How to delete BACKUP folder created by Alienware Restore

Alienware's Restore REcovery creates a BACKUP folder that hogs a lot of space and seems impossible to delete. I've reduced the folder from 80gb down to 14gb in the "windows" backup folder. I even tried changing the Permissions on that folder but keep getting an "ACCESS DENIED" error message.

Hope someone has a solution. Thanks in advance

 

I'm not sure if the folder is needed but here is how to remove it:

Logon with an admin account -- right click (on the folder) -> properties ->
security (tab) -> advanced (button) -> owner (tab) -> make your account the owner, then select OK, etc. until all dialog boxes close. Then, right click (on the folder) -> properties -> security (tab), now add full permissions to your (admin) account, apply and close dialog boxes. Now you should be able to delete the folder.

 

followed your instructions and got excited when it
started to work but when it got to the point of moving 14gb to the recycle bin I got the dreaded same error message

 

Ps. I have User Account turned off. Does that make a difference?

 

You should log in using an account with admin privileges or with the Administrator account.

 

If you still can't delete it that way, one way which will definitely work is to load up a pre-enviroment such as a Ubuntu Live CD or BartPE and delete it from there.

I recommend BartPE, it loads a seperate, stripped down version of Windows from the RAM. You can then use its file manager to do anything to the hard drive, even delete system files if you wanted to.

Something else you can do is take out the hard drive, put it in a 2.5" SATA USB enclosure and connect it to another computer, it will detect this as an external hard drive and from there you can delete whatever you want.

 

Use this process - this was posted on the alienware.com support site back when the 17xR1 was lauched. While old, the process will work for any directory which is locked out. Just a simple case of taking ownership.

http://aliendl.alienware.com/Right_Now/6076/Removing_the_BACKUP_folder_from_Windows_Explorer.pdf