can't copy from here to there

berbes

Beta member
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3
hello all-

using xp o/s, and when i try to manipulate files, aka, moving them from one dir or drive to another, it works fine for awhile (first few hundred files), but eventually i'll get an error box that says:

"Cannot copy [filename]: The directory or file cannot be created."

i reboot, but i STILL the the same problem. i tried reformating the destination drive and it works for a bit more until the dreaded error box. i guess that wouldn't be the fix anyway, as i'm having the same issues when i try moving files to new directories that share the same drive :confused:

am i looking at a reinstallation of the o/s, or is this a possible hardware issue? thanks so much.
 
Well actually it sounds more like file permissions more then anything... If your account is not the Admin account, you may need to change ownership or change account... Also make sure on rather or not the file is read only ect. ect... Also you may be in a section of the harddrive that doesn't allow writing... Though yes you could have some bad sectors or something on the drive, but if it is copying most of the files, try not copying that one file and then see what happens, so on with any more it doesn't copy, then figure out what is up with those files...
 
good points, but it's my home comp, so i shouldn't be having any admin issues. i can also tell you that once the dreaded error comes up, that's it. no more copying can be done, period. reboot, and i can copy a few more before it happens again. that's why i'm leaning toward re-layering windows and see if it might fill in a remote dll i lost somehow.

the computer itself isn't locking up, so i'm feeling this is a software instead of hardware thing. also, i know NOTHING about comps really, so pls take that into consideration as well :)
 
Did you run out of drive space where you were movong/copying files and folders to? You could also be trying to move or copy files into drive space prereserved by Windows.

Once Windows detects a lack of space available on the destination it will prevent copying with prompts. Even on storage drives/partitions Windows will see some drive space reserved especially if you have the system restore feature or any scheduled backups already set to place things there.

For moving files you may be attempting to move unmovable system files inadvertently caught up being hidden resulting in the errors seen as well. Or some program could be still trying to access them in the present location.
 
those are great reasons why it wouldn't or couldn't be copied, but there is plenty of room on the destination drive.

there isn't one common reason i can't copy these files, except that i cannot copy these files. THAT's what is so vexing :confused:

thanks for the ideas, but i'm thinking it's just as easy to reinstall the o/s, and hope that was it.
 
It does seem to point that way since you should readily be able to have two explorer windows open and move files out of or into a sub folder in the main folder in an instant practically as well as copy files from one location to another on the same drive if you have plenty of free space.
 
Here are some things... Firstly it doesn't matter if it is your home computer or not... if you have anything runnable as remote... It is very possible someone or something has changed permissions... Again I would suggest double checking that... If anything using a linux os... and the hdd with the stuff on it.... I would take a quick look at the permissions (ls -la)... With Dos I might even check the attributes (dir /A)...
Also I would make sure you don't have any bad sectors or cylinders on the other hard drive... I might even find another hard drive and try that... (though 9 times out of 10, when you continue to get the same error on the same file, or files, it is either permissions, virus, spyware, ect..) I would also suggest maybe doing a virus and spyware scan... Maybe even a registry scan too... I might even try doing the copying when the computer is disconnected from the net... I would also check and make sure nothing is encrypted... If it is sometimes that could keep it from copying, as well as read-only(doubt it though), or sometimes compressed(also doubt it)...
 
With a spare drive or partition and considering the types of files you want to move you may to look at a few data recovery programs as well as looking to see if any programs are loaded automatically at startup that have reserved access to those files.

Actual file integrity would be another thing to consider. Some times if these are downloads or files that were previously moved or copied from one location to another even from removable media the integrity is lost where you see the file's name without content. Take notes on which files are seeing this and examine each one by itself to see if any are corrupted somehow virus or otherwise.
 
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