Files can't be moved message

[jonnyb]

I back up alot of documents, pictures, music for people onto my external drive before I reinstall their Windows. Occasionally I have so many files and right in the middle of the files going to my external I get a message that I cannot copy so and so file. Then all the rest of the copying stops until I try it all over again and skip that file.

Why does these same files won't copy whether they are mp3s, .jpgs, .doc, etc.?

Sometimes their hard drive will disappear and then reappear for more copying.

How do I get all the files in one big gulp instead of restarting my copying?

All I got running is their hard drive and maybe a folder on my desktop or my external drive.

The computer that I am using is an XP Pro with a dual core processor, three gigs of ram an a huge 320 gb hard drive so I got plenty of horsepower. Vrummmmmm!

[Train]

I generally find the path contains more than 256 or 260 characters.
I forget which.

Maximum Path Length

So shorten the name and see what happens.

[jonnyb]

You mean shorten the name of the file itself? Like this:

ThisIsMyDogSpotAndHeIsAHappyDog.jpg to Dog.jpg ?????????

[Train]

This the full path length
C:\Documents and Settings\mygarbage\My Documents\My Pictures\Graysharbor\Milwaukee road\ThisIsMyDogSpotAndHeIsAHappyDog.jpg '

Your suggestion:
C:\Documents and Settings\mygarbage\My Documents\My Pictures\Graysharbor\Milwaukee road\Dog.jpg

As you notice your suggestion did shorten the full path length. And i have even had to change folder names just like you did with the dog.jpg to keep from having that problem.

[jonnyb]

No these are pictures that I am alreading backing up and this would be one picture in that same folder that gets stuck on one picture. Or Song, or a doc. Usually docs are no problem though. But they are coming accross fine until it hits one file that stops the whole process.

[Train]

It could have gotten corrupted. I have seen a few over the years, but generally the path length has been the problem.

Why I burn all Graphics to a cd/dvd before I mess with them.

[Steve R Jones]

File in use or files that were recently in use can cause this....If you reboot the pc can you then copy the files?

[jonnyb]

Ya know I do this almost every day just about. I am trying to save people's files. I am using my computer with their hard drive in an enclosure or on a usb to ide/sata connector.

For example. I have 1000 pictures or .mp3s that are listed in a column
I start to copy them to my external or a folder on my desktop.

My computer is not using somebody's pictures or music. I am just moving or copying them.

All of a sudden out of 1000 items, #568(example) does not want to move and I get a msg on the screen. "Cannot copy #568" I say OK and then all the copying stops. So then I have to start the whole process over again.

So the computer can't go from Picture #567 to #568 and on and on from the same My Pictures folder.

I'm sure everybody's seen this.

[old folks]

In that case I find the ones which are causing the problem by noting where it stops copying, use FILE UNLOCKER to move or copy them, or delete them if that doesn't work; once you're rid of what's usually just a few troublemakers you can go ahead and do the rest en-mass.

[jonnyb]

So you are saying that the particular file is locked or that it just got locked somehow. Should I use the file unlocker before I start the copying or wait until I get one then load the file unlocker. Should I use the file unlocker on the computer that I am doing the copying with and I can let it run in the backround or will I have to deal with the program when I get to a certain file.

[old folks]

Use UNLOCKER on each file as you find it a problem; get those out of the way then you can do all the rest at once. Since I never promise anyone that I'll be able to save every single file I don't mind deleting a couple if I have to. They certainly wouldn't want to pay for me hand copying each one of, say, several hundred songs. When you install UNLOCKER on your machine, right click the file and UNLOCKER comes up as an option.

[jonnyb]

Now I know that these files are not locked by someone because they are just files in a series of files.

So if they are locked by someone or something then the Unlocker just makes them movable or copyable by freeing them up someway I suppose.

Or if they are corrupted. Or if my machine just got stuck copying too many at once and it just got stuck. Or that their hard drive has bad sectors and that is why these files have issues copying.

Am I right?

[jdc2000]

I have had this happen on a number of systems. Path/File name length can be a problem, but the Windows file copy function has never been totally reliable on large numbers of files. It can fail and stop at random files on some systems. You might consider using something like SyncToy for jobs like this.

[old folks]

Don't know why or how they get locked, but since I mostly run into this on music files I suspect it may have something to do with copyright protections. But it's usually only a few files out of a batch; one I had last week was 1400 songs out of which only 3 were problems.
JDC, what is SYNCTOY? Haven't heard of that one before.

[Train]

SyncToy
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en