complete windows reinstall and trashcan not empty. Due to external harddrive?

[jjshell]

Hello,

I just made a complete reinstall of my winXP. Right after all the upgrades were done, I put some file into the trashcan and tried to empty it.

And what was not my surprise when:

1) I was told that some "old file" could not be deleted because the folder was not empty (or something along these lines).
2) I was asked if I was sure I wanted to delete some "old folder".

"Old file" and "old folder" were both part of the previous install, and since I completely reformated my harddrive, I don't see how they could've persist. Could it be due to an external drive where they once belonged? And if yes, how can I solve such issues?

Regards,

-jj.

[cmuench]

I would plug in the external drive and then try to delete. Windows "lost" where the files are located probably after your formatted the hard drive.

[jjshell]

I would plug in the external drive and then try to delete.

I did. Not a change. Every time I try to empty the trashcan I get this odd message.

Windows "lost" where the files are located probably after your formatted the hard drive.

I don't understand. If I reformat and reinstall windows, shouldn't windows forget about its previous existence?

Also, on another note, I tried a soft named recova, and still after a reinstall, it recovers files. Is there a program that shuffles the deepest layers of a drive?

Regards,

-jj.

[cmuench]

http://www.dban.org/download

[jjshell]

http://www.dban.org/download

From what I gathered, you'd use dban before a disk reformat and a os resintall.

Is there something that you can use without having to reinstall your comp?