I can't compress a huge folder on my windows PC because it says file does not exist

Question

I once had Microsoft reformat my computer. They put my entire old windows folder on the reformatted drive and named it "windows.old". Its 2 GB in size. I've decided to back it up and then delete it. So I tried backing it up onto a DVD, and got an error. So then I decided to Zip it first, and then back it up, and then delete it. The zip process managed to zip 3 or 4 files, and then finally aborted, popping up a message that "File not found or no read permission" (the filename was nslist.hxl).

I did some googling, and found other people have run into this problem. In one case the reason was that an older version of the zip routine can't cope with really big files, and in another that zero length files can cause trouble.

So I did a search for the file nslist.hxl (using File Explorer) and it simply was not on my PC anywhere. So I found more internet advice, which was not to use windows zip, but to use "7-zip" instead. I clicked on the link to 7-zip, and Chrome gave me a warning that I was going to a malware site. I aborted, and went to 7-zip.org, and tried to install it from there. But then, a window popped up asking if I wanted to proceed, and I noticed that 7-zip.org does not "sign" the software (I get a message that its from an "unknown" outfit). My guess is that is because it is GNU software and keeps changing, so they don't bother to sign it. But I want to be extra careful.

So the question is - forgetting about 7-zip, if a corrupted file or set of files is at fault here, what I can I do about it?

Answer 1

Firstly, as @Techie007 said, run chkdsk: in Windows Explorer, right-click on the drive, go to Properties / Tools and click Check now.

Then get a bootable version of Linux such as PuppyLinux on USB or a live CD or DVD and boot off it; if the C: drive isn't mounted, you'll need to mount it from the command line (something like: mount /dev/sda1 /mnt), then cd to /mnt/Windows.old, and zip it (using a command something like: zip -r /mnt/Temp/Backup Windows.old). Also, you could back up to a large USB drive if your C: drive doesn't have enough space.