Accidentally moved folder to System Volume Information

Question

I accidentally moved a folder with lots of subfolders and files to System Volume Information on a Bitlocker-partially-encrypted flash drive. Now I can't move them back (not even with control-Z).

The folder seemed to automatically have become system-owned: I tried taking ownership, but that would take a long time and might not work.

How can I move this folder out of System Volume Information?

Answer 1

I use this way so it's worked for me : [first make sure you are not guest log in, in another word you must have administrator access]
1.Start Task Manager and go to users Tab, then remember exactly your admin name :



2.go and right click on system information folder and choose properties:
you must see this windows, right?



3. go to Security tab and you probably see this:



Now click on Continue Button else no problem just click on Advanced
4. Now you must be on Permission for system volume information window



now just click on Add Button ...

note: In any way you must reach to Select User or Group window for this System information window and never mind if you reach to this part with your own method just make sure you are doing setting Permission for that system volume information folder.

5.after all you must reach to Select User or Group window :

Now the main Job is Started !
First, copy From This location.Textbox value.
Then paste it or write it instead of number 1 in bellow pic:
Now insert a \ backslash
at finally Write your current user name (from step 1) and write it instead of number 2 in bellow pic:

6.click check Name button and name path you directly inserted must be underlined otherwise you inserted the path incorrectly so try again with carefully

7.click on ok Button then you'll see your current user add in Permission for system volume information window but without full Control, so check on Allow for Full Control as bellow pic to finish your job :) .

click on Ok button until all properties are closed. Now YOU can enter into that System Volume Information folder and move or cut your folder.

good luck :)

Answer 2

You can boot your computer with an Ubuntu liveCd after which you can access your System Volume Information folder on your harddrive and move your folder back out.

Edit:
Taking ownership is not strictly necessary. Microsoft explains here "How to gain access to the System Volume Information folder". After doing this i could (also on a Windows 7 machine) move a folder in and out of the "System Volume Information"-folder.

How you could initially move your folder without permission into this directory is a mystery to me because before i granted myself access i could not move anything there.

Answer 3

If you have access to a Mac, do the following:

1. Run Terminal
2. cd /Volumes
3. cd to your usb drive name (type the first letter or so and press tab)
4. cd System\ Volume\ Information
5. mv nameOfFileorFolder .. (that's two periods which mean one folder up)

Done

Answer 4

I attempted the various solutions in this thread, all without success.

What did work, however, was booting up my laptop with Ubuntu Linux on a USB stick, plugging the HDD into the laptop via another USB port, and opening the HDD in Ubuntu Linux. From there, it was a simple drag and drop operation to move my video directory back to the top level. Done.

Answer 5

Try the command prompt?

I hit this on an external drive, FAT32 formatted. I dropped a big folder into the SVI black hole. Windows Explorer just refused to shift it back out.

So I just fired up a cygwin command shell, and hey presto: no stubborn refusal from its mv command.

Because it was a FAT32 drive it has no security ACLs or security tab, I would think there's no reason I should not be able to move that folder: I guess Windows Explorer must be applying some extra rules of its own to pretend like it's NTFS.

Answer 6

I resolved it by:

1. Took ownership of the folder (i.e. security tab, etc. as explained by Blue Moon).

2. Ran CMD as administrator (Right click -> Run as administrator) and typed:

   rmdir "E:\System Volume Information\[WHAT EVER]" /s

Worked for me.

(Note: Running Windows Server 2012 R2)

Answer 7

I had exactly the same problem, tried taking ownership, etc. As a last resort I used a file shredder program (funny enough called: File Shredder. Open the program, choose the files you want to delete, click OK and see the files disappear. Good Luck! Rob.

Answer 8

If you have 2 desktop PCs and you want to do it home then you have to:

1. Turn off your computers
2. Open the box of both computers (it normally has some screws on it)
3. If you are on the right Side you can see the inside of it.
4. Search for the hard drive.google it if you don't know how it looks like. So remove the hard drive of the computer where you make the mistake on.
5. Now you have the hard drive (do not open it and be careful)
6. Put it into the other computer with all cables connected (make sure you have both cables in it and you have too see if the mistaken hard drive is on the extended side of the cables)
7. Turn on the computer thats fine, you can see in the computer folder it has 2 hard drives.
8. Pick the one that you made a mistake on, and delete the file.

If you are on one desktop computer, bring the hard drive or whole computer to an expert. And let him fix it for you. If on a laptop, bring it to an expert (don't mess around with a laptop).