Unable To Copy File Folder

Discussion in 'Software' started by Professor-Falken, Aug 28, 2007.

  1. Professor-Falken

    Professor-Falken Kilobyte Poster

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    I got this error while trying to copy a folder that contains about 20 subfolder
    Error Copy File Or Folder
    Cannot Copy File

    Tried this but it didnt work.


    This error can be resolved using the following steps:

    Note: This solution does not apply to optical devices, such as CD-RW or DVD rewriteable drives. Please go to Answer ID 984 for information on how to resolve I/O errors on optical devices.

    1. Right-click the My Computer icon and then click Manage.

    2. Click the Device Manager icon.

    3. Click the plus (+) sign next to Disk Drives.

    4. Double-click the Iomega drive icon.

    5. Click the Policies button and then click Optimize for performance.

    does anyone have any suggestions.

    Thank you
    Professor Falken
     
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  2. Theprof

    Theprof Petabyte Poster

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    Try taking ownership of the folder and select the option "replace owner on sub containers and object" check box.
     
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  3. zebulebu

    zebulebu Terabyte Poster

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    Or try copying it from a command prompt using XCopy or RoboCopy
     
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  4. Professor-Falken

    Professor-Falken Kilobyte Poster

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    So how do I take ownership off the folder I am trying to copy is in
    Window XP Home Edition
     
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  5. Tinus1959

    Tinus1959 Gigabyte Poster

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    Is the disc formatted as NTFS? If so, is the security tag visible in properties? If not, is "simple file sharing" active in windows explorer?
     
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  6. Theprof

    Theprof Petabyte Poster

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    Double check what Tinus said, if all is in order right click on the folder->security->click on advanced at the the buttom->Select the owner tab->select your name->cross of the check box below and hit ok or apply and that should do it.
     
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  7. Tinus1959

    Tinus1959 Gigabyte Poster

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    There is a lot more to check. Do you have the right to take ownership? So are you administrator? Are there maybe some programs using some files in those folders? Open files can not be copied.
     
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  8. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    XP Home doesnt permit the security tab to be visible as i recall.

    It really depends why its failing, what you do to resolve the issue. If its a program directory, then it could be erroring because one or more files are locked by the program in question. If its not, it could still be locked if you have recently viewed the file.

    You could check in the Open Files (Right-Click My Computer, select Manage, then expand 'Shared Folders' and click on 'Open Files'. Check the list in there for files in this area. It should tell you if there are any locked files. You can also release a lock from here too if you need to (Although it might stop some programs working if they are using the files). Im pretty sure this method works in Home.
     
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  9. Tinus1959

    Tinus1959 Gigabyte Poster

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  10. ManicMonkey

    ManicMonkey Kilobyte Poster

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    Ok i have to ask this.

    1) Are you trying to copy the group of files and folders from an external storage drive.
    2) If not is it on a domain share?
    3) If neither then are the folders on another PC on a small work LAN, or your own home LAN?

    I only ask since if it is on an external hard drive (iomega, Zip, Jaz, even DVD /CD Rom's) then there is no such thing as ownership. These get removed from all files when the item is transfered to the external storage media (not including a domain based backup of course since that is slightly different).

    My guess would be that your using XP Home, therefore your not on a domain (its far to much work to try and bodge join home to a domain). As such would i be right in assuming that this is a small office/personal workgroup?
    If this is the case then perhaps you have permission/ownership issues on the far machine where the folders are located?

    If they are not located on a networked machine but are in fact locally...
    Was it you that originally created the folder structure?
    Are there any files / folders inside the structure that do not belong to your user account?
    What access rights does your current user account have?

    Just a few questions i thought of to try and help :)
     
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  11. Raffaz

    Raffaz Kebab Lover Gold Member

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    Is the disk full? Have you tried copying it in safe mode?
     
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  12. greenbrucelee
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    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    I would go along with what has been said.

    Do you have the correct permissions?
    Are you logged in as administrator?
    Is the file and contents encrypted?
     
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  13. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    I would try to narrow it down. try copying the sub folders individually and try copying the files rather than the complete folder. You should get an error unable to copy xxxx.xxx ie a specific file or files. this will give you some insight into which file/s are actually locked and make troubleshooting the issue easier.
     
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  14. Theprof

    Theprof Petabyte Poster

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    I know that through safe mode you can access the security tab. However like others mentioned, there could be other potential issues that are causing this problem.

    I would check the rights as my first step, and then go from there. Sometimes there might be applications that are using the files in the folder you are trying to copy that will prevent you from doing so.
     
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  15. Mr.Cheeks

    Mr.Cheeks 1st ever Gold Member! Gold Member

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    Should i add my comments aswell???
    perhaps not, Prof, try what has already been mentioned and post back with the results...
    Mr. Cheeks
     
  16. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Suggestion No: 56798

    How much data are we talking about here? If copying a large amount of data from NTFS to FAT32 you can sometimes get this sort of error. 8)
     
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  17. Professor-Falken

    Professor-Falken Kilobyte Poster

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    I can copy individual files underneath the root folder but not the entire root folder and its subfolders.


    Professor Falken
     
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  18. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    What Bluerinse means is that its likely to be a specific file or folder that is causing the entire operation to fail. You need to try narrowing it down to a specific one in order to isolate the problem.

    To start with, try copying each subfolder individually. If none of them error, then its a file in the root folder, try copying them individually until you find which one.

    If it is a folder, then move down a level into that folder and repeat the above until you narrow it down to a specific file or folder yet again. Rinse, Lather, Repeat. Eventually you will narrow it down to a specific folder (and all child objects of that folder), or a specific File. You cant really just do this with a random smattering of files, you need to be methodical.

    Once you have that narrowed down, you will be able to better troubleshoot the cause. Otherwise its like trying to troubleshoot a single pc, knowing only which building its in. You are also more likely to encounter a specific error message when trying to copy the problem file alone.

    You also havent answered the questions asked here that might actually help us narrow down the issue with you. What exactly are you trying to copy? is it the windows directory? a directory in your mydocs? is it stored on your internal HDD, or an External USB device? Is the HDD full?

    If its a USB device that was used on another machine, its possible that it has NTFS file permissions mapped from the old machine and, since this is a different machine, no account will have the same priviledges (even if they are named differently, their SIDs will be different). In this case you WILL need to get in there and take ownership on the folders in order to apply the permissions for that PC onto the folder (I locked down a USB directory in this manner - deliberately - but had to do this when i moved it to another machine or rebuilt the original machine).
     
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  19. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Yep that is what i meant. Thanks for the elaboration fergal 8)
     
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