.dll Files on My Passport Drive

I noticed that two folders were added to my Passport drive.  One is named 6d811f7c86588ce4cd7cb9f87e98 and contains six .dll files.  The other is named ee435f4d7e0c9dbbf22a5a51bd269f and contains four .dll files, all four of which are identical in name and content  to four of the six files in the first folder. 

These may have appeared when I updated SmartWare to v.1.3.0.16.   They might have been inserted before then, but I didn’t notice them until after the update. 

Is it safe to delete the duplicate files?  Is it safe to delete both folders entirely? 

DERoss,

.dll files are dynamic link library files.  These types of files can be used by multiple programs (including your OS).  Although you can delete them I would not recommend it unless you know absolutely for sure that they are not associated with anything else.  To delete these files if they are being used or access by any other program could cause that program to crash or may cause other undesirables with your system.  :smiley:

The .dll files in question reside on my Passport Drive, which is now in the glove compartment of my car.  Aside from two folders containing those files, the Drive also contains backups of my wife’s hard drive and both of my own hard drives.  Since the Drive is not currently connected to my PC, deleting the .dll files cannot have any impact on my operating system (Windows XP SP3).  My question results from concern whether deleting the .dll files will have any impact on the use of the Passport Drive. 

By the way, not only do the four .dll files in one folder have the same names as four of the six .dll files in the other folder, I verified that the files are entirely identical by comparing their MD5 hashes. 

The .dll files although residing on your drive, my be needed by your backup program or something.  If you can see them, then you have show hidden files and folders enabled on your system.  Do you know the names of the .dll files?

I know is more of an annoyance to see them but they are small.  But seriously, if you want to post the .dll file names all see what I can come up with

Also what backup program are you using?

The .dll files are as follows:

Directory of J:\6d811f7c86588ce4cd7cb9f87e98
11/07/07  04:26 PM           276,472 dlmgr.dll
11/07/07  04:26 PM         1,059,328 gencomp.dll
11/07/07  04:26 PM           627,712 vs70uimgr.dll
11/07/07  04:26 PM           411,136 vsbasereqs.dll
11/07/07  04:26 PM           687,104 vsscenario.dll
11/07/07  04:26 PM         1,045,504 vs_setup.dll

Directory of J:\ee435f4d7e0c9dbbf22a5a51bd269f
11/07/07  04:26 PM           276,472 dlmgr.dll
11/07/07  04:26 PM         1,059,328 gencomp.dll
11/07/07  04:26 PM           411,136 vsbasereqs.dll
11/07/07  04:26 PM           687,104 vsscenario.dll

Newer versions of all of these exist on my C-drive under <C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1>.  Since these all relate to .NET Framework (which is required to update SmartWare) and I did update SmartWare to v.1.3.0.16, I suspect these are artifacts of the update process. 

My PC has two hard drives, C for software and D for data.  I use the Windows XP backup application ntbackup.exe to backup my C drive onto my D drive and to backup my D drive onto my C drive.  I do an incremental backup of one to the other; a week later I reverse this.  My wife’s PC has one hard drive.  I do a backup of it onto itself.  Then I transfer all the backup files to my Passport drive, which I store in the lock glove compartment of one of our cars. 

I deleted the two folders from my Passport drive.  Since then, I have been using the drive without any adverse consequences.