1

We did a restore from one server to another it was suppose to take just one folder but it took everything .
It brought over allot of crap we dont need such as:

  • Program Files
  • Program Files (x86)
  • Users
  • Windows

I cannot seem to take ownership and I cannot delete them. Anyone have any idea how I can delete these? This is not a c:\ drive it just took folders that copied to another drive on the server in error along with my restored files I needed. So they are useless. It says i need access from the trusted installer or access denied.

10 Spice ups
2

What did you choose to restore ?

Else maybe give details like backup solution, steps took to restore etc.

And what is your proficiency (not a punt) and position in the organization ?

3

If this is a production environment I would be concerned that you are restoring data from backup (or simply copying data from a to b?) and you’ve ended up with problem permissions, and you don’t know how to delete data you don’t want.

I don’t know what your exact situation is as you don’t seem to be able to explain it properly either, so obviously you do this at your own risk as I don’t know if the folders you are trying to delete are safe to delete. But if you are simply trying to delete folders and their contents which you currently can’t:

Example:
robocopy /purge C:\Purge “C:\Restored Data\Program Files”

This will empty the target folder and you can then delete the folder itself.

Do this for each folder you want to delete then you can delete the C:\Purge folder when you’re finished.

2 Spice ups
4

I can foresee all kindsa problems removing those folders. As PPC said ‘If this is a production environment I would be concerned’.
I would recommend calling in someone that knows their way around servers before you do too much damage.

5

One of the quickest options probably would be booting your server using your favorite Linux Live USB to delete those files. Linux NTFS does not care about permissions and will handle the task perfectly.