deleting files in the root folder of a USB drive (pen drive).

The only remedy that worked for me was to right-click on the drive in Explorer, choose "Properties", then the "Tools" tab and click on the "Check" button. Although Windows 10 reported it was unable to repair errors on the drive, in fact it somehow repaired the faulty file entries. For some of them, the size of the file remained 0 KB; for others it was changed to 4 K.

I have then used the Command Prompt started in with administrator privileges using the del command with asterisks to delete the files.

However, the repair procedure was not without a hassle: it had created a multitude of hidden files called FILExxxx.CHK in hidden subfolders called FOUND.xxx, where xxx were numbers starting from 000. Since they were hidden, I could see them only because I have set the Windows Explorer to display hidden files and folders. Only after I had deleted those hidden folders with their files I have recovered the blocked capacity of the USB drive.