(W7)File Copy Fail


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Whilst halfway through a file copy operation, I was copying a load of files (a couple of Gbs worth) "from desktop folder to usb stick", but a couple of folders into the operation the copying ceased with an error that "the disk is write protected" the copying stopped and I'm only 25% through the files,

So some files copied, but then none after that

But I didnt suddenly enable write protection halfway through the copy, what has gone wrong? crappy usb stick.? Only just purchased..

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No more talking for you captain underpants.

There are a bunch of GUI interfaces for robocopy.

Robocopy is built into Windows. Thus when you learn to use it, you can use it everywhere. It has copy resume, delta copying etc etc.

/shrug

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Seems like the usb stick spazzed out, and it wont let me write anything to it. I only bought it last week...(maxell 16Gb from asda)

But windows is offering to let me format the stick.....

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You couldn't cut it. ;)

YOU'RE NOT MAN ENOUGH!

You know as well as I do that I'm not suggesting dropping the GUI. I'm just suggesting that for copying 10gb, having a server grade copy tool might help >.>

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Maxell is a known dud brand for a lot of stuff, including thumb drives.

I know personally I tend to use Kingston DataTraveler sticks. I haven't had one fail, and I know on my old team we used them for everything and didn't have any of them (we had a ton of them) ever fail or have issues.

There are some other good brands too. I always recommend doing serious review digging before buying anything though, but that's just me.

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'Yes, because a CLI tool is so much better than a GUI"

:rolleyes:

Just complete and utter failure to be sure.

And sorry yes the cmd line tool robocopy is MUCH better than a simple copy paste in the explorer GUI, if you do not understand that - well then you have not a clue. If your not a fan of cmd line, then yes there is a gui for it. Or if you want to have to download something than richcopy could be used which is a gui file copy tool from MS as well. But robocopy comes with the OS since vista.

As to its power over copy/paste in explorer that is a freaking given.

So why don't you take a gander at some of the things you can do, and then if you really still don't get it we can go over how YES when wanting to copy say GBs of files from either one disk to another, or across the network that yes the cmd line tool robocopy quite often is going to be a much better choice than just using copy/paste in explorer

C:\Windows\System32>robocopy /?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   ROBOCOPY     ::     Robust File Copy for Windows
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Started : Sun Aug 21 07:37:09 2011

              Usage :: ROBOCOPY source destination [file [file]...] [options]

             source :: Source Directory (drive:\path or \\server\share\path).
        destination :: Destination Dir  (drive:\path or \\server\share\path).
               file :: File(s) to copy  (names/wildcards: default is "*.*").

::
:: Copy options :
::
                 /S :: copy Subdirectories, but not empty ones.
                 /E :: copy subdirectories, including Empty ones.
             /LEV:n :: only copy the top n LEVels of the source directory tree.

                 /Z :: copy files in restartable mode.
                 /B :: copy files in Backup mode.
                /ZB :: use restartable mode; if access denied use Backup mode.
            /EFSRAW :: copy all encrypted files in EFS RAW mode.

  /COPY:copyflag[s] :: what to COPY for files (default is /COPY:DAT).
                       (copyflags : D=Data, A=Attributes, T=Timestamps).
                       (S=Security=NTFS ACLs, O=Owner info, U=aUditing info).

           /DCOPY:T :: COPY Directory Timestamps.

               /SEC :: copy files with SECurity (equivalent to /COPY:DATS).
           /COPYALL :: COPY ALL file info (equivalent to /COPY:DATSOU).
            /NOCOPY :: COPY NO file info (useful with /PURGE).

            /SECFIX :: FIX file SECurity on all files, even skipped files.
            /TIMFIX :: FIX file TIMes on all files, even skipped files.

             /PURGE :: delete dest files/dirs that no longer exist in source.
               /MIR :: MIRror a directory tree (equivalent to /E plus /PURGE).

               /MOV :: MOVe files (delete from source after copying).
              /MOVE :: MOVE files AND dirs (delete from source after copying).

     /A+:[RASHCNET] :: add the given Attributes to copied files.
     /A-:[RASHCNET] :: remove the given Attributes from copied files.

            /CREATE :: CREATE directory tree and zero-length files only.
               /FAT :: create destination files using 8.3 FAT file names only.
               /256 :: turn off very long path (> 256 characters) support.

             /MON:n :: MONitor source; run again when more than n changes seen.
             /MOT:m :: MOnitor source; run again in m minutes Time, if changed.

      /RH:hhmm-hhmm :: Run Hours - times when new copies may be started.
                /PF :: check run hours on a Per File (not per pass) basis.

             /IPG:n :: Inter-Packet Gap (ms), to free bandwidth on slow lines.

                /SL :: copy symbolic links versus the target.

            /MT[:n] :: Do multi-threaded copies with n threads (default 8).
                       n must be at least 1 and not greater than 128.
                       This option is incompatible with the /IPG and /EFSRAW options.
                       Redirect output using /LOG option for better performance.

::
:: File Selection Options :
::
                 /A :: copy only files with the Archive attribute set.
                 /M :: copy only files with the Archive attribute and reset it.
    /IA:[RASHCNETO] :: Include only files with any of the given Attributes set.
    /XA:[RASHCNETO] :: eXclude files with any of the given Attributes set.

 /XF file [file]... :: eXclude Files matching given names/paths/wildcards.
 /XD dirs [dirs]... :: eXclude Directories matching given names/paths.

                /XC :: eXclude Changed files.
                /XN :: eXclude Newer files.
                /XO :: eXclude Older files.
                /XX :: eXclude eXtra files and directories.
                /XL :: eXclude Lonely files and directories.
                /IS :: Include Same files.
                /IT :: Include Tweaked files.

             /MAX:n :: MAXimum file size - exclude files bigger than n bytes.
             /MIN:n :: MINimum file size - exclude files smaller than n bytes.

          /MAXAGE:n :: MAXimum file AGE - exclude files older than n days/date.
          /MINAGE:n :: MINimum file AGE - exclude files newer than n days/date.
          /MAXLAD:n :: MAXimum Last Access Date - exclude files unused since n.
          /MINLAD:n :: MINimum Last Access Date - exclude files used since n.
                       (If n < 1900 then n = n days, else n = YYYYMMDD date).

                /XJ :: eXclude Junction points. (normally included by default).

               /FFT :: assume FAT File Times (2-second granularity).
               /DST :: compensate for one-hour DST time differences.

               /XJD :: eXclude Junction points for Directories.
               /XJF :: eXclude Junction points for Files.

::
:: Retry Options :
::
               /R:n :: number of Retries on failed copies: default 1 million.
               /W:n :: Wait time between retries: default is 30 seconds.

               /REG :: Save /R:n and /W:n in the Registry as default settings.

               /TBD :: wait for sharenames To Be Defined (retry error 67).

::
:: Logging Options :
::
                 /L :: List only - don't copy, timestamp or delete any files.
                 /X :: report all eXtra files, not just those selected.
                 /V :: produce Verbose output, showing skipped files.
                /TS :: include source file Time Stamps in the output.
                /FP :: include Full Pathname of files in the output.
             /BYTES :: Print sizes as bytes.

                /NS :: No Size - don't log file sizes.
                /NC :: No Class - don't log file classes.
               /NFL :: No File List - don't log file names.
               /NDL :: No Directory List - don't log directory names.

                /NP :: No Progress - don't display percentage copied.
               /ETA :: show Estimated Time of Arrival of copied files.

          /LOG:file :: output status to LOG file (overwrite existing log).
         /LOG+:file :: output status to LOG file (append to existing log).

       /UNILOG:file :: output status to LOG file as UNICODE (overwrite existing log).
      /UNILOG+:file :: output status to LOG file as UNICODE (append to existing log).

               /TEE :: output to console window, as well as the log file.

               /NJH :: No Job Header.
               /NJS :: No Job Summary.

           /UNICODE :: output status as UNICODE.

::
:: Job Options :
::
       /JOB:jobname :: take parameters from the named JOB file.
      /SAVE:jobname :: SAVE parameters to the named job file
              /QUIT :: QUIT after processing command line (to view parameters).
              /NOSD :: NO Source Directory is specified.
              /NODD :: NO Destination Directory is specified.
                /IF :: Include the following Files.

Oh btw yes he could use robocopy to only copy the files that didn't get copied in his copy failure using the /mir switch if he wants. How does he do that with his gui explorer copy/paste feature??

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Oh btw yes he could use robocopy to only copy the files that didn't get copied in his copy failure using the /mir switch if he wants. How does he do that with his gui explorer copy/paste feature??

Copy -> Paste, "This File already exists, would you like to overwrite? " -> No to All :whistle:

You picked a bad example :laugh:

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Yes, except it only updates the files that have CHANGED.

Thus the overwrite doesn't waste time.

For instance, my backup script:

robocopy "E:\Dropzone" "B:\Dropzone" /mir
robocopy "E:\MYNAME" "B:\MYNAME" /mir
robocopy "E:\Public" "B:\Public" /mir

My backup runs in about 10 seconds for 2tb of data. When there is a new/updated file, it updates ONLY that file.

It will delete files that have been removed as well. It's an awesome tool :)

EDIT::

It's worth noting that Windows Vista's copy is MUCH slower then Robocopy, especially across a network.

In 7, robocopy is faster in certain conditions, but it's pretty similar. It is faster though O.o

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Yes, I'm aware robocopy is way better than copy. I use it myself to copy recorded tv from my desktop to my home server. I'm just pointing out Budman's example is bad. He never said anything about only copying changed files. He said "only copy the files that didn't get copied in his copy failure". Since the OP was copying to a new drive, there was nothing on the drive beforehand, so nothing could have been changed.

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Yeah, but if the failure had been "non-terminal", he could just re-execute the command and it would just keep going :)

Sorry if you already knew >.<

Nice name btw :p

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hehehe -- yeah that does not work on corrupted files, if name exists will not copy file if you state that.. But yeah could of picked a better example I guess..

But ok better example, in this users case if he would of used robocopy even if he got failures some files, be it a permissions issue, disk read error, what not -- the copy process could of be set to continue on and only those files skipped and then a report of which files did not get copied for him to review and correct what went wrong and get those files copied over again.

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Well even if he did not use the log, the summary at the end would of told him files were skipped, etc. So he could then run /mir on his copy again win logging and watch what does not copy, etc.

My point being, and I can not see how anyone would have a valid argument against it being a far more robust tool - shoot its even in the name ;) "Robust File Copy for Windows" That being said I do agree my example was not the best.

Don't get me wrong, normally copy/paste works just fine for moving quite a bit of data around - it is what I use day to day.. I sure do not drop to a command line everytime I want to copy/move a file around my network. But say when I want to move 100GB worth of data from one computer to another across the wire -- I sure and the F am not just going to hope that copy/paste works in explorer on something that is going to take quite a few hours to complete. And if fails on something just stop so when I come back I find it stopped 10MB into copy ;)

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DAMN! I read " I can not see how anyone would have a valid argument against it being a far more robust tool"

And instantly I was like.. OMG THAT'S THE NAME OF THE TOOL :o

Then you said it, and I was sad :(

Yeah, My limit it about 2.5gb, then I move to Robocopy. Unless it's single files, then yeah >.>

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:)

Active@Killdisk also failed to kill the stick,

I cant get it to format in XP or 7, Broken Disk ?

It now is locked with some personal files on it....

Its a hammer job

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Try it on another computer?

Either that or turn off your computer, wait 10 second and try again, if the controller locked up it would have the same issues >.>

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Oh btw yes he could use robocopy to only copy the files that didn't get copied in his copy failure using the /mir switch if he wants. How does he do that with his gui explorer copy/paste feature??

While I agree with the advice to use robocopy in general...

Umm...I can answer this question easy...

When it comes up with the dialog that says something along the lines of "this file already exists"...choose the "Don't Copy" option, and click on the box that says something along the lines of "Do this for all xx conflicts".

That will skip all files already copied & proceed with what hasn't been copied.

:)

Active@Killdisk also failed to kill the stick,

I cant get it to format in XP or 7, Broken Disk ?

It now is locked with some personal files on it....

Its a hammer job

I find it satisfying to pry it open, then use a nice pair of wirecutters to slice the chip in half, then in half again along the perpendicular to the original slice.

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