Explorer.exe Still Shows Files on a Mounted Volume After Being Deleted (272061)

SYMPTOMS

If you are a member of the Administrators group, you can use Disk Management or the Mountvol.exe command, to connect, or mount a local drive on any empty folder on a local NTFS volume.

When you mount a local drive on an empty NTFS folder, Windows 2000 assigns a path to the drive rather than just a drive letter. Mounted drives are not subject to the 26-drive limit imposed by drive letters, so you can use mounted drives to access more than 26 drives on your computer. Windows 2000 ensures that drive paths retain their association to the drive, so you can add, or rearrange storage devices without the drive path failing.

If you delete a folder that also contains a mounted volume, the files on the mounted volume are still accessible, and you can see them in Windows Explorer if you view the mounted volume by using an optional drive letter. If you look in the C drive prior to emptying it, the size of the deleted volume mount point folder is equal to the underlying size of the files that are going to be deleted on the target volume. If you empty Recycle Bin, the files on the mounted volume are then permanently deleted.

Note: This behavior depends on the size of your recycle bin, and the amount of data under the volume mount point that was deleted. If you have disabled Recycle Bin, or it is not large enough to hold the contents of the deleted volume mount point, the deleted data bypasses Recycle Bin, and is deleted immediately.