Additionally, when trying to rename the folder in XTGold i get the error "Error: Name Exists" no matter what name i try and give the folder...

Are you entering the filename visually, perhaps you're not getting the characters right?

Try DIR/B >GO.BAT
then edit go.bat to add the commands you want using the echoed filenames...

If that doesn't work, try wildcards

md \TMPDIR
xcopy /s *.* \TMPDIR

In case it's something command line related, try copying the folder to another local folder with my DDLINK
(assuming a 16 bit OS) - otherwise, you could try this within:

Try using DosBox - it may be able to mount the directory.
I've had issues with DosBox not handling unrecognizable characters on the command line,
but it always seems to allow rename.

This should be obvious, but if it happens to be a floppy, make a copy of the disk first, try things like
rename on the copy.

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

Both Norton Commander and Volkov Commander performed file operations (copy, move/rename, delete) just fine for me with files containing Russian characters.

I couldn't once delete a folder that had Japanese characters. I used Disk Editor from Norton Utilities set to mark it as deleted and then Scandisk removed it as lost chain. To mark it as deleted one has to change the first character of the folder name to "x" iirc, not 100% sure however. You can see how deleted files/folders are marked and do the same to your folder.

Bondi wrote on 2024-12-06, 06:36:

To mark it as deleted one has to change the first character of the folder name to "x" iirc, not 100% sure however.

The FAT file name deletion marker byte is 0xE5, which is "х" (lowercase Cyrillic letter Kha) in CP866. In CP437 it is "σ" (lowercase Greek Sigma).

kmeaw wrote on 2024-12-06, 06:51:

Bondi wrote on 2024-12-06, 06:36:

To mark it as deleted one has to change the first character of the folder name to "x" iirc, not 100% sure however.

The FAT file name deletion marker byte is 0xE5, which is "х" (lowercase Cyrillic letter Kha) in CP866. In CP437 it is "σ" (lowercase Greek Sigma).

Right, I vaguely remembered it wasn't just plain "x". And how does one type russian "x" on an English keyboard?

Bondi wrote on 2024-12-06, 07:01:

Right, I vaguely remembered it wasn't just plain "x". And how does one type russian "x" on an English keyboard?

Hold Alt and type 229 on a numpad. Or use a keyboard layout switcher (either keybrd3.sys+"keyb.com ru" or some third-party like keyrus) and press "[" (which is marked with red "х" on qwerty/йцукен keyboards).