WMC not really deleting video files
Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2016 1:24 am
Recently I've noticed video files that Windows Media Center either said it deleted or should have deleted that aren't really deleted.
When I look in the RecordedTV folder in Windows Explorer I can sometimes find files that WMC should have automatically deleted according to rules setup for a particular show. For instance I have WMC setup to record Pardon the Interruption and keep a week's worth (5 episodes) of shows. If I watch an episode I delete it. Sometimes I'll go back a day or two and watch old episodes. But sometimes I'll be too busy for over a week and I won't watch any episodes at all. To keep episodes from pilling up, WMC is supposed to delete the oldest episode after it has recorded more than 5. It usually does this, but every now and then I'll notice that it has deleted any episodes for a long time. This used to happen every once in a great while, but now it seems to be happening much more often. Before anyone suggests that this might have sometime to do with the show being on more than one channel, that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the recent issue because I've been manually making sure that WMC is only going to record each day's episode on ESPN and not recording when the same episode re-airs on ESPN2. I'd limit the recording program to just ESPN, but every now and then ESPN will have so much going on that Pardon the Interruption will only be on ESPN2.
However, that is not the only circumstance that this problem with files not being deleted is limited to. I have also watched episodes of recorded TV and then manually deleted the file within WMC. Once again I have sometimes noticed that the corresponding video file is still in Windows folder structure.
When I have tried to do anything with one of these video files, Windows tells me that the file is locked. I can't open the file in another program such as VideoReDo. I have then tried to right click and delete the file that way, but again Windows tells me that the file is locked.
I haven't always been able tell when there are extra video files in the RecordedTV folder because sometimes I have lots of recordings. However, during these times I have sometimes noticed that my hard drive seems fuller than it should.
If I close WMC the files that are locked and should have already been deleted do finally delete and I'll then notice the free space on my hard drive that I should have.
When I look in the RecordedTV folder in Windows Explorer I can sometimes find files that WMC should have automatically deleted according to rules setup for a particular show. For instance I have WMC setup to record Pardon the Interruption and keep a week's worth (5 episodes) of shows. If I watch an episode I delete it. Sometimes I'll go back a day or two and watch old episodes. But sometimes I'll be too busy for over a week and I won't watch any episodes at all. To keep episodes from pilling up, WMC is supposed to delete the oldest episode after it has recorded more than 5. It usually does this, but every now and then I'll notice that it has deleted any episodes for a long time. This used to happen every once in a great while, but now it seems to be happening much more often. Before anyone suggests that this might have sometime to do with the show being on more than one channel, that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the recent issue because I've been manually making sure that WMC is only going to record each day's episode on ESPN and not recording when the same episode re-airs on ESPN2. I'd limit the recording program to just ESPN, but every now and then ESPN will have so much going on that Pardon the Interruption will only be on ESPN2.
However, that is not the only circumstance that this problem with files not being deleted is limited to. I have also watched episodes of recorded TV and then manually deleted the file within WMC. Once again I have sometimes noticed that the corresponding video file is still in Windows folder structure.
When I have tried to do anything with one of these video files, Windows tells me that the file is locked. I can't open the file in another program such as VideoReDo. I have then tried to right click and delete the file that way, but again Windows tells me that the file is locked.
I haven't always been able tell when there are extra video files in the RecordedTV folder because sometimes I have lots of recordings. However, during these times I have sometimes noticed that my hard drive seems fuller than it should.
If I close WMC the files that are locked and should have already been deleted do finally delete and I'll then notice the free space on my hard drive that I should have.